Introduction to urban studies

Metropolitan growth and federal policies over the past half-century have had a highly negative impact on the poor of the central cities in the United States. Specifically, the African-American community (as well as other minority populations) has largely felt the brunt of metropolitan growth and federal policies.

As cities have grown, and suburban development has pushed city limits outward, the middle class has been drawn out of the city center. Both the black and white middle class have been drawn to the suburbs, leaving the city centers that are literally crowded with poor minorities. In short, urban sprawl has resulted in great concentrations of poverty-stricken African-Americans in the city centre.

The District of Columbia and Baltimore City are excellent examples of once thriving central cities that are now primarily areas that house the nation's poor African-American communities. In 1950, the District of Columbia had 802,000 residents, who accounted for close to 55% of the entire metropolitan areas one and a half million residents. However, by the time 1996 had rolled around the District of Columbia's 543,000 residents only made up less than 12% of the 4.6 million residents in the entire metropolitan area.

Baltimore City has a similar story. In 1950 it had almost 950,000 residents, with 71% of its region's 1.3 million residents. In 1996, its 675,000 residents are close to 27% of the Baltimore region's 2.5 million total population.

Not only are there fewer people in the inner cities of the District of Columbia and Baltimore City, but those people are also poorer. The District of Columbia has about 30% of Washington's poor, while Baltimore City houses 60% of the metro area's poor. Remarkably, 85% of the metro area poor are African-American.

The math tells the story succinctly: not only are America's inner cities shrinking, they have come to house the poor, and the poor are largely African-American in composition. As such, metropolitan sprawl has had a highly negative effect on the poor of the inner cities of the United States. Given that most of the poor in metropolitan areas are African-American, it is African-Americans who have shouldered most of the brunt of the monster that is metropolitan sprawl.

Federal policies have also played a large role over the past half-century in the negative impact on the poor of the central cities in the United States. Specifically, the African-American community (as well as other minority populations) have largely borne the burden of federal policies.

Astonishing, until the 1960's, the Suburban America was built for middle-class whites. Until the 1960s, for example, the Federal Housing Administration would only insure mortgages in neighbourhoods that were not highly racially mixed. Further, the Federal Housing Administration had a strong bias toward insuring new construction.

As a result of the Federal Housing Administration's policies, white Americans could readily obtain low-cost, long-term mortgages for in new suburban developments. In contrast, African-Americans were restricted to difficult to obtain, high-cost, short-term mortgages that were largely restricted to inner city, used housing developments.

Certainly, federal policies and suburban sprawl are not the only two factors that have lead to the development of the poor, racially segregated inner city. Other causes include, zoning, creating large public housing products in low-income areas (such as the inner city), redlining by insurance companies and banks. In concert with the powerful forces of federal policies and suburban sprawl, the end result has been staggering: a huge segregation by race and class. This physical segregation of African-Americans in the inner city has the end result of increasing the effects of poverty and segregation.

Certainly, the fact that the federal transportation bill has not been authorized has played a large role on the development of the racial-segregated and poverty-infused central cities in the United States. Reasonably high funds for HUD rent vouchers have also led to the racial and class segregation of African-Americans in America's inner cities.

The development of public housing in inner cities that are already racially segregated has exacerbated the problem of racial-segregated and poverty-infused central cities in the United States. Certainly, when the federal government decides to build public housing, it is the poor who will obviously take advantage of this housing. Given that poverty in America largely wears the face of the minority population (and especially the African-American population) it is not surprising that federally-supported public housing in the inner city has drawn an even larger, poor African-American population to the inner city. The federal government's development of public housing in mixed-income communities may ease help this problem.