Neighborhood and Region: An Experiential Basis for Understanding

An argument is made that in any evaluation of local public investment decisions affecting development, the policy framework shaping the decisions, and its ultimate impact, forces the evaluator to confront the linkage between the neighborhood and regional economies. It does this, the author asserts, because the local public interest, with a frequent emphasis on "fairness, "often seems to rub against a regional one that often emphasizes efficiency. Because of this, a process-oriented evaluation is suggested as a more fruitful approach to understanding how successful development planners approach, or frame, problems; how interest groups understand, or again frame, the outcomes; and how competing interests are reconciled. These points are illustrated with a case of conflict in land development in the near northwest side of Chicago, with the spark being commercial intrusion into an industrial area. The development case is briefly introduced, the policy framework guiding the local approach is sketched, and the local actors and processes affected by and affecting the opportunity are introduced. Finally, a series of questions are posed that might motivate a process-oriented evaluation of neighborhood and regional linkages, moving the evaluation effort, it is hoped, beyond the questions of who wins and who loses to questions of how.