A History of Property Development and Ownership in Downtown Phoenix

Abstract

This chapter presents a history of land use, ownership, and development in downtown Phoenix since World War II, training specific attention on public and private strategies of development, often in conflict, that have produced Phoenix’s particular urban environment. This chapter continues on to present novel data regarding the prevalence of vacant land and the localization of property ownership. Land and development policies born from both neoliberal and sustainable development approaches, all intended to rectify serious issues of vacancy and abandonment, have impacted the character of downtown and led to both tensions and compromises between different stakeholders. While many attempts at revitalization have relied on an auto-dependent vision of urbanism promoting large institutional projects, this approach has been increasingly challenged by local arts community members emphasizing a local, bohemian, self-generating economy based on cultural production. Site-specific attempts to encourage development by public-private entities utilizing municipal tax incentives are often targeted at both of these development visions, producing conflict and exerting unintended consequences on the private market. The historical success of development is quantitatively measured by studying the extent of local underdeveloped land over 30 years, showing notable but spatially uneven decreases in urban vacancy overall. Non-local property ownership is assessed and mapped over 20 years to show that local ownership of developable property has significantly declined, and when paired with interview data indicating the importance of local commitment for bohemian sustainability outcomes, the study indicates that non-local ownership has decreased the transparency of local land use and development processes.