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FUTURE STUDIES
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Focusing on Non-Local Capital
Humphrey (2001) and Logan and Molotch (1984) call attention to the trend of absentee-owned firms controlling local growth. Many of the benefits of having large national-level development corporations flow outside of the community, because their headquarters are in other cities. As this trend of large corporate land developments continues, Logan and Molotch hypothesize that local elites will begin to change their stance on local growth and begin to oppose it.
The local elites in this community do not appear to have come around to this predicted conclusion. At least not yet. On the contrary, large non-local private land developments around the city are seen as vehicles for industrial recruitment, and hence a better quality of life for all.
It will be important to keep track of the dynamics of the increasing influence of non-local developers in local growth coalitions and local politics. Cities are not, and have never been, autonomous entities. They have been, and will continue to be, connected with regional, national, and global systems. Understanding how these macro and global level trends affect the city’s elites and citizens is essential.