“Whose Bronx?” Regime Politics and the Evolution of Community Power at the Kingsbridge Armory

Abstract

This thesis traces the 30-year history of redevelopment activities at the Kingsbridge Armory in the Northwest Bronx, as community groups have mounted an expanding challenge to development-as-usual in New York City. Using urban regime theory as a lens, I deploy archival research and interviews to assess the tensions that emerge when regime politics collide with a building movement of community power at the Kingsbridge Armory over time. I argue that New York City’s predominant urban economic development regime is not structured to accommodate an organization that is both a grassroots leader and a developer, and that as community power continues to evolve, the regime’s traditional arrangements become increasingly untenable. I ultimately assert that the increasingly structural movement of community power at the Kingsbridge Armory requires a reimagining of the informal processes, logics, and roles that have defined New York economic development.