Warner, M.E. 2011. "Club Goods and Local Government: Questions for Planners," Journal of the American Planning Association, 77(2): 155-166.

Private approaches to urban service provision are becoming more popular. This paper explores examples of club goods - Common Interest Developments for housing, Business Improvement Districts for commercial areas, and Economic Development Zones for commercial and industrial areas - and assesses their implications for local government. While these club approaches can shift the burden of infrastructure finance to direct groups of users, they also fragment urban service delivery and justify unevenness in service quality across the city. Emphasis is given to how clubs internalize benefits to members of the club, but shed externalities onto the broader local government system. A critical governance concern is the impact on the long term ability of local government to coordinate across disparate elements and interests in the community.

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Subject: Planning,Privatization