Nation's Metropolis

The Economy, Politics, and Development of the Washington Region

Royce Hanson, Harold Wolman

• Publisher: University of Pennsylvania Press
• Year: 2023
• ISBN:
  9781512822922
• Topic: Politics & International Relations
• Subtopic: City Planning & Urban Development
• Index: Politics & International Relations

Nation's Metropolis describes how the national capital region functions as a metropolitan political economy. Its authors distinguish aspects of the Washington region that reflect its characteristics as a national capital from those common to most other metropolitan regions and to other capitals. To do so, they employ an interdisciplinary approach that draws from economics, political science, sociology, geography, and history.Royce Hanson and Harold Wolman focus on four major themes: the federal government as the region's basic industry and its role in economic, physical, and political development; race as a core force in the development of the metropolis; the mismatch of the governance and economy of the national capital region; and the conundrum of achieving fully democratic governance for Washington, DC. Critical regional issues and policy problems are analyzed in the context of these themes, including poverty, inequality, education, housing, transportation, water supply, and governance.The authors conclude that the institutions and practices that accrued over the nineteenth and twentieth centuries are inadequate for dealing effectively with the issues confronting the city and the region in the twenty-first. The accumulation of problems arising from the unique role of the federal government and the persistent problem of racial inequality has been compounded by failure to resolve the conundrum of governance for the District of Columbia. They recommend rethinking the governance of the entire region.While many books are concerned with the city of Washington, DC, Nation's Metropolis is the only book focused on the development and political economy of the metropolitan region as a whole. It will engage readers interested in the national capital, metropolitan development more generally, and the growing comparative literature on national capitals.

Table of contents

• Cover
• Series Page
• Title Page
• Copyright
• Contents
• Preface
• List of Abbreviations
• 1. All Capitals Are Peculiar: Washington Is More Peculiar Than Most
• 2. The National Capital Region’s Basic Industry
• 3. The Federal Government and the Region’s Development
• 4. The Geography of Race and Ethnicity in the National Capital Region
• 5. Race, Ethnicity, and the Region’s Workforce
• 6. Governing the District of Columbia
• 7. Governing Suburbia
• 8. Regional Institutions
• 9. The Capital’s Dilemma: Economic, Racial, and Ethnic Inequality
• 10. Managing the Region’s Vital Infrastructure: Transportation and Water Supply
• 11. The Federal Interest in the National Capital Region
• 12. Rethinking Governance of the Nation’s Metropolis
• 13. A Model for the Nation?
• Notes
• Index
• Acknowledgments