URBAN AND REGIONAL ECONOMICS

Real Utopias: Emancipatory Projects, Institutional Designs, Possible Futures 2012 Annual Meeting Theme: 107th ASA Annual Meeting, August 17-20,  Denver, CO "Real Utopias" seems like an oxymoron: Utopia means "nowhere"-a fantasy world of perfect harmony and social justice. To describe a proposal for social transformation as "utopian" is to dismiss it as an impractical dream outside the limits of possibility. Realists reject such fantasies as a distraction from the serious business of making practical improvements in existing institutions. The idea of real utopias embraces this tension between dreams and practice: "utopia" implies developing clear-headed visions of alternatives to existing institutions that embody our deepest aspirations for a world in which all people have access to the conditions to live flourishing lives; "real" means taking seriously the problem of the viability of the institutions that could move us in the direction of that world. The goal is to elaborate utopian ideals that are grounded in the real potentials of humanity, utopian destinations that have accessible way stations, utopian designs of viable institutions that can inform our practical tasks of navigating a world of imperfect conditions for social change. Exploring real utopias implies developing a sociology of the possible, not just of the actual. This is a tricky research problem, for while we can directly observe variation in what exists in the world, discussions of possibilities and limits of possibility always involve more speculative and contentious claims about what could be, not just what is. The task of a sociology of real utopias, then, is to develop strategies that enable us to make empirically and theoretically sound arguments about emancipatory possibilities. This opens a wide and challenging agenda for sociology: Empirical studies of innovative contemporary institutions and practices around the world that in one way or another prefigure emancipato

Coase, Spatial Pricing and Self -organising Cities Chris Webster Department of City and Regional Planning, University of Wales Cardiff, PO Box 906, Cardiff, CF1 3YN, UK, Webster@Cardiff.ac.uk Fulong Wu Department of Geography, University of Southampton, Highfield, Southampton, SO17 IBJ, UK, F.Wu@soton.ac.uk Abstract Modern computational techniques offer new horizons for urban economics in the form of agent-based simulation frameworks. This paper reports on a cellular automata (CA) simulation in which urban land transforms on the basis of locally optimal bargaining between developers and local communities (local governments). Because CA is an explicitly spatial modelling methodology, the space-time-specific paths to global equilibrium can be observed. Because it is an atomistic methodology (cells represent decision units), it is suitable for articulating microeconomic theories of urban processes including planning. We present a space-time-specific simulation of cities evolving under two alternative planning regimes. In one, the community has property rights and uses planning conditions, planning gain, impact fees and so on to ensure that each development occurs at a socially optimal density. This is a theoretically simplified rendition of the British development control system-simplified in the sense of acting from a position of perfect knowledge and having a single objective of optimising locational externalities. In the other simulation, developers have the right to develop but the community is allowed to make (rather than receive) compensatory payments in order to achieve socially optimal land-use patterns and densities. Decision-making in both systems is local and socially efficient. However, case-by-case ad hoc development control with compensatory exactions has the effect of steering development to the least-polluting locations. Although socially optimal densities can occur under alternative control regimes (as the second simulation demonstrates), the stylised

Property rights and the public realm: gates, green belts and gemeinschaft Webster, CJ Discussions about gated communities, shopping malls, and industrial parks -- proprietary developments produced by entrepreneurs -- frequently espouse overly simplistic notions of private and public realms, viewing the encroachment of the latter by the former as a threat. In this essay I develop the thesis that, in reality, cities naturally fragment into many small publics, each of which may be thought of as a collective consumption club. The club realm may, therefore, be a more useful -- and theoretically more powerful -- idea than the public realm. I argue that proprietary communities are a particular case of urban consumption club -- one in which legal property rights over neighbourhood public goods are assigned by property-market institutions. In other respects, the club realms that they create are not dissimilar from club realms created by other urban governance institutions. Government, the markets, and voluntary community action can all effectively assign property rights over shared neighbourhood goods, and in so doing create a set of included 'members' and a set of excluded 'nonmembers'. In contextualising the discussions of gated communities in this way, I draw connections between three interrelated concepts: public goods, the public domain, and the public realm. Environment and Planning B, Volume 29(3), 397-412, (2002)

