Book Review: Co-Crafting the Just City

 

James A. Throgmorton, Co-Crafting the Just City: Tales from the Field by a Planning Scholar Turned Mayor (Routledge, 2022).

Yuval Levin, a scholar at the American Enterprise Institute and a former aide to Newt Gingrich and George W. Bush, gave a talk to the Bipartisan Policy Council this week previewing the next Congress which very likely will have one if not both houses under Republican control. Levin's talk was based on his 2013 book, The Great Debate: Edmund Burke, Thomas Paine, and the Birth of Right and Left [Basic Books], which argues that Burke's and Paine's responses to 18th century monarchy define contemporary political divides. A lot got lost in the space-time continuum, particularly how the party of Trump can cast itself as the defender of institutions--see Gardner and Arnsdorf 2022, any account of the January 6 riot at the U.S. Capitol, or for that matter Waldman 2014--but it was possibly helpful in understanding contemporary conservatives' self-image.

So it was refreshing to pick up the memoir of James A. Throgmorton, who served as mayor of Iowa City from 2016-2019. Even on that island of leftism in our state, Throgmorton and his allies on the City Council were not blowing up the city's institutions in the name of liberation, but rather trying to extend the promises of those institutions more inclusively: When I was mayor in Iowa City, the vision of fostering a more inclusive, just, and sustainable city acted as my "north star," and, to move in that direction, we took actions to reduce race-related inequities, increase the supply of affordable housing, adopt an ambitious climate action plan, improve relationships between city government and diverse marginalized communities, pursue more inclusive and sustainable land development codes/policies, and more (3). Nothing got smashed... no one got beheaded!

James A. Throgmorton and friends, from sppa.uiowa.edu

After an introductory chapter discussing his background and presenting his approach to the book, Throgmorton takes us year by year through his seven years on the City Council in the 2010s. He covers policy issues as well as details of the life of a Council member. Along the way, he explains his frustration with what he sees as a more managerial culture on the Council; he made it his mission to use his position to try to make the city more "just," and eventually found the capacity to encourage allies to run for and win a Council majority. The chapters are well-enough organized that neither the broad coverage nor the important details get overwhelming. His habit of referring to others involved in Iowa City politics by their first name and last initial (Rockne C., John T., Mazahir S.) is odd and gets distracting, although I myself frequently do it in correspondence.

In his quest towards the just city, Throgmorton focuses on city design issues--understandable for a planner--particularly increasing the population density of the downtown area, and on racial equity and inclusion. In his first two years on the City Council, "None of the economic development efforts [undertaken] focused on improving the lives of Iowa City's lower-income residents, especially those who were black" (54), yet Iowa City was not exempt from the wave of awareness that blacks around the country have less and encounter the police more and differently. 

Here Throgmorton clearly identifies an "oppressed" group for which the police department and a lot of other institutions clearly are not working. Yet, consistently, his response and those of his allies on the Council is not to smash the institution but to reform it, or to attempt to ameliorate racial disparities. In 2014, amid protests against the shooting of Michael Brown in Missouri, and release of a study clearly showing racial disparities in Iowa City's own police practices, Throgmorton argues to the city council for a three-pronged approach: (1) build stronger bonds based on mutual trust (between City government and the city's black community); (2) address the deeper inequities in education, employment, income, housing, incarceration, and so on presented in the equity director's two reports; and (3) devise programs that could potentially be funded with revenues generated by a revised [local option sales tax] (102).

Not revolutionary stuff. After he became mayor in 2016, there were more grants for affordable housing, the police are encouraged to further reduce disproportionality in contacts with blacks and whites, and five city departments tried out a Racial and Socioeconomic Equity Toolkit (133). A 2018 meeting with a group of black mothers yielded more suggestions:

First, there is not much for kids to do in Iowa City to stay out of trouble, regardless of color. he City could provide a place black youth could go for structured activities other than the City's two large recreation centers. Second, the place and activities would have to be well-managed, with on-site guidance and leadership being provided by African-American residents who would be part-time employees of the City. Third, the City could work with leaders in the black community and faculty at the university and Kirkwood Community College to help black youth gain a deeper understanding of African-American history. And fourth, the City could help small or new community organizations learn how to write successful grant applications. (152)

All this is much more Burke than Paine, assuming we can translate Paine's attitudes toward the 18th century British and French monarchies into 21st century civil rights policy. Moreover, Throgmorton's most consistent adversaries are defined, not by ideologies hearkening back to debates over the monarchy, but "neoliberal 'Boomtown' advocates (a.k.a. the growth machine)" at the local level, as well as "the conservative Christian, ethno-nationalist, free-market fundamentalist regimes that dominated state and federal government" (192). Does he contradict himself? I don't think so. The political manifestation of conservatism in America today is an awkward mix of "rigid orthodoxy for them, unbridled liberation for us," which neither sounds remotely like Burke nor acknowledges human sinfulness. There's a lot of short-term political advantage in it, too (see Rampell 2022).

To be fair, Throgmorton's book is about local government, which has for a long time been more pragmatically-focused than the national politics Levin describes (see Barber 2013). In his concluding chapter, Throgmorton describes the hard work required of a local mayor or council member, and the level of knowledge required, particularly to be a change agent (192-199). The pace of change makes it a long game, while the electoral cycle is short (199-204). The concept of "co-crafting" (207) acknowledges any city's complexity, the limited power of any individual to effect change, and the collaborative nature of any policy effort. Like Strong Towns' Chuck Marohn, Throgmorton does not cite Burke but shares his ambivalence towards easy fast answers.

P.S.--Throgmorton's account of politics in Iowa City during the 2010s is thorough and reflective, with lessons for citizens and practitioners everywhere, and so we can forgive his overlooking arguably the most galvanic night of June 30, 2015 (see also Cole 2015).