WORKING PAPERS IN INTERNATIONAL URBAN STUDIES TRENDS IN METROPOLITAN AMERICA: SUBURBANIZATION IN THE BALTIMORE REGION A.W.P. Jansen !MtENDS IN METROPOLITAN AMERICA: SUBURBANIZATION IN THE BALTIMORE REGION AoWmPo JANSEN JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY INSTITUTE FOR POLICY STUDIES BALTIMORE, USA UNIVERSITY OF UTRECHT INSTITUTE FOR GEOGRAPHICAL RESEARCH UTRECHT, NETHERLANDS DECEMBER 1988 TABLE OF CONTENTS -PAGE Preface Acknowledgments Executive Summary 1 INTRODUCTION. 1 2 METROPOLITAN SYSTEMS, SUBURBANIZATION AND SUBURBS 5 2.1 Suburbanization in the United States 2.2 Suburbs and Suburban Areas 2.3 Metropolitan Dynamics 2.4 Suburban Development Models 3 THEBALTIMOREREGION. ....................... .15 3.1 The Regional Setting 3.2 Stages of Development 3.3 Population in the Region 4 CATALYTIC GROWTH: THE EMPLOYMENT F"CTI0N 031 4.1 The Regional Setting 4.2 The Industrial Sector 4.3 The Retail Sector 4.4 The Office Sector 5 THE SUBURBAN AREA: ACTORS, CHARACTERISTICS AND PROBLEMS ...... -47 5.1 Public Involvement 5.2 Private Involvement 5.3 The Suburban Area: New and Mature Areas 5.4 Problem8 in the Suburban Area 6 DIFFERENTIAL GROWTH AND SPECIALIZATION. ...............70 6.1 Growth Corridors 6.2 Developments in Selected Suburbs List of Tables and Figures Bibliography WORKING PAPERS IN INTERNATIONAL URBAN STUDIES The International Fellows in Urban Studies program sponsored by the Institute for Policy Studies of The Johns Hopkins University has for over twenty years brought urban scholars and practitioners from all over the world to The Johns Hopkins University campus in Baltimore, Maryland to conduct comparative urban research. In some cases, the Fellows have taken graduate level courses here; in other cases, they have taught courses for University students. More than two hundred specialists in urban studies and related fields have participated in the program. The majority have been from Europe, including a significant number from Eastern Europe. The impact of the program has been significant and its alumni have continued in distinguished careers. From among the former participants have come high ranking officials in the reform governments of Poland and Romania, as well as the Mayor of Barcelona. In addition, other projects have emerged from the Urban Fellows program, including a Technical Assistance Project supporting the emerging local governments in Poland and a book on The Future of the Industrial City: The Challenge of Economic Change in America and Europe. But the core of the program has been the research the Fellows have done while in residence in the United States These "Working Papers in International Urban Studies" represent the fruits of those efforts. They are "working papers" in two regards: (1) they reflect work completed under the time constraints of a limited Fellowship; and (2) for most of the Fellows, they were written in 1 English as a second language. Although the reader may find flaws in the English here, I am convinced that 1 the content of these papers constitutes an important contribution to urban studies in the United States and internationally. I hope that you will find them I of value . Lester M. Salmon Director Institute for Policy Studies The Johns Hopkins University I I I I a I I Acknowledqements a During my stay in the United States of America, in which period I conducted this research, I experienced that suburbanization in America is very exciting. Without the help of a number of people I would probably not have been able to l make this statement, First of all, I was fortunate to be able to participate in the International Fellowship Program at the Johns Hopkins University, I owe a lot of thanks to a the "father" of this program: Jack Fisher, Maggy Shamer and Gail Jorg also deserve many thanks: they helped me out when bureaucracy became too strang- ling. # The Institute for Policy Studies at The Johns Hopkins University provided a fruitful environment to study and work. I am very lucky to have been able to get to know the people at the Institute for Policy Studies, It would have been I almost impossible to conduct the research and write this report without the help and knowledge of Bob Seidel. Furthermore, I especially would like to thank Lester Salomon and Ann Schlay for their professional support and per- I sonal warmth. The Institute for Geographical Research at the University of Utrecht in the Netherlands allowed me to stay in Baltimore. I am more than grateful to Jan E van Weesep for all his advice, especially in the period of preparation. I also thank Henk Ottens for his support. 