The Futures of the City Region Edited by Michael Neuman, Angela Hull Published April 8th 2011 by Routledge - 116 pages Series: Regions and Cities Recommend to Librarian Purchasing Options: Hardback: 978-0-415-58803-4: $133.00 Add to Cart DescriptionContentsAuthor BioSubjects Does the 'city region' constitute a new departure in urbanisation? If so, what are the key elements of that departure? The realities of the urban in the 21st century are increasingly complex and polychromatic. The rise of global networks enabled by supranational administrations, both governmental and corporate, strongly influences and structures the management of urban life. How we conceive the city region has intellectual and practical consequences. First, in helping us grasp rapidly changing realities; and second in facilitating the flow of resources, ideas and learning to enhance the quality of life of citizens. Two themes interweave through this collection, within this broad palette. First are the socio-spatial constructs and their relationship to the empirical evidence of change in the physical and functional aspects of urban form. Second is what they mean for the spatial scales of governance. This latter theme explores territorially based understandings of intervention and the changing set of political concerns in selected case studies. In efforts to address these issues and improve upon knowledge, this collection brings together international scholars building new data-driven, cross-disciplinary theories to create new images of the city region that may prove to supplement if not supplant old ones. The book illustrates the dialectical interplay of theory and fact, time and space, and spatial and institutional which expands on our intellectual grasp of the theoretical debates on 'city-regions' through 'practical knowing', citing examples from Europe, the United States, Australasia, and beyond. This book was originally published as a Special Issue of Regional Studies.

Gert de Roo & Elisabete A. Silva (eds.), A Planner's Encounter With Complexity (New Directions in Planning Theory). Ashgate Pub Co. 2010. 336 pp. Published at: 13 March 2011 Spatial planning is about dealing with our 'everyday' environment. In the "Planners' Encounter with Complexity", the authors present various understandings of complexity and how the environment is considered accordingly. One of these considerations is the environment as subject to processes of continuous change, being either progressive or destructive, evolving non-linearly and alternating between stable and dynamic periods. If the environment that is subject to change is adaptive, self-organizing, robust and flexible in relation to this change, a process of evolution and co-evolution can be expected. This understanding of an evolving environment is not mainstream to every planner. However, in this book the authors argue that environments confronted with discontinuous, non-linear evolving processes might be more real than the idea that an environment is simply a planner's creation. Above all, they argue that recognizing the 'complexity' of our environment offers an entirely new perspective on our world and our environment, on planning theory and practice, and on the raise on d'etre of the planners that we are.

General Works Articles/Books about Individual Films Bibliography of articles/books about Metropolis (Fritz Lang) Bibliography of articles/books about Blade Runner (Ridley Scott) Abrams, Janet "Cine City: films en beschouwingen van de stedelijke ruimte 1895-1995 = Cine City: film and perceptions of pace 1895-1995." Archis 1994 July, n.7, p.10-12, Adil, Alev "Longing and (Un)belonging: Displacement and Desire in the Cinematic City." Paper from the Conference "INTER: A European Cultural Studies Conference in Sweden", organised by the Advanced Cultural Studies Institute of Sweden (ACSIS) in Norrköping 11-13 June 2007. Conference Proceedings published by Linköping University Electronic Press Aitken S. "Turnng the Self: City Space and SF Horror Movies." Lost in space : geographies of science fiction / edited by Rob Kitchin and James Kneale. London ; New York : Continuum, 2002. MAIN Stack PN3433.6.L67 2002 Albrecht, Donald. "Architecture and film: Utopia descending." Modulus 1987, no.18, p.[120]-133 Albrecht, Donald. Designing dreams : modern architecture in the movies New York : Harper & Row, c1986. ENVI: PN1995.9.S4 A41 1986 Albright, Deron. "Tales of the City: Applying Situationist Social Practice to the Analysis of the Urban Drama." Criticism-A Quarterly for Literature & the Arts. 45(1):89-108. 2003 Winter Aldrige, Henry B. "From Delight to Disaster: Images of New York City in Feature Films. (Cinema Studies).(Brief Article)." Michigan Academician 34.1 (Spring 2002): 22(1). AlSayyad, Nezar "The cinematic city: between modernist utopia and postmodernist dystopia." Built environment 2000, v.26, n.4, p.268-281 AlSayyad, Nezar Cinematic Cities: Historicizing the Modern from Reel to Real [Video] In this lecture Nezar AlSayyad, professor of Architecture, Planning and Urban History at UCB, addresses some of the themes in his book Cinematic cities, historicizing the modern from reel to real. This event took place at the University of California, Berkeley on November 28,

