Despite their scale, complexity, and influence on surrounding urban forms, military installations receive relatively little attention in planning scholarship. The spatial dynamics and social implications of US military bases, often perceived as apolitical and insular “gray zones” in planning practice, reflect broader patterns of economic and social inequality akin with anchor institutions which consolidate power through land, capital, and policy (Lochtin; 1984; Markusen et al., 1991; Lutz, 2001). Through an examination of how two San Diego communities, Coronado and Barrio Logan, and their military installations engage with one another, this work explores how military bases function as both buffers and catalysts for social and physical stratification. The case studies of Coronado and Barrio Logan illustrate that despite the long-held illusion that the West Coast and the military have functioned as progressive bastions or social equalizers, decades of development shaped by racial and class bias reveal that neither has ever been as equitable as they appear. The urban disparity between these two communities shows two divergent pathways by which the martial metropolis reshapes cities: one via the accumulation of privilege through proximity and influence, and the other disproportionately burdened with pollution, dispossession, and displacement.
Kelsey Graff (Mon,) studied this question.