Ian Thomas MacDonald (ed.)
- Published in print:
- 2017
- Published Online:
- January 2018
- ISBN:
- 9781501706547
- eISBN:
- 9781501712692
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Cornell University Press
- DOI:
- 10.7591/cornell/9781501706547.001.0001
- Subject:
- Economics and Finance, Public and Welfare
Labor unions remain the largest membership-based organizations in major North American cities. As unions become more involved in the daily life of the city, they find themselves confronting the ...
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Labor unions remain the largest membership-based organizations in major North American cities. As unions become more involved in the daily life of the city, they find themselves confronting the familiar dilemma of how to fold union priorities into broader campaigns that address non-union workers and the lives of union members beyond the workplace. If we are right to believe that the future of the labor movement is an urban one, union activists and staffers, urban policymakers, elected officials, and members of the public alike will require a fuller understanding of what impels unions to become involved in urban policy issues, what dilemmas structure the choices unions make, and what impact unions have on the lives of urban residents, beyond their members. This book serves as a road map toward both a stronger labor movement and a socially just urbanism. It presents the findings of a collaborative project which investigated how and why labor unions were becoming more involved in urban regulation and urban planning. It assesses the effectiveness of this involvement in terms of labor goals as well as broader social consequences of union strategies, such as expanding access to public services, improving employment equity, and making neighborhoods more affordable. Focusing on four key economic sectors (film, hospitality, green energy, and child care), the book reveals that unions can exert a surprising level of influence in various aspects of urban policymaking and that they can have a significant impact on how cities are changing and on the experiences of urban residents.Less
Labor unions remain the largest membership-based organizations in major North American cities. As unions become more involved in the daily life of the city, they find themselves confronting the familiar dilemma of how to fold union priorities into broader campaigns that address non-union workers and the lives of union members beyond the workplace. If we are right to believe that the future of the labor movement is an urban one, union activists and staffers, urban policymakers, elected officials, and members of the public alike will require a fuller understanding of what impels unions to become involved in urban policy issues, what dilemmas structure the choices unions make, and what impact unions have on the lives of urban residents, beyond their members. This book serves as a road map toward both a stronger labor movement and a socially just urbanism. It presents the findings of a collaborative project which investigated how and why labor unions were becoming more involved in urban regulation and urban planning. It assesses the effectiveness of this involvement in terms of labor goals as well as broader social consequences of union strategies, such as expanding access to public services, improving employment equity, and making neighborhoods more affordable. Focusing on four key economic sectors (film, hospitality, green energy, and child care), the book reveals that unions can exert a surprising level of influence in various aspects of urban policymaking and that they can have a significant impact on how cities are changing and on the experiences of urban residents.
Amy Hanser
- Published in print:
- 2017
- Published Online:
- May 2018
- ISBN:
- 9780262036573
- eISBN:
- 9780262341554
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- The MIT Press
- DOI:
- 10.7551/mitpress/9780262036573.003.0007
- Subject:
- Architecture, Architectural History
This chapter examines the contrast between street vending and city regulatory responses in Vancouver, Canada during two time periods—the 1970s and the 2010s. The comparison of “hippy” vending in the ...
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This chapter examines the contrast between street vending and city regulatory responses in Vancouver, Canada during two time periods—the 1970s and the 2010s. The comparison of “hippy” vending in the 1970s and “hip” food carts and trucks four decades later illustrates the contradictory impulses that shape regulation of commercial activity on city streets. First, there is a process of “formalization” that seeks to tame the informality and messiness of street vending through new rules, standards and regulations. But by the 2010s, a second, contradictory, impulse appears: an embrace of informality reflecting new ideas about “vital” city streets and identifying street vending, in the form of food trucks and carts, as “hip.” But the apparent embrace of the informal has unfolded through highly formalized procedures, and the vitality associated with vending in Vancouver is acceptable precisely because it has been (re)introduced in a highly formalized, regulated form.Less
This chapter examines the contrast between street vending and city regulatory responses in Vancouver, Canada during two time periods—the 1970s and the 2010s. The comparison of “hippy” vending in the 1970s and “hip” food carts and trucks four decades later illustrates the contradictory impulses that shape regulation of commercial activity on city streets. First, there is a process of “formalization” that seeks to tame the informality and messiness of street vending through new rules, standards and regulations. But by the 2010s, a second, contradictory, impulse appears: an embrace of informality reflecting new ideas about “vital” city streets and identifying street vending, in the form of food trucks and carts, as “hip.” But the apparent embrace of the informal has unfolded through highly formalized procedures, and the vitality associated with vending in Vancouver is acceptable precisely because it has been (re)introduced in a highly formalized, regulated form.
Arvind Panagariya
- Published in print:
- 2020
- Published Online:
- September 2020
- ISBN:
- 9780197531556
- eISBN:
- 9780197531587
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/oso/9780197531556.003.0007
- Subject:
- Economics and Finance, Development, Growth, and Environmental, South and East Asia
Economic transformation involves a movement of workers out of agriculture and into industry and services. The latter are predominantly located in and around urban areas. Therefore, urbanization is ...
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Economic transformation involves a movement of workers out of agriculture and into industry and services. The latter are predominantly located in and around urban areas. Therefore, urbanization is integral to transformation and modernization. In India, the process of urbanization has been extremely slow. The high cost of living and a scarcity of low-cost rental housing have in turn impeded the faster movement of agricultural workers into industry and services. A key problem behind this situation is the high cost of urban land, a result of a very low floor space index, complex rules on the conversion of agricultural land on the periphery of cities, the difficulty of converting space from one use to another, and the large volume of unused land owned by sick firms or various government ministries; poor transportation networks add to the problem. The chapter spells out reforms to relax these constraints.Less
Economic transformation involves a movement of workers out of agriculture and into industry and services. The latter are predominantly located in and around urban areas. Therefore, urbanization is integral to transformation and modernization. In India, the process of urbanization has been extremely slow. The high cost of living and a scarcity of low-cost rental housing have in turn impeded the faster movement of agricultural workers into industry and services. A key problem behind this situation is the high cost of urban land, a result of a very low floor space index, complex rules on the conversion of agricultural land on the periphery of cities, the difficulty of converting space from one use to another, and the large volume of unused land owned by sick firms or various government ministries; poor transportation networks add to the problem. The chapter spells out reforms to relax these constraints.
