The Impacts of Variations in Development Context on Employment Growth: A Comparison of Central Cities in Michigan and Ontario, 1980-2006

Abstract

This study compares post-1980 central city employment trends in the state of Michigan and the province of Ontario, similar-sized, closely linked by trade, and situated within the same natural region but in different federalist nations. Guided by interviews with 124 development officials, the study describes how variations in Michigan’s and Ontario’s central cities’ employment mix, “state” approach to development, framework for local authority, and sociodemographic dynamics (e.g., interracial relations, racial distribution, and others) have been among several embedded or contextual factors fostering divergent employment trends in their respective central cities.The study’s findings also demonstrate how state/provincial embeddedness has remained especially influential.To help bridge the gap between theory and concrete public policy making, the article’s conclusion offers a set of factors to be considered by scholars and practitioners in their efforts to understand and compare growth trends in urban areas.As a group, these elements are called the contextualized model of urban-regional development.