Synopses & Reviews
For decades, North American cities racked by deindustrialization and population loss have followed one primary path in their attempts at revitalization: a focus on economic growth in downtown and business areas. Neighborhoods, meanwhile, have often been left severely underserved. There are, however, signs of change. This collection of studies by a distinguished group of political scientists and urban planning scholars offers a rich analysis of the scope, potential, and ramifications of a shift still in progress. Focusing on neighborhoods in six citiesandmdash;Baltimore, Chicago, Denver, Los Angeles, Phoenix, and Torontoandmdash;the authors show how key players, including politicians and philanthropic organizations, are beginning to see economic growth and neighborhood improvement as complementary goals. The heads of universities and hospitals in central locations also find themselves facing newly defined realities, adding to the fluidity of a new political landscape even as structural inequalities exert a continuing influence.
While not denying the hurdles that community revitalization still faces, the contributors ultimately put forth a strong case that a more hospitable local milieu can be created for making neighborhood policy. In examining the course of experiences from an earlier period of redevelopment to the present postindustrial city, this book opens a window on a complex process of political change and possibility for reform.
Review
"The City, Revisited is a major contribution to the history of thought on the three largest cities in the United States and a state-of-the-art appraisal of U.S. urban theory at the beginning of the twenty-first century. This remarkable volume not only provides much additional insight into the history and development of Chicago, Los Angeles, and New York, the contributors both encapsulate and expand upon urban theories that will prove exceptionally useful to those interested in understanding patterns of development in other cities as well, both in the United States and around the world." —David Gladstone, University of New Orleans
Review
andldquo;A generation ago, scholars sought to andlsquo;bring the state back inandrsquo; to studies of urban politics.and#160;Urban Neighborhoods in a New Eraand#160;proposes to do the same for neighborhood revitalization politics. This is a timely and important work with well-written case studies, cross-city statistics, and a wealth of forward-looking theoretical insights that will appeal to a wide-ranging audience of scholars and students as well as practitioners in the nonprofit sector and general readers interested in the fate of cities.andrdquo;
Review
andquot;An excellent collection of research essays on the changing fortunes of urban neighborhoods, and the approaches cities have developed to support them, over the last several decades. The volume includes outstanding and up-to-date interpretative analysis of both the politics and the policy process in one Canadian and five American cities. Altogether, the book represents a new standard in comparative urban studies for North America.andquot;
Review
andldquo;A half-century of battles between pro-development forces and neighborhood defenders has reshaped the urban political landscape. Conflicts exist in cities around the world between economic forces favoring development and protectors of neighborhood distinctiveness. What is different is that outcomes are no longer as pre-determined as in the past. Through a series of well-informed and perceptive case studies, the authors identify an important incremental shift in urban policy from a narrow preoccupation with land use toward greater concern with people.and#160;Revitalization policies have become viewed as an iterative and ongoing process rather than as a package of fixed products. While inequality and neighborhood distress remain pressing challenges for urban communities everywhere, this volume demonstrates that the possibilities for responding are more fluid and, hopefully, more effective than ever before.andrdquo;
Synopsis
The contributors to
The City, Revisited trace an intellectual history that begins in 1925 with the publication of the influential classic The City, engaging in a spirited debate about whether the major theories of twentieth-century urban development are relevant for studying the twenty-first-century metropolis.
Contributors: Janet Abu-Lughod, Northwestern U and New School for Social Research; Robert Beauregard, Columbia U; Larry Bennett, DePaul U; Andrew A. Beveridge, Queens College and CUNY; Amy Bridges, U of California, San Diego; Terry Nichols Clark, U of Chicago; Nicholas Dahmann, U of Southern California; Michael Dear, U of California, Berkeley; Steven P. Erie, U of California, San Diego; Frank Gaffikin, Queen's U of Belfast; David Halle, U of California, Los Angeles; Tom Kelly, U of Illinois at Chicago; Ratoola Kunda, U of Illinois at Chicago; Scott A. MacKenzie, U of California, Davis; John Mollenkopf, CUNY; David C. Perry, U of Illinois at Chicago; Francisco Sabatini, Ponticia Universidad Catolica de Chile; Rodrigo Salcedo, Pontificia Universidad Catolica de Santiago; Dick Simpson, U of Illinois at Chicago; Daphne Spain, U of Virginia; Costas Spirou, National-Louis U in Chicago.
