Doctoral Dissertation Research in Law and Social Science: Capital for Communities: Financial Institutions and Inner-City Neighborhood Development

9321412 JACKSON One of the central concerns of urban planning is to direct and control private investment into communities, in part through zoning and land-use regulations. Public land planning, along with federal housing programs such as government mortgage insurance, increased the homeownership rate and helped create middle class American suburbs, but they did not prevent and may have exacerbated the decline of many inner-city areas. This proposal seeks to describe the impact of urban planning efforts on private mortgage lending practices in inner-cities. The project will examine inner-city community development lending by private financial institutions since the urban riots of the 1960s. It will use six case studies to address two questions: 1) how can financial institutions change economic and social conditions in low- and moderate-income urban neighborhoods?, and 2) what are the implications for urban planning, public policy, and theories about the growth and decline of cities and neighborhoods? The PI will review both relevant public documents and financial and and economic data on specific residential, commercial real estate and business projects, in addition to conducting interviews with those involved in urban planning in these areas. ***