Revitalizing Urban Neighborhoods / Edition 1

by W. Dennis Keating, Norman Krumholz, Philip Star

Overview

Since the 1950s and the advance of urban renewal, local governments and urban policy have focused heavily on the central business district. Today, promoters of downtown development still emphasize office and retail expansion, convention centers, sports arenas, festival market places, and tourist attractions. But, as the authors of this volume demonstrate, such development has all but ignored the inner-city neighborhoods that continue to struggle in the shadows of high-rise America.

Revitalizing Urban Neighborhoods addresses that alarming oversight. This up-to-date analysis of urban neighborhoods in the United States from 1960 to 1995 presents fifteen original and thought-provoking essays by many of the leading scholars of urban planning and development. Together they show how urban neighborhoods can and must be preserved as economic, cultural, and political centers.

In this unique resource, the authors examine the growth and evolution of urban neighborhoods; illustrate what approaches have and haven't worked in a number of U.S. cities, including Chicago, Detroit, Cleveland, Los Angeles, Boston, and Minneapolis; investigate the expansion and widespread successes of Community Development Corporations in neighborhoods around the country; provide a comprehensive analysis of federal policies; and discuss the prospects of urban neighborhoods from a realistic perspective.

These authors remind us that, as Americans lead more mobile and private lives, the role of urban neighborhoods has changed dramatically in the wake of declining population, jobs, and community spirit. After reviewing these unsettling trends, they assess the current status of urban neighborhoods and revitalization projects and point the way to alternative policies.

While other works have addressed individual issues of urban revitalization, none provide the comprehensive and practical overview found in this volume. It is an invaluable source for students, educators, and practitioners of urban planning and development and anyone concerned with the prosperity of America's cities and the future of her neighborhoods.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780700607907
Publisher:	University Press of Kansas
Publication date:	10/16/1996
Series:	Studies in Government and Public Policy
Edition description:	New Edition
Pages:	304
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 0.68(d)

Table of Contents

Preface

Acknowledgments

Abbreviations

Introduction: Neighborhoods in Urban America, W. Dennis Keating

Part One: The Growth and Evolution of Urban Neighborhoods

1. America’s Urban Mosaic: Immigrant and Minority Neighborhoods in Cleveland, Ohio, Edward M. Miggins

2. Neighborhoods in Transition, W. Dennis Keating and Janet Smith

3. Neighborhood Organizing: The Importance of Historical Context, Robert Fisher

4. Past Federal Policy for Urban Neighborhoods, Janet Smith

Part Two: Neighborhood Decline and Attempts at Revitalization

5. Urban Politics and Progressive Housing Policy: Ray Flynn and Boston's Neighborhood Agenda, Peter Dreier

6. Social Justice and Neighborhood Revitalization in Chicago: The Era of Harold Washington, 1983-1987, Robert Giloth

7. Neighborhood Organizations and Community Planning: The Minneapolis Neighborhood Revitalization Program, Clifford Hirst

8. Los Angeles Neighborhoods Respond to Civil Unrest: Is Planning and Adequate Tool?, Jacqueline Leavitt

9. Faith-based Community Development and African-American Neighborhoods, June Manning Thomas and Reynard N. Blake, Jr.

Part Three: The Community Development Movement

10. CDCs as Agents of Neighborhood Change: The State of the Art, Avis C. Vidal

11. The Community-based Housing Movement and Progressive Local Politics, Edward G. Goetz

12. Community-based Housing Organizations and the Complexity of Community Responsiveness, Rachel G. Bratt

Profiles of Leading Neighborhood Figures

Part Four: Urban and Metropolitan

Development Policies

13. Metropolitan Development and Neighborhood Revitalization, Norman Krumholz

14. Friend or Foe? The Federal Government and Community Reinvestment, Gregory D. Squires

15. Neighborhood Revitalization: Future Prospects, Philip Star

References and Selected Bibliography

The Contributors

Index

Editorial Reviews

"This book is particularly effective in its discussion of the policy implications of large theoretical questions about urban revitalization that often go unexamined."—American Planning Association Journal

"A comprehensive, cohesive, and up-to-date assessment of the prospects for community-led initiatives to bring about healthier, progressive cities. While acknowledging that there are broad political and economic forces that buffet the city and that are outside residents’ immediate control, the contributors identify ways in which even low-income neighborhoods can take things, productively, into their own hands. The collection strikes the right balance between visionary optimism and hard-headed realism."—Jeffrey R. Henig, author of Neighborhood Mobilization: Redevelopment and Response

"This volume goes well beyond the collection of ‘success stories’ that make up much of the literature on urban neighborhoods. It brings together the leading scholars on urban neighborhoods to present a compelling argument that, as in the past, neighborhoods substantially define the civic life of cities—and that policies that would help urban residents must aim to revitalize the fundamental unit of civic culture, the neighborhood."—Dennis Judd, coauthor of City Politics: Private Power and Public Policy

"An interesting and readable mix of discussions of general neighborhood issues and profiles of particular cities, neighborhoods, and neighborhood movement leaders."—John C. Thomas, author of Between Citizen and City: Neighborhood Organizations and Urban Politics

From the Publisher