Regionalism continues to be proffered as a policy prescription for US metropolitan ills. While many urban scholars discuss the benefits of regional approaches to problem-solving, others question, and sometimes dismiss, the possibility of widespread, comprehensive regionalism. This latter group generally takes one of two perspectives. First, they argue that local autonomy and fragmentation prohibit regional collaboration. Secondly, rational choice theorists claim jurisdiction-centred economic interest spurs intraregional competition and impedes cooperation. Although both perspectives can be criticised as overdeterministic, they appear to be supported by the limited number of examples of comprehensive metropolitan co-operation in the US. This article identifies a theoretical connection and empirical similarity between these views of impediments to regionalism. The author argues that strategies suggested by rational-based collective action theory apply to either the autonomy or competition argument; however, she notes that empirical results raise questions about adopting a strict rational-based model. The author warns against a premature dismissal of regionalism as a viable policy prescription without further research and recommends a promising path for future research on comprehensive regional co-operation.

Households in hurricane-prone regions respond to hurricane threat in numerous ways. Perceptions about their risk and other factors are thought to influence individuals’ decisions to take protective actions for hurricanes. This research investigates the perceptions, behavioral intentions, and actual protective actions of a sample of residents in Miami-Dade County, Florida. We use unique data collected via a telephone survey to investigate a set of factors including risk perception, perceived local government readiness for a hurricane, past hurricane experience, hazard information exposure, and demographics, which have been posited to influence perceived hurricane preparedness, intent to evacuate under hurricane threat, and actual hurricane preparedness. The analytic results show that risk perception was positively associated with perceived preparedness, intent to evacuate, and one of the actual preparedness measures. Perceived local government readiness for a hurricane also was positively related to perceived preparedness and an actual protective measure. The results for other factors, including socio-demographics, varied by dependent variable. Following a report of the results, we discuss the research and policy implications of our findings.

Pluvial flash flooding (PFF) is a growing hazard facing cities around the world as a result of rapid urbanization and more intense precipitation from global warming, particularly for low-resourced settings in developing countries. We present collaborative modeling (CM) as an iterative process to meet diverse decision-making needs related to PFF through the co-production of flood hazard models and maps. CM resulted in a set of flood hazard maps accessible through an online viewer that end-users found useful and useable for understanding PFF threats, including debris blockages and barriers to mobility and evacuation. End-users of information included individuals concerned with general flood awareness and preparedness, and involved in infrastructure and emergency management, planning, and policy. CM also showed that rain-on-grid hydrodynamic modeling is needed to depict PFF threats in ways that are intuitive to end-users. These outcomes evidence the importance and transferability of public health rationale for community-based research and principles used here including recognizing community as a unit of identity, building on strengths of the community, and integrating knowledge for the benefit of all partners.

The article explicates the contours of an academic discipline and builds an argument in favor of viewing planning as an evolving discipline. As part of our argument, we discuss the unique historical trajectory of the planning discipline, its emphasis on practice and public scholarship, and how this contrasts to the traditional social sciences. We argue that planning scholars need to reorient toward the discipline’s central organizing concept, Friedmann’s knowledge-action framework, and to engage in an ongoing dialectical process of refinement, revision, and extension. To illustrate this point, we provide an example of how recent scholarly work on collective action and social movement contributes to the terrain of planning thought.

Local officials in the US often extol the virtues of homeownership. Public proclamations about homeownership are frequent from these officials and echo many of the claims made by federal policy makers. While the federal government has promoted and funded policy to increase homeownership for decades, little is known about the level of financial support devoted to homeownership at the local level or the reasons for any variation in support among cities. This research examines the attitudes of city mayors about local policies and homeownership and investigates explanations for support of homeownership policy. In doing so, the research uses a public choice framework to explore the effects of inter-city competition and other factors on local housing policy making. Using data from surveys of city mayors and professional staff, as well as US Census data, this research finds that high levels of competition are associated with higher levels of support for homeownership. Furthermore, the results suggest that homeownership programs may be considered developmental policy in cities, not redistributive policy like most housing programs. The paper concludes with theoretical and policy implications based on the research results as well as identifying needs for future research on local homeownership policy.