Blurring Lines? How Locally Based Collaborations Handle the Redistribution/Development Tradeoff

Abstract

The tension between the pursuit of equity versus economic growth has been a central focus on the field of urban politics. Although local governance regimes have tended to focus on growth policies and the accommodation of business interests, regime theorists have argued that it is possible, albeit challenging, to construct sustainable coalitions to support equity agendas. In this article, we empirically examine the equity/development trade-off with a focus on the renewed interest in locally based, cross-sector collaborations for educational improvement, providing a nuanced picture of how these initiatives present themselves to the public. We find that a substantial proportion of initiatives describe themselves as equity oriented or both equity and economic growth oriented. Labeling these education initiatives as growth oriented is more typical of collaborations that started in prior decades, whereas an orientation toward equity is more common in collaborations with greater union and community organization representation and those affiliated with national networks.