Welcome to Your New Wiki Whether this is your first wiki ever or just your first wiki of the day, we're happy to have you on board. This wiki is basically your own personal Web site with an edit button. You get to choose who can see it, and who can make changes, and you can use it to do almost anything you can imagine. We put this document together to get you started and give you a glimpse of what you can do as the organizer of this wiki. What it means to be a wiki organizer Wiki organizers handle the administration of the wiki. As an organizer of this wiki, you have some special powers that other members won't have. These are just a few: Setting permissions for the whole wiki Managing wiki members Changing the look and feel Locking pages so no one can edit them Deleting or renaming files and pages And whenever you decide you want a little more help with your wiki, you can promote other members to organizers, as well. Special wikis for educators We offer a free upgrade for wikis that are used exclusively for K-12 or Higher Education. These wikis are free and ad-free, and you can make them private for extra security for your students. These wikis also come with a User Creator tool that lets you open student accounts in bulk - with or without student email addresses. If you're not sure whether you started this wiki on a free plan for educators, go to Manage Wiki. After Subscription, you should see, "This wiki is currently on our free K-12 plan," or "This wiki is currently on our free Higher Education plan." If it does not say this, go to Manage Wiki > Subscription, scroll down to the "Complimentary upgrades for educators" heading, and click Request your free K-12 plan wiki, or Request your free Higher Education wiki. Any time you want to create a new K-12 wiki, go to this page. If you want to create a new Higher Education wiki, you can go to this page. Getting Started with Your Wiki Editing the home page When you're ready to get s

Interconnected. Globalized. Complex. Our world is getting ever more intertwined. As we progress into the future and our knowledge about the world expands, we find ourselves in a paradoxical situation where we are more capable than ever to tackle problems, yet we are confounded by the ever more intricate problems facing us. Koios is being developed to help people rise up and combat these difficult problems. What is Koios? Koios is an online collaborative tool for solving difficult social problems. With difficult social problems we mean complex social systemic issues. Some also call these wicked problems. We do not mean everyday people problems. With solving a problem we do not mean applying a fix but instead working towards holistic solutions for systemic change. In common for these problems is that stakes are high, there is a high degree of uncertainty, and human judgement is required. Knowledge is incomplete. The problem situation and its boundaries are hard to define. (Uncertain facts) The causes of the problem are uncertain. The possible solutions are uncertain. Decisions of others are unpredictable. Evaluation of solutions require multi-criteria decisions including moral and ethical considerations. Future external factors that may influence the situation are uncertain. Behaviour and values of the people involved are in dispute. The best ways to measure or monitor solutions are uncertain. "…[Societal] structures of which we are unaware hold us prisoner. " - Peter Senge, The Fifth Discipline. Koios empowers You to solve long term, open-ended, systemic, complex, messy, ill-structured, real world problems that often seem unsolvable. These can be issues on all levels from the community, to city, regional, national and on to the global level. Koios provides the tools to help you collaborate with thousands of other people to analyse and shift a difficult situation towards a more optimal, fair and sustainable future state. It is all about getting the require

