No miracles here: Urban redevelopment efforts in Japan and the United States.

Abstract

Why do struggling cities make what, in retrospect, appear to be bad revitalization policy decisions? How do they avoid making a bad situation worse? This is a study of urban redevelopment policy and the policymaking process in two smaller cities, one each in Japan and the United States. I compare the cases and processes from an institutionalist perspective, asking how the two systems produce suboptimal revitalization policies. The study examines policy process and output at both the local and higher levels of government in each country. The main finding is that Japanese and American cities try to imitate and replicate successful policy efforts in other localities. They are pushed toward policy imitation and away from policy innovation by systemic features and norms of policymaking behavior, a phenomenon I call "supply-side" policymaking. However, they are led away from innovation by different sets of institutions. In Japan, a dominant bureaucracy and a complex system of project financing through public corporations create a strong disincentive to local innovation. In the U.S., localities are pushed toward existing successful ideas by a thriving private sector consulting and development industry peddling successful ideas, private philanthropic organizations willing to fund revitalization efforts, and a political system that emphasizes political clout over technocratic expertise. Overall, the Japanese system does a better job of weeding out bad redevelopment policy decisions.