Bargaining with annexation as a community development strategy in Arizona’s “wildcat” developments : the case of the Summit neighborhood in Pima County -

Abstract

Over the past decades, several counties in Southern Arizona have witnessed the proliferation of so-called “wildcat” developments, low-income residential neighborhoods established just beyond city limits in unincorporated county land where building activities by-pass official regulations by subdividing land parcels without formal approval. Drawing from the case study of the Summit neighborhood (located just outside the city of Tucson in Pima County, Arizona), this thesis aims to answer two questions; (1) how can we – as urban planners – better understand “wildcat” developments in how they have both formed and remained outside of city limits? And (2) what amendments are needed for annexation into the city to become a viable strategy to improve living conditions in the neighborhood? The research adopted a qualitative approach that combined resident interviews, demographic data collection and theoretical support. The findings conclude that: (i)Wild-cat developments have provided flexible lending options, land-use practices and shared living arrangements to low-income city dwellers, enabling them to secure housing in Arizona’s otherwise exclusionary housing market. (ii)Summit dwellers nonetheless incur hefty consequences in remaining on the city’s fringes, making a policy of incorporation - both through municipal annexation and social integration – a necessary strategy for the long-term sustainability of the community. In articulating its policy responses, it identifies two tracks of policy recommendations. The first set of proposals centers on neighborhood-scale interventions, including (1) “learning from the Third World” in which policies vis-à-vis informal settlements in the Global South are adapted to the somewhat similar context of wildcat developments, (2) establishing zones of “flexibility” in the city where regulations are relaxed and (3) working with local communities to develop infrastructure upgrading initiatives. Th