THE BUELL HYPOTHESIS The Buell Hypothesis, at its most basic, argues as follows: Change the dream and you change the city. The private house and the city or suburb in which it is situated share a common destiny. Hence, if you change the narratives guiding suburban housing (such as that of the American Dream) and the priorities they imply-including spatial arrangements, ownership patterns, the balance between public and private interests, and the mixtures of activities and services that any town or city entails-then you begin the process of redirecting suburban sprawl. Reinhold Martin and his colleagues at Columbia University's Temple Hoyne Buell Center for the Study of American Architecture presented this hypothesis to the Foreclosed design teams in the form of a "screenplay" that treats the American Dream metaphorically, as a film with a familiar plot, characters, and setting. The five American suburbs identified by The Buell Hypothesis as study sites-located in different regions, but all along existing or proposed high-speed rail routes-were selected through a process called multi-criteria decision analysis. Based on data from February 2009, the date of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (the so-called federal stimulus package), the analysis considered a wide range of quantitative and qualitative factors, including foreclosure rates, poverty rates, population trends, average commute times, amounts of publicly held land, and other relevant criteria. Each selected suburb exhibits particular needs and potentials in relation to the wider economic crisis.

SITES THE BUELL HYPOTHESIS ABOUT BLOG MoMA BUY TICKETSCREDITSSHARE In the summer of 2011, New York's Museum of Modern Art invited five teams of architects, planners, ecologists, engineers, landscape designers, and other specialists in the urban and suburban condition to develop proposals for housing that would open new routes through the mortgage-foreclosure crisis that continues to afflict the United States. Establishing studios at MoMA PS1, MoMA's Long Island City affiliate, the teams set out to imagine new models of housing, thinking not only of its physical form but of the systems of infrastructure and finance that support it. Their focus was not the inner city, but rather the suburbs, which are often passed over in the push of development toward an ever-more-distant periphery. Working with the findings of The Buell Hypothesis, a research report prepared by the Temple Hoyne Buell Center for the Study of American Architecture at Columbia University, each team focused on a specific town in one of five regions-the Northeast, the Southeast, the Midwest, the Pacific Northwest, and the Southwest-and each developed an inventive proposal that reimagined existing patterns of living, working, and home ownership. Foreclosed: Rehousing the American Dream lays out their ideas, through detailed illustrations of their projects and through essays by Barry Bergdoll, MoMA's Philip Johnson Chief Curator of Architecture and Design, and Reinhold Martin, Director of the Buell Center. Note: 1.1% is more than double the highest national foreclosure rate prior to 2006. The previous highest rate was .5%. FORECLOSED: REHOUSING THE AMERICAN DREAM

Urban Assemblages By PE A new book edited by Ignacio Farías and Thomas Bender (2009): Urban Assemblages: How Actor-Network Theory Changes Urban Studies, in the Questioning Cities Series by Routledge. This book takes it as a given that the city is made of multiple partially localized assemblages built of heterogeneous networks, spaces, and practices. The past century of urban studies has focused on various aspects-space, culture, politics, economy-but these too often address each domain and the city itself as a bounded and cohesive entity. The multiple and overlapping enactments that constitute urban life require a commensurate method of analysis that encompasses the human and non-human aspects of cities-from nature to socio-technical networks, to hybrid collectivities, physical artefacts and historical legacies, and the virtual or imagined city. This book proposes-and its various chapters offer demonstrations-importing into urban studies a body of theories, concepts, and perspectives developed in the field of science and technology studies (STS) and, more specifically, Actor-Network Theory (ANT). The essays examine artefacts, technical systems, architectures, place and eventful spaces, the persistence of history, imaginary and virtual elements of city life, and the politics and ethical challenges of a mode of analysis that incorporates multiple actors as hybrid chains of causation. The chapters are attentive to the multiple scales of both the object of analysis and the analysis itself. The aim is more ambitious than the mere transfer of a fashionable template. The authors embrace ANT critically, as much as a metaphor as a method of analysis, deploying it to think with, to ask new questions, to find the language to achieve more compelling descriptions of city life and of urban transformations. By greatly extending the chain or network of causation, proliferating heterogeneous agents, non-human as well as human, without limit as to their enrolment in ur