8 Last but not least, I owe a lot of thanks to all the people willing to par- ticipate in the research. I conducted a lot of interviews with developers, brokers, leaders of community organizations, people working for government 1 institutions, and so on. Especially the people at the Regional Planning Council deserve many thanks for their support. I Alex Jansen, I Utrecht, december 1988 t I 1 1 I EXECUTIVE SUMMARY The purpose of this study is to give a description and explanation of recent changes taking place in metropolitan America, and the impacts on both the suburban area and the individual suburbs, The research focusses on differen- tial development within the suburban area, The intention of is to promote a better understanding of current trends, and the factors contributing to these trends in metropolitan America. The development of the metropolitan system will prove to be of crucial importance for the different actors, who substan- tially influence the processes in a region, but also must face the results. Current problems demand for a better understanding of the developments, This research is a case-study of the Baltimore Metropolitan SMSA and con- centrates on the developments after 1970, First, the trends in population and employment are analyzed; they provide an important framework for the inter- pretation of the factors with impact on the processes in the suburban area, Second, some of the actors in, and characteristics of the suburbs are being discussed, Special attention is paid to current problems. Finally, the developments are being discussed from a perspective of growth corridors: in fact they are the physical embodiment of processes of differential growth and specialization, Population The population in the Baltimore region is still growing; a favorable situation and in contrast to the situation in many other metropolitan regions, The deconcentration shows no distinct directional bias and does not noticeably enhance competition among the suburban counties: the counties in the region all benefit from the increase in population. Based on period of initial development and distance to Baltimore city a distinction is made between the 'older' and 'newer' suburban counties, The older counties have a rather distinct relationship with Baltimore city as far as migration is concerned and they show relatively much 'urban' population- and housing-characteristics, They themselves lose population to the 'newer' counties. Baltimore County even experiences net-outmigration, The further outward moving population is highly selective on socio-economic charact- eristics, while the population leaving Baltimore city is getting more diver- sified, Differences in development between both the 'older' Anne Arundel and Baltimore Counties are predominantly due to their location relative to Washington D.C., Anne Arundel shows, just like the newer counties, net- inmigration and relatively high patterns of interaction with areas outside the Baltimore region, while the intensity of relations with Baltimore city is decreasing. Developments in the Baltimore region are increasingly dependent upon interaction with areas outside the region, while the dominance and regional function of Baltimore city is decreasing, The counties on the south- side of the region experience the highest in-migration of suburban Washington residents, This is reflected not only in the characteristics of the popula- tion, but also in the type of housing constructed. The accessibility of the housing market at the south-side of the region has, due to high value residen- tial developments increasingly become limited for lower-income population groups . i Employment The Baltimore region still experiences a growth in employment, due to a favorable transportation situation, labor-force characteristics, the number of government jobs and the intensifying relationship with Washington D.C.. The rate of growth slowed down after 1980, which is almost completely due to developments in Baltimore city and Baltimore County. The redistribution of employment to the suburban counties, however, showed an increase in speed. The center of the employment function tends to gravitate in southern direction, due to the catalytic growth of the Baltimore/ Washington Corridor. Within the state of Maryland, however, the Baltimore region is relatively loosing its employment function to the suburban Washington Counties. Within the region distinct shifts in hierarchy occur. Baltimore city is is loosing its dominant position rapidly. In absolute terms the gain in employ- ment is the highest in the 'older' suburban counties, while the 'newer' counties experience high growth rates. Baltimore city's loss of regional functions has lead to specialization on services of a higher order. The employment function has become the leading force behind the suburbanization in the latest stage. The beltway functions as a springboard, with the employment function moving out further, but also gravitating towards the beltway for reasons of accessibility. The office- and retail sector play an important role and have become magnets for other kinds of activities to occur. Baltimore County surpassed Baltimore city in amount of office floorspace in the 1980's. The office market in the Baltimore region is booming and among the tightest in the United States. The high development pressure throughout the whole region results in the construction of large scale projects in the newer parts of the suburban area and infilling and redevelopment especially in the older suburbs. Actors Urban policy is almost completely conducted within the general framework set by planning and zoning regulations.