Urban Policy in the Carter Administration

Abstract

In a 2009 speech, President Obama stated that he has "directed the Office of Management and Budget, the Domestic Policy Council, the National Economic Council and the Office of Urban Affairs to conduct the first comprehensive interagency review in 30 years of how the federal government approaches and funds urban and metropolitan areas so that we can start having a concentrated, focused, strategic approach to federal efforts to revitalize our metropolitan areas." This paper summarizes a rapid scan of available literature to describe what actually happened 30 years ago as the Carter administration conducted that earlier review and policy formulation process.

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Introduction

In a July 2009 speech, President Obama stated that he has "directed the Office of Management and Budget, the Domestic Policy Council, the National Economic Council and the Office of Urban Affairs to conduct the first comprehensive interagency review in 30 years of how the federal government approaches and funds urban and metropolitan areas so that we can start having a concentrated, focused, strategic approach to federal efforts to revitalize our metropolitan areas."

This paper is the product of a rapid scan of available literature (and the memories of a few participants) to describe what actually happened 30 years ago as the Carter administration conducted that earlier review and policy formulation process. The paper has four parts:

• Part A presents a brief overview of the main events, identifying key participants.
• Part B notes the main themes, philosophy, and recommendations of Carter's urban policy and reviews the most important research conducted on urban issues during the period.
• Part C examines the history of one important element in the research—analysis of the spatial distribution of federal outlays—summarizing the data available for such work and the analysis of the topic done in the Carter years and since.
• Part D offers a few ideas on what all of this experience might suggest for how a new urban policy review might be conducted today.

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