Making Cities Whole:

A Strategy for Reducing Systematic Bias in
Urban America

Abstract:

Public policy tends to characterize the problems of urban areas as either political or economic in nature. To the extent that problems are political in nature, reform focuses on structural changes to city government such as those recommended by the Progressive Movement. To the extent that problems are economic in nature, reform has taken two alternative approaches: redistribution of wealth in the case of the welfare state and free market schemes more recently. I argue that these attempts have and will fall short of their intended outcomes because they stand in tension with the normative foundation of the city. This foundation is best understood by turning to the philosophy of John Locke, particularly his teaching of private property and the social contract. These are not simply political or economic doctrines; they are also moral lessons. Casting city life as a moral problem, I argue that if policy is ever to improve the conditions of urban areas, it must cease to be at odds with our moral vision of the city.

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