A Wrench in the Machine

Abstract

Problem, research strategy, and findings

Federal, state, and local government funding helps stimulate urban development, with growth machine politics playing an important role in determining where subsidies are allocated. The U.S. Coastal Barrier Resources Act (CBRA) was enacted to curb the role of federal subsidies in fostering development along hazardous coastal barriers, providing an opportunity to explore how local growth politics are influenced by the removal of one source of government funding. In this study, we used a series of interview-based case studies to investigate why certain areas in the CBRA developed while most did not. In most cases, the CBRA obstructed local growth coalitions, isolating landowners from the resources necessary to improve the growth potential of their land interests. However, in cases where development occurred within the CBRA, we often found evidence that powerful growth machines were able to acquire replacement subsidies from state and local governments, suggesting these actions are a key driver in overcoming the financial barriers posed by the CBRA.

Takeaway for practice

This study revealed how growth machines could be hampered by removing access to the financial resources of one level of government, despite the potential to be undermined by intervention at other levels. In an era of increasing coastal risks, subsidy removal can be an effective tool for managing coastal growth, even when authority over land use decisions is limited.

Keywords:

• CBRA
• coastal development
• federalism
• growth machine
• subsidy removal

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

We thank Terri Fish, Katie Niemi, and Dana Wright (USFWS) for their support and advice with this project. We also thank former undergraduate students Brooke Harris and Felix Evans for their magnificent help in coding interview transcripts. Finally, we are grateful to those who shared their time to participate in this study.

RESEARCH SUPPORT

This article is based on work supported by the U.S. National Science Foundation under Geography and Spatial Sciences Grant No. 1660450 and Coastal SEES Grant No. 1427188.

Supplemental Material

Supplemental data for this article is available online at https://doi.org/10.1080/01944363.2022.2119156.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Jordan Branham

JORDAN BRANHAM ([email protected]) is a doctoral candidate in the Department of City and Regional Planning at the University of North Carolina (UNC)–Chapel Hill.

David Salvesen

DAVID SALVESEN ([email protected]) is a research fellow at the Institute for the Environment at UNC–Chapel Hill.

Nikhil Kaza

NIKHIL KAZA ([email protected]) is a professor of city and regional planning at UNC–Chapel Hill.

Todd K. BenDor

TODD K. BENDOR ([email protected]) is the distinguished professor of sustainable community design at UNC–Chapel Hill.