Introduction (Ignacio Farías) Section I: Towards a Flat Ontology? 1. Gelleable Spaces, Eventful Geographies: the Case of Santiago's Experimental Music Scene (Manuel Tironi) 2. Globalizations Big and Small: Notes on Urban Studies, Actor-network Theory, and Geographical Scale (Alan Latham and Derek McCormack) 3. Urban Studies without 'scale': Localizing the Global Through Singapore (Richard G. Smith) 4. Assembling Asturias: Scaling Devices and Cultural Leverage (Don Slater and Tomas Ariztía) Interview with Nigel Thrift (Ignacio Farías) Section 2: A Non-Human Urban Ecology 5. How do we Co-Produce Urban Transport Systems and the City? The Case of Transmilenio and Bogotá (Andrés Valderrama Pineda) 6. Changing Obdurate Urban Objects: The Attempts to Reconstruct the Highway through Maastricht (Anique Hommels) 7. Mutable Immobiles. Building Conversion as a Problem of Quasi-Technologies (Michael Guggenheim) 8. Conviction and Commotion: On Soundspheres, Technopolitics and Urban Space (Israel Rodríguez Giralt, Daniel López Gómez and Noel García López) Interview with Stephen Graham (Ignacio Farías) Section 3: The Multiple City 9. The Reality of Urban Tourism: Framed Activity and Virtual Ontology (Ignacio Farías) 10. Assembling Money and the Senses. Revisiting Georg Simmel and the City (Michael Schillmeier) 11. The City as Value Locus: Markets, Technologies, and the Problem of Worth (Caitlin Zaloom) 12. Second Empire, Second Nature, Secondary World: Verne and Baudelaire in the Capital of the Nineteenth Century (Rosalind Williams) Interview with Robert Shields (Ignacio Farías) Postscript: Re-Assembling the City. Networks and Urban Imaginaries (Thomas Bender)

Urban Assemblages: How Actor-Network Theory Changes Urban Studies Ignacio Farfas, Thomas Bender 0 Resenhas Taylor & Francis, 16/08/2011 - 352 páginas This book takes it as a given that the city is made of multiple partially localized assemblages built of heterogeneous networks, spaces, and practices. The past century of urban studies has focused on various aspects "space, culture, politics, economy "but these too often address each domain and the city itself as a bounded and cohesive entity. The multiple and overlapping enactments that constitute urban life require a commensurate method of analysis that encompasses the human and non-human aspects of cities "from nature to socio-technical networks, to hybrid collectivities, physical artefacts and historical legacies, and the virtual or imagined city. This book proposes "and its various chapters offer demonstrations "importing into urban studies a body of theories, concepts, and perspectives developed in the field of science and technology studies (STS) and, more specifically, Actor-Network Theory (ANT). The essays examine artefacts, technical systems, architectures, place and eventful spaces, the persistence of history, imaginary and virtual elements of city life, and the politics and ethical challenges of a mode of analysis that incorporates multiple actors as hybrid chains of causation. The chapters are attentive to the multiple scales of both the object of analysis and the analysis itself. The aim is more ambitious than the mere transfer of a fashionable template. The authors embrace ANT critically, as much as a metaphor as a method of analysis, deploying it to think with, to ask new questions, to find the language to achieve more compelling descriptions of city life and of urban transformations. By greatly extending the chain or network of causation, proliferating heterogeneous agents, non-human as well as human, without limit as to their enrolment in urban assemblages, Actor-Network Theory offers a

