Beyond the region: the rise and fall of economic regionalism in downriver detroit
- 1998
- p.241-62
- Nov
Does economic restructuring provide opportunities for remaking old industrial centers into regional industrial systems? Such regions possess institutions that allow firms and support organizations to adjust to market shifts. The case of Detroit's Downriver suburbs is used to explore this question in a metropolitan setting. Downriver regionalism supported several market interventions, showing that restructuring can create opportunities for economic regionalism. However, regionalism did not produce industrial adjustment mechanisms and eventually succumbed to interlocal competition for investment. The author concludes that prospects for regional systems are diminished by metropolitan fragmentation and national policies promoting capital mobility as the primary mechanism for economic adjustment. - Reproduced