Synopsis
Reexamining urban scholarship for the twenty-first century.
Synopsis
Faced with the loss of their industrial base, American cities in the past have focused on fostering economic growth especially in downtown areas, with neighborhoods by contrast being virtually ignored. This situation is starting to change, and the purpose of In a New Era is to re-assess the place neighborhoods hold not only in contemporary urban politics, but in urban research as well.and#160; Running through much of this research is a and#147;narrative of failureand#8221; in which neighborhood concerns are consistently marginalized in the face of their structural disadvantages. Focusing on distressed neighborhoods in different types of North American citiesand#151;Baltimore, Chicago, Denver, Los Angeles, Phoenix, and Torontoand#151;Clarence N. Stone, Robert P. Stoker, and their coauthors uncover the emergence of new trends in city-level policies and politics. When cities were in the early stage of transition away from the industrial era, pro-growth coalitions placed economic development in a privileged position and downplayed neighborhood concerns.and#160; Today this once-entrenched policy pattern is breaking up in different ways across cities as key players are beginning to treat economic development and neighborhood improvement as complementary goals.and#160; With organized business interests becoming less dominant, often more cooperative philanthropic foundations and the educational and medical sectors have become more prominent urban actors. While structural inequality certainly is still a factor, it has been, and can be, mitigated through strategically designed and institutionalized relationships. New policy practicesand#151;such as community benefits agreements and comprehensive community initiativesand#151;may well signal a new era in which neighborhood concerns are being integrated and institutionalized into local policymaking.
About the Author
Clarence N. Stone, Research Professor of Public Policy and Political Science, George Washington University, is a major figure in the field of urban politics. He is recipient of the Career Achievement Award from the American Political Science Association's Urban Politics section and is author or editor of six books, two of which have recieved the Best Book in Urban Politics Award. One of these books, Regime Politics (Kansas 1990), recieved the APSA's association wide Ralph J. Bunche Award as "the best scholarly work in political science exploring the phenomenon of ethnic and cultural pluralism.
Table of Contents
Contents
Part I. Revisiting Urban Theory
1. Theorizing the City
Dennis R. Judd
2. Grounded Theory: Not Abstract Words but Tools of Analysis
Janet Abu-Lughod
3. The Chicago of Jane Addams and Ernest Burgess: Same City, Different Visions
Daphne Spain
Part II. The View from Los Angeles
4. Urban Politics and the Los Angeles School of Urbanism
Michael Dear and Nicholas Dahmann
5. The Sun Also Rises in the West
Amy Bridges
6. From the Chicago to the L.A. School: Whither the Local State?
Steven P. Erie and Scott A. MacKenzie
Part III. The View from New York
7. The Rise and Decline of the L.A. and New York Schools
David Halle and Andrew A. Beveridge
8. School Is Out: The Case of New York City
John Hull Mollenkopf
9. Radical Uniqueness and the Flight from Urban Theory
Robert A. Beauregard
Part IV. The View from Chicago
10. The New Chicago School of Urbanism and the New Daley Machine
Dick Simpson and Tom Kelly
11. The New Chicago School: Notes Towards a Theory
Terry Nichols Clark
12. The Mayor among His Peers: Interpreting Richard M. Daley
Larry Bennett
13. Both Center and Periphery: Chicago's Metropolitan Expansion and the New Downtowns
Costas Spirou
Part V. The Utility of U.S. Urban Theory
14. The City and Its Politics: Informal and Contested
Frank Gaffikin, David C. Perry, and Ratoola Kundu
15. Understanding Deep Urban Change: Patterns of Residential Segregation in Latin American Cities
Francisco Sabatini and Rodrigo Salcedo
16. Studying Twenty-First Century Cities
Dick Simpson and Tom Kelly
Contributors
Index