Getting Globalized: Urban Policy and Industrial Displacement in Williamsburg,Brooklyn

We hypothesize that as the "global city" label becomes ever more central to a city's identity, local urban government policy increasingly supports those economic sectors that city leaders see as being congruent with the global and increasingly undermines sectors that serve primarily local markets. Through an in-depth study of small-scale manufacturers in the Williamsburg neighborhood of Brooklyn, in New York City, we examine the extent to which and the ways in which local policy undermines otherwise healthy locally oriented businesses. We find that the City's assumption that urban manufacturing is a dying breed becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy, largely via the City's own treatment of its manufacturing businesses. Through a lack of enforcement of zoning codes, zoning variances and rezoning initiatives, and more quotidian policies of harassment over noise and other quality of life complaints, the City is making it more difficult to do business for small-scale manufacturers. These policies then create a conventional wisdom that sees the City as a difficult place to start and grow a business.