Pragmatic municipalism or austerity urbanism? Understanding local government responses to fiscal stress

Abstract

While national governments responded to the Great Recession with austerity, local government responses were varied. Two contrasting views are found in the literature: ‘austerity urbanism’ and ‘pragmatic municipalism’. We argue austerity urbanism best reflects local responses in contexts where local governments have limited autonomy and cuts in local government aid have been severe, such as Detroit in the US, England, and the southern states in the EU. Pragmatic municipalism best explains local responses in contexts where local governments have more fiscal autonomy, as in the US. Differences in state-local relations as well as methodology (case study or large-scale analysis) lead to these two different views. While responses to fiscal stress differ, we find the process opens up local government services to more marketisation in both contexts.