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St. Louis Metromorphosis: Past Trends and Future Directions

edited by Brady Baybeck and
E. Terrence Jones


Book Contents:

 





Section I: Demographics and Density

1. The Region’s Demography: 1950-2000, by David Laslo, University of Missouri - St. Louis
Since 1950, the St. Louis metropolitan area has added about a million residents and now boasts a population of nearly 2.6 million. This chapter summarizes trends in population change, racial composition and distribution, household income and social composition, occupation and employment, educational attainment, and poverty

.2. Dynamics of Density: 1960 - 2000, by Brady Baybeck, University of Missouri - St. Louis
The St. Louis region has also expanded spatially. Since 1960, Census data can be arranged by precise geographic location, enabling a study of the ebbs and flows in population and housing density. This chapter utilizes technology to examine which parts of the region have shifted in density and to explore how these changes are linked with selected policy events like new bridges and major commercial developments.

Section II: Economic Trends

3. The Transforming Economy, by Mark Tranel, University of Missouri - St. Louis
Drawing upon the Economic Censuses and the County Business Patterns data, this chapter describes key changes in the St. Louis metropolitan economy during the past half century. What are the implications of the shifts from manufacturing to service jobs? Which types of enterprises have flourished and which have withered? How rapidly is the St. Louis region evolving into a “new economy” fueled by knowledge and information?

4. St. Louisans at Work: 1960-2000, by David Laslo, University of Missouri - St. Louis
How has the region’s occupational mix changed over the past four decades? To what extent have employment centers shifted within the regions? How has the labor force’s demographic profile (age, gender, race) evolved? Are jobs closer to or more distant from the places where people live? This chapter examines these questions from various perspectives.

5. Economic Restructuring and Development Disparities, by Scott Cummings, Saint Louis University
This chapter probes the way economic changes -- especially the movement of jobs and businesses from the City of St. louis to St. Louis, St. Charles, Franklin, and Jefferson Counties -- has affected the economic opportunity, race and class polarization, and the concentration of poverty within the Missouri portion of the region.

6. Minority Business Development, by Scott Cummings, Saint Louis University
Using the Department of Commerce’s Survey of Minority Business Entrepreneurs, conducted every five years since 1977, this chapter examine the extent of minority business suburbanization, including which types of firms have moved to the suburbs and which have remained in inner-city, African American neighborhoods.

7. The Transportation Experience, by Mark Tranel, University of Missouri - St. Louis
This chapter charts St. Louis’s transition from a mixed mass/individual transit system to one dominated by the automobile. It examines how federal, state, and local transportation policies have affected automobile usage and transit ridership, asking to what extent the region has planned its own congestion.


Section III: Social Trends

8. Residential Segregation, by John Farley, Southern Illinois University - Edwardsville
This chapter tracks trends in housing segregation between 1940 and 2000 for the metropolitan area, and for the City of St. Louis, examines patterns back tot he 19th century. It explores the nature of the region’s acute residential segregation, discusses why it has remained among the ten most segregated metropolitan areas in the United States, and considers what will happen in the next few decades.

9. Housing Quality and Neighborhood Stability, by Richard Wesenberg, Washington University
City of St. Louis neighborhoods like Bevo, Central West End, Shaw, and Vandeventer have experienced some of the most dramatic alternations during the past half century. This chapter examines how various demographic changes -- family structure, household composition, education level, income, and employment -- have affected housing quality.

10. Family Structure, by Lois Pierce, University of Missouri - St. Louis
This chapter explores the ways changes in the region’s family structures overall and shifts in the location of types of families specifically have affected social problems, social policies, and social services. In what ways, for example, has the region responded to the increase in single parent households and elderly living alone?

11. A Century of Homicide, by Scott Decker, University of Missouri - St. Louis
The availability of City of St. Louis homicide data from the 1890’s enables an examination of how ethnicity, neighborhood composition, and population characteristics have influenced both the number of murders and the nature of their victims. This chapter explores these issues and places them in a national context.


Section IV: Governmental Trends

12. The Municipal Market, by E. Terrence Jones, University of Missouri - St. Louis
Municipalities are the key public actors within the metropolitan area and this chapter examines trends in municipal behavior from 1950 to 2000. Has St. Louis’s numerous municipalities contributed to economic and racial spatial segregation? Does governmental multiplicity exacerbate fiscal inequity? Have municipalities changed their service-tax packages over time as they compete for residents and businesses?

13. Education and Fragmentation, by Dan Keck, Saint Louis University
How have shifts in population affected student composition and learning in the region’s public school districts? How have districts responded to growing numbers of “at risk” children? What programs and policies have been implemented to achieve educational equity?


Section V: The Future

15. How St. Louis’s Past Frames Its Future, by Brady Baybeck and E. Terrence Jones, University of Missouri - St. Louis
Drawing on all the analyses, this concluding chapter sets forth the key challenges facing the St. Louis region. Based on what has happened over the past half century and longer, what items should dominate the agenda? What are St. Louis’s options for addressing these issues?

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