Looking Outward or Turning Inward?: Motivations for Development Decisions in California Central Cities and Suburbs

The author probes for differences among central cities, suburbs, and rural communities in the perceived importance of various motivations for development decisions, drawing on a mail survey of city managers/administrators in California. Central-city respondents are more inclined to “look outward” in making land-use decisions, attributing greater importance to certain regional economic and development challenges, whereas suburbs are somewhat more inclined to “turn inward” and focus on localistic concerns. Multivariate analysis is employed to examine whether the distinctive land-use motivations of central cities and suburbs reflect differences in composition (internal characteristics such as demographics and fiscal health) or differences in position (central cities’ status as the economic and political hubs of metropolitan areas and suburbs’ more specialized roles).