Two decades after Harvey Molotch's "city as a growth machine," this book offers a unique, critical assessment of his thesis.

Table of Contents:
Tables and Figures Preface INTRODUCTION 1. The City as a Growth Machine: Critical Reflections Two Decades Later Andrew E. G. Jonas and David Wilson PART 1. URBAN GROWTH: IDEOLOGY AND DISCOURSE 2. Ideology and the Growth Coalition Kevin R. Cox 3. Urban Imagineers: Boosterism and the Representation of Cities John Rennie Short 4. Growth Machines and Propaganda Projects: A Review of Readings of the Role of Civic Boosterism in the Politics of Local Economic Development Mark Boyle PART 2. NEW DIMENSIONS OF URBAN POLITICS 5. The Character and Consequences of Growth Regimes: An Assessment of Twenty Years of Research John R. Logan, Rachel Bridges Whaley, and Kyle Crowder 6. Place, Politics, and the Production of Urban Space: A Feminist Critique of the Growth Machine Thesis Melissa R. Gilbert 7. Redefining Urban Politics for the Twenty-First Century Allan Cochrane 8. Reconstructing Urban Regime Theory: Regulation Theory and Institutional Arrangements Mickey Lauria 9. Retooling the Machine: Economic Crisis, State Restructuring, and Urban Politics Bob Jessop, Jamie Peck, and Adam Tickell PART 3. THE GROWTH MACHINE IN COMPARATIVE PERSPECTIVE 10. Organizing for Local Economic Development: The Growth Coalition as a Cross-National Comparative Framework Andrew Wood 11. Growth Coalitions in Britain's Waning Sunbelt: Some Reflections Keith Bassett 12. The Politics of Influence: Democracy and the Growth Machine in Orange County, U.S. Stephanie Pincetl 13. Employing the Growth Machine Heuristic in a Different Political and Economic Context: The Case of Israel Andrew Kirby and Thabit Abu-Rass 14. Transcending Interurban Competition: Conceptual Issues and Policy Alternatives in the European Union Helga Leitner and Eric Sheppard CONCLUSION 15. Growth Machine Links: Up, Down, and Across Harvey Molotch References Biographical Notes Index