Beyond Neoliberalism: A Policy Agenda for a Progressive City

Abstract

The urban crisis—poverty and inequality, un—and under-employment, inadequate and unaffordable housing and public transportation, pollution and climate disasters—is the result of the failure of the neoliberal agenda to produce adequate funds and capacities to ensure the provision of services necessary for the city to function and its residents to thrive, especially the most vulnerable, and increasingly, the middle class. In the last few years, there appears to be a potential for a new more radical direction in urban policy. Yet, urban scholars and practitioners have been slow to notice the new possibilities that reopens the question of whether cities may engage in redistributive policies. In reviewing the history and current practice of progressive politics and policy in cities, this paper explores what a policy agenda for a progressive city might entail and identifies themes and questions for a renewed urban politics research agenda.