Send message to Author

Paper short abstract

In this paper, I explore the role that philanthropic interests play in re-shaping urban infrastructures in democratic societies subject to austerity measures. Through funding large-scale ventures, wealthy individuals are able to implement and evaluate policy initiatives without democratic oversight.

Paper long abstract

The extent to which urban landscapes are being reshaped through deploying non-public funding streams is one illustration of the growing pervasiveness of anti-democratic regimes of policymaking. Rather than being driven solely by corporate interests, however, much of this recent urban development has been bankrolled and led by private philanthropies and not-for-profits (like universities and hospitals) which, like corporations, are not directly accountable either to local municipalities or to the broader public. These philanthropic organizations frame their interventions as a positive benefit to struggling cities trapped by resource deprivation or “austerity urbanism” (Bergland, 2020). I discuss how major infrastructure projects, including one in Indianapolis, are driven by ideas almost entirely envisioned and funded by philanthropists and foundations. Such endeavors illustrate how, in a period of about 30 years, the role of municipal governments has been reduced, from once having been the impetus for community development and lead partner, to having become simply the means for its mplementation. Conversely, the role of the philanthropic actor has evolved from that of a gap funder or supporter of larger public infrastructure initiatives, to serving as an aspirational leader and primary developer for such interventions. I show how such interventions, framed as an unquestionable moral and economic good, can no longer be understood solely in neoliberal terms; rather, they have become an anti-democratic conduit for channeling mobile capital into neighborhoods in ways that can and do result in the displacement of the very residents whose interests they claim to be serving.