Royce Hanson - Nations Metropolis: The Economy, Politics, and Development of the Washington Region

THE CITY IN THE TWENTY-FIRST CENTURY

Eugenie L. Birch and Susan M. Wachter,Series Editors

A complete list of books in the series is available from the publisher.

NATIONS METROPOLIS

The Economy, Politics, and Development of the Washington Region

Royce Hanson

and

Harold Wolman

UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA PRESS

PHILADELPHIA

Copyright 2023 University of Pennsylvania Press

All rights reserved. Except for brief quotations used for purposes of review or scholarly citation, none of this book may be reproduced in any form by any means without written permission from the publisher.

Published by

University of Pennsylvania Press

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19104-4112

www.upenn.edu/pennpress

Printed in the United States of America on acid-free paper

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

Hardcover ISBN: 978-1-512-82291-5

eBook ISBN: 978-1-512-82292-2

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Names: Hanson, Royce, author. | Wolman, Harold, author.

Title: Nations metropolis : the economy, politics, and development of the Washington region / Royce Hanson and Harold Wolman.

Other titles: City in the twenty-first century book series.

Description: Philadelphia : University of Pennsylvania Press, [2023] | Series: The city in the twenty-first century | Includes bibliographical references and index.

Identifiers: LCCN 2022024370 | ISBN 9781512822915 (hardcover)

Subjects: LCSH: Washington Metropolitan AreaHistory. | Washington Metropolitan AreaEconomic conditions. | Washington Metropolitan AreaPolitics and government.

Classification: LCC F201 .H36 2023 | DDC 975.3dc23/eng/20220609

LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2022024370

T his book began at lunch. We had each separately just completed work on books and fell to talking about what to do next as we awaited their publications. As we explored the possibilities, we realized there was a significant gap in the literature about the nations capital. Washington, DC, was the subject of fine histories, soon to include Chris Asch and George Musgroves Chocolate City. There was also a rich trove of studies on specific policies, problems, and issues by Brookings, the Urban Institute, the Fuller Center at George Mason University, and our own colleagues at the Center for Washington Area Studies at George Washington University.

Remarkably, no major work had dealt in detail with Washington as a metropolis, although it had been included in one comparative study of national capital regions. We decided to remedy that omission. We have both spent much of our careers in the national capital region. Hanson began his academic career as a student of the region and later served as a planning official in the suburbs during two different eras of suburban development. So this book represents an intellectual homecoming. Wolmans career has involved study of urban policy and politics in the United States and abroad and development of urban policy as a congressional staff member. Both of us have long been engaged in the study of cities, metropolitan areas, and national urban policy. We have both had the advantage of living in, working in, and studying other major metropolitan areas. We previously collaborated in research on urban policy, sprawl, and the civic engagement of business leaders. Our interests were easily merged.

We have observed the development of metropolitan Washington for more than a half-century as scholars, practitioners, and residents. Drawing on that long observation of the region and our experience in urban policy, we agreed on several core elements that formed the approach and framework of his book. First, we felt Washington, the national capital, had long since become a region and that it needed to be understood as a metropolitan political economy. That would emphasize the mismatch of its economy and its governance and might open new avenues for thinking about reforms of the latter. Second, we thought the regional political economy should be seen as a work in progress, its evolutionary path heavily influenced by the weight of earlier decisions and the resilient half-lives of established institutions and ways of thinking. Third, it seemed to us that Washingtons distinction from other metropolitan areas and national capitals was the product of a few defining features of its political economy. The features we identified would provide the thematic framework for the book. Finally, we felt a comparative dimension was needed, not only to note the differences and similarities with other regions and capitals, but to explain its role in the national urban system and to suggest ways in which some of the policy and institutional issues we identified could be resolved.

As policy analysts who have taught three generations of young scholars and practitioners, we are committed not only to advancement of knowledge for its own sake but to its practical application in formulation of public policy. We, therefore, offer this contribution to the public dialogue about the future of the Nations Metropolis.