The Implications of Marxian Rent Theory For Community-Controlled Redevelopment Strategies

Abstract

Community-controlled implementation organizations are necessary to initiate the process of urban redevelopment in deterio rated low-income urban neighborhoods The Classical Economic Urban Redevelop ment Model includes a set of parallel development actors who compete to affect and control this redevelopment process A major component of this competition is the extraction and subsequent utilization of rent The purpose of this paper is to develop a theoretical basis for this com ponent of the competition and to use it to suggest strategies for community- controlled redevelopment The theoretical model suggests that community-controlled organizations should focus their opposi tion on absentee landlords and private developers rather than on realtors and financial institutions It also suggests that the avenue for opposition should entail community ownership and control through land trusts, development corporations, and neighborhood improvement associations