Locality and Community in the Politics of Local Economic Development Kevin R. Cox, Andrew Mair Article first published online: 23 FEB 2005 DOI: 10.1111/j.1467-8306.1988.tb00209.x Issue Annals of the Association of American Geographers Volume 78, Issue 2, pages 307-325, June 1988 Additional Information(Show All) How to CiteAuthor InformationPublication History SEARCH Search Scope Search String Advanced >Saved Searches > ARTICLE TOOLS Get PDF (1725K) Save to My Profile E-mail Link to this Article Export Citation for this Article Get Citation Alerts Request Permissions Share| Abstract References Cited By Get PDF (1725K) Keywords: locality;community;local dependence;local business coalitions;local politics;local economic development;economic restructuring Abstract Concomitant with the contemporary restructuring of local economies in the United States has been a distinctive local politics: one which revolves around a competition among localities rather than conflict with in them. The role of the local dependence of various actors is explored with a view to explaining this politics. Some firms are locally dependent and form business coalitions to stimulate investment in their local economy. They attempt to harness the powers of local government, which are susceptible as a result of their own local dependence. Subsequent local economic development programs often pose threats to people in their workplaces and living places and elicit opposition. To overcome this opposition, business coalitions attempt to promulgate a shared interest in a local community. This interest is extended to include threats to the local community implied by the economic development programs of business coalitions elsewhere. The local dependence of people makes them receptive to this argument.

The cost of auto orientation MONDAY, JANUARY 2, 2012 | CHARLES MAROHN In the United States we've proceeded for sixty years with reconfiguring our public spaces to accommodate the automobile. The built in assumption of this approach, especially when it comes to commercial property, is that the more cars driving by the better. What we've overlooked in our haste to "modernize" is the lower return on investment we get from this approach, even under ideal conditions. Today we need the humility to acknowledge that our ancestors -- who built in the traditional style -- may have known what they were doing after all. After a nice break, we want to welcome everyone back and wish you all a fantastic 2012. We're still dedicated to publishing this blog at least three days a week (typically Monday, Wednesday and Friday) as well as releasing a podcast every week or two. We've got one other channel here we'll be starting next week, so stay tuned. If you'd like to stay informed with what's going on with the Strong Towns movement, sign up for our newsletter. We don't share your address and we don't spam. We do bite though, at least rhetorically. Highway 210 runs east/west through downtown Brainerd. In the hierarchical road system, it is the top of the pyramid and would be classified in most places as a "major arterial". It is designed as a STROAD (a street/road hybrid), attempting to apply highway design standards to what otherwise would be an urban street. In doing so, it has dramatically transformed the land use pattern of the area. The picture below highlights two blocks that front the highway corridor. The one on the left, which we've labeled "old and blighted", is a block that has retained its traditional development pattern. To the right we have identified the "shiny and new" area, the block that has recently been transformed to an auto-oriented development style, to the glee of city officials and local economic development advocates. In between is a hybrid of the two; part

Mechanisms of Growth Today, there are four primary mechanisms that have fueled the current growth pattern within our towns and neighborhoods. None of these are financially sustainable. 1. Transfer payments between governments. Nearly every city in America is reliant, to one degree or another, on intergovernmental subsidies to finance infrastructure. Whether the money comes through an established program, an earmark or a block grant, the result is the same: a land use pattern that does not reflect local economic realities. Local values and priorities are distorted when there is little pressure to generate a return on public infrastructure investments. The result: inefficient growth patterns that cannot be financially sustained. At the same time our infrastructure maintenance liabilities are ballooning, our federal and state legislatures are struggling to reconcile huge budget shortfalls. Even if it were good policy, the reality is that we do not have the ability to build Strong Towns with intergovernmental transfer payments as they are currently designed. 2. Demand-driven transportation spending. Transportation improvements today are made primarily to increase safety and reduce congestion. After two generations of trying to build our way out of congestion, we not only have massive maintenance liabilities but congestion is actually worse. An approach to transportation spending that pits federal and state priorities (transportation) against local priorities (land use) when we should be linking them is a recipe for waste and inefficiency. To add to this disconnect, federal transportation policy actually rewards states with additional funds for building additional roads, regardless of their efficiency. Political meddling, often in the form of earmarks, further distorts transportation spending by prioritizing improvements based on political clout, not overall return on the public investment.  3. Debt, both public and private. Where we once paid for infrastructure

