The Completely Decentralized City: The Case for Benefits Based Public Finance

American Journal of Economics and Sociology, The, Jan, 2001 by Fred E. Foldvary

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Case Studies

COLUMBIA, MARYLAND IS AN EXAMPLE OF A large contractual community with both residential and commercial members, and which has decentralized its governance. It was developed during the 1960s. The population is about 100,000, with about 34,000 dwelling units. The Columbia Association runs an internal bus system, ColumBus, connecting the villages and the town center. The board is made up of one director from each of the ten villages. Each village has a governing board in charge of the local roads and grounds. Each resident, whether renter or owner, has a vote, as do non-resident owners. The Columbia villages are in turn divided into neighborhoods of between 600 and 800 dwelling units (see Foldvary 1994 for more details on Columbia and the cases below).

While Columbia is an example of successful multi-level organization, the model presented in this section would carry the concept further, to lowest-level neighborhoods of about 500 persons. Two examples of communities this size are the village of Arden in Delaware and the Fort Ellsworth condominium in Alexandria, Virginia.

Arden is an example of a land trust; in this case the land is owned by a nonprofit trust. The trust leases plots to households, who own the structures on the land. The lease rents pay for the expenses of the trust and the property tax as well as the village's budget. Unlike most residential associations, there are no restrictive covenants on the architecture in Arden, and it does not need them, since the houses are pleasantly different from one another, and very well maintained. There is no tax penalty for improving one's building, since the lease payment is only for the land and the property tax on the building is paid for by the trust. Indeed, Arden was deliberately founded on this principle in 1900 by followers of Henry George, as a model of a community funded from its site rents. The founders were also influenced by Ebenezer Howard (1965), who proposed "garden cities" which combine urban and rural features. Some 43 percent of Arden consists of greens, forests, and roads.

Arden is governed by town meetings and committees, with four regular town meetings per year. The village also elects a board of assessors to assess the lease rent. There are also many social, charitable, and recreational clubs. The Arden model was so successful that two similar communities were started nearby, Ardentown and Ardencroft. Arden demonstrates that a population of approximately 500 is sufficient to have community spirit, much activity, volunteers, and local civic goods. The village even had its own school until the state government forced it to give up local control in 1969. If it were much larger, town meetings would become unwieldy and the residents would be less well acquainted with one another.

The Fort Ellsworth Condominium Apartments in Alexandria, Virginia is an example of a private community within a city. Its 169 units were constructed in the early 1970s. There are five buildings, each four stories high, the buildings divided into sections with a stairwell, mail boxes, and a bulletin board. There is a Stairwell Captain for each section.