"Money Flows Like Water, It's Really Hard to Stop:" Urban Greening, Economic Development, and the Growth Machine in Legacy Cities

Abstract

Parks, green infrastructure, and green amenities are often developed in cities because of their multiple co-benefits for the environment and resident health. In the face of global climate change, these green investments can help offset warmer temperatures, heavier precipitation events, and contribute to creating more sustainable urban spaces. However, members of the political and social elite operationalize greening in their cities for economic development. In addition, new green amenities are viewed favorably and can be a tool for attracting new residents, further stimulating economic growth. Although this green growth has been criticized for spurring gentrification and displacement of residents, often legacy cities are theorized as being places of opportunity for greening without gentrifying. However, this dissertation argues that the ways race and racialization shape economic development decisions in urban space means communities of color are differently valued in development decisions, further exacerbating inequality and ultimately leading to gentrification and displacement. This dissertation comprises a critical discourse analysis of three legacy cities – post-industrial cities which have experienced significant economic and population decline – in the United States: Detroit, Michigan, Cincinnati, Ohio, and Providence, Rhode Island. This work analyzes newspaper articles, climate adaptation, sustainability, and parks plans, and interviews with city employees to assess the influence of racial capitalism on urban greening and economic development in legacy cities. This dissertation argues that while these cities claim to pursue equitable climate adaptation and investment in urban parks, in reality these investments are used to create a specific image for each city—tailored to upper-class white residents. Even when cities do claim to prioritize equity, they center economic growth via urban greening and further exacerbate inequity in the process. At the same time, desires and needs of existing residents are often overlooked or ignored. This inequitable development of urban green amenities, or the development of such amenities to attract new, wealthier residents, stems from a devaluation of Black lives in urban space.