What Is a City? Rethinking the Urban after Hurricane Katrina Edited by Phil Steinberg and Rob Shields Cutting-edge thinking on contemporary urban spaces Reviews "Steinberg and Shields have assembled a sparkling collection of theoretically provocative and conceptually innovative essays. These not only expose the distinctive social, spatial and cultural characteristics of pre- and post-Katrina New Orleans which, with delayed federal intervention, turned the hurricane's assault into a 'racially differentiated disaster,' but extend their comments into a critique of contemporary urban theory. Addressing such wide-ranging topics as automobility, the significance of memory, creole urbanism, and New Orleans mythology, this original and interdisciplinary collection will appeal to all urbanists, whether scholars, students, or practitioners, and also to those with interests in disaster relief and climate change." -Anthony D. King, Emeritus Professor of Art History and of Sociology, State University of New York at Binghamton "What Is a City? offers sensitive and nuanced explorations of the urban approached through themes of nature, mobility, community, and memory. The contributors present a thorough, insightful, and revealing portrait of one city's experience at a pivotal moment in its historical trajectory. This is a technically adept, keenly observed, and emotionally gripping work, standing at the cutting edge of urban analysis, interpretive method, and geographic conceptualization." -Robert W. Lake, author of Locational Conflict More / Hide Description The devastation brought upon New Orleans by Hurricane Katrina and the subsequent levee system failure has forced urban theorists to revisit the fundamental question of urban geography and planning: What is a city? Is it a place of memory embedded in architecture, a location in regional and global networks, or an arena wherein communities form and reproduce themselves? Planners, architects, policymakers, and geogra

City: urbanism and its end Douglas W. Rae 7 Resenhas Yale University Press, 11/03/2005 - 544 páginas This extraordinary book is both a richly textured portrait of New Haven, Connecticut, and the story of the rise and fall of American cities. Douglas Rae depicts the reasons for urban decline, explains why government spending has failed to restore urban vitality, and offers suggestions to enhance city life in the future. "A terrific read, moving seductively from the minutiae of neighborhood history to grand global forces."--Robert Putnam, author of Bowling Alone "An extraordinarily detailed study of New Haven, tracing the city's rise in the early part of the 20th century and its fall in the second half--an almost archetypal tale of the American city."--Edward Rothstein, New York Times "For anyone with the slightest interest in cities, this book is that rare combination: a must-read volume that you can't put down."-- Planning Magazine "[Rae] has provided the blueprint for the next generation of thinkers and city dwellers who debate the future of urban America. . . . A tour de force of research."--Paul Bass, New Haven Advocate

Building communities from the inside out: a path toward finding and mobilizing a community's assets John P. Kretzmann, John L. McKnight, Northwestern University (Evanston, Ill.). Center for Urban Affairs and Policy Research, Neighborhood Innovations Network 6 Resenhas Center for Urban Affairs and Policy Research, Northwestern University, 1993 - 376 páginas "Building Communities from the Inside Out" is a new guide to "asset--based community development." Authors John Kretzmann and Jhon Mcknight summarize lessons learned by studying successful community--building initiatives in hundreds of neighborhoods across the United States. The book outlines in simple, "neighborhood--friendly" terms what local communities can do to start their own journey down the path of asset--based development: How communities can rediscover and "map"all of their assets; How they can combine and mobilize these rediscovered strenghts to build stronger, more self--reliant and powerful communities; How "outsiders" in goverment or the philanthropic sector can contribute sensitively and effectively to the process of asset--based development. This guide will be helpful to local community leaders, leaders of local associations and institutions, goverment officials, and leaders in the philanthrophic and business communities who wish to support effective community--building strategies.