The deep roots of austere planning in Memphis, TN: is the fox guarding the hen house?

ABSTRACT

US cities operate amid a longstanding notion that excessive government impedes prosperity. Here post–recession austerity did not trigger new retrenchment, but instead exacerbated an existing vacuum of the public. In cities like Memphis, institutional or community–led planning cannot confront austerity by going back to something it was before the recession. Instead, genuine public planning must be invented ex novo, exploring why planning agencies have not truly been able to act for the benefit of all. The recent launch of Memphis' first city–led comprehensive planning effort in decades provides an opportunity for reflection. This article examines whether a new emphasis on planning in Memphis represents a positive disruption of the status quo or a merely a disguised continuation of growth–machine motives. The findings argue for the need to work on the small signs of authentic interest in public planning as a starting point for new anti–austere courses of action.

KEYWORDS:

• Austerity
• growth machine
• case-study
• public-interest
• US South

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

ORCID

Laura Saija http://orcid.org/0000-0002-8474-9371

Notes

1 According an interviewee, the Director opposed the coming to Memphis of big national financial intermediaries like LISC, because he ‘did not like the idea of having competition or losing control’.

2 As put in the words of a former city planner:

[The Director] devised his projects and proceeded to implement them without a bit of input from other City agencies or the public. He implemented them without a plan visible to any of us, but I suppose envisioned by him in his own mind. He caused various divisions like Police, Fire, Parks and Public Works to change their long term plans to comply with his projects.