Gentrifier opens up a new conversation about gentrification, one that goes beyond the statistics and the clichés, and examines different sides of a controversial, deeply personal issue. In this lively yet rigorous book, John Joe Schlichtman, Jason Patch, and Marc Lamont Hill take a close look at the socioeconomic factors and individual decisions behind gentrification and their implications for the displacement of low-income residents. Drawing on a variety of perspectives, the auth...

“An exacting look at gentrification” (New York Times Book Review)—and the lives devastated in the processThe term gentrification has become a buzzword to describe the changes in urban neighborhoods across the country, but we don’t realize just how threatening it is. It means more than the arrival of trendy shops, much-maligned hipsters, and expensive lattes. The very future of American cities as vibrant, equitable spaces hangs in the balance....

The author of The Coming of Neo-Feudalism and The New Class Conflict challenges conventions of urban planning.Around the globe, most new urban development has adhered to similar tenets: tall structures, small units, and high density. In The Human City, Joel Kotkin―called "America's uber-geographer" by David Brooks of the New York Times―questions these nearly ubiquitous practices, suggesting that they do not consider the needs and ...

What exactly is 'small change'?Build a bus stop in an urban slum and a vibrant community sprouts and grows around it - that is the power of small changes that have huge positive effects.This book is an argument for the wisdom of the street, the ingenuity of the improvisers and the long-term, large-scale effectiveness of immediate, small-scale actions. Written by Nabeel Hamdi, the guru of urban participatory development and the master of the art, Small Change brings over thr...

Why have some cities become great global urban centers, and what cities will be future leaders?From Athens and Rome in ancient times to New York and Singapore today, a handful of cities have stood out as centers of global economic, military, or political power. In the twenty-first century, the number of truly global cities is greater than ever before, reflecting the globalization of both economic and political power.In Global Cities: A Short History, Greg ...

This book focuses on the human and societal aspects of sustainable development. Three major perspectives are considered: governance and its influence on sustainable development; urban environments and their broader human and environmental impacts; and disaster management. Each of these elements is critical in considering the current and prospective development of societies towards a sustainable future in which human security is guaranteed.This 2-volume set discusses a wide range of...

This book provides a fresh look at measuring negative externalities in the urbanization process. Meeting the challenges that come hand-in-hand with the contemporary age of rapid urbanization demands more extensive empirical knowledge. While most urbanization research focuses on positive externalities, this book is designed to offer insights into possible sources of negative externalities and the measurement thereof. In economics, the measurement of externalities is a challenging task that ...

A glance at a list of America's fastest growing ""cities"" reveals quite a surprise: most are really overgrown suburbs. Places such as Anaheim, California, Coral Springs, Florida, Naperville, Illinois, North Las Vegas, Nevada, and Plano, Texas, have swelled to big-city size with few people really noticing-including many of their ten million residents. These ""boomburbs"" are large, rapidly growing, incorporated communities of more than 100,000 residents that are not the biggest city in the...

This book offers a European perspective on urban planning and spatial design by outlining housing policies in Southern Europe and their evolution. Through a unique case study on the city of Turin it explores social innovation and the relationship between the urban regeneration process and housing practices. The case study is a useful example in the debate about changing welfare arrangements in Europe and the emerging rhetoric of social innovation in housing. The book encourages debate abou...

With over half of the world's population now living in urban areas, the ability to model and understand the structure and dynamics of cities is becoming increasingly valuable. Combining new data with tools and concepts from statistical physics and urban economics, this book presents a modern and interdisciplinary perspective on cities and urban systems. Both empirical observations and theoretical approaches are critically reviewed, with particular emphasis placed on derivations of classica...

Change and Continuity in Spatial Planning addresses a question of enduring interest to planners: can planning really bring about significant and positive change? In South Africa the process of political transition appeared to create the preconditions for planners to demonstrate how their traditional humanitarian and environmental concerns could find concrete expression in the reshaping of the built environment.Integral to this story is how planning practices have been shape...

The British Town and Country Planning machine is the most sophisticated in the world, yet its inadequacies are only too apparent to those who are familiar with its evolution and operation. During the last decade it has been in a constant state of change in an attempt to come to terms with the needs of a rapidly changing society.This work attempts to provide a comprehensive picture of the planning system and the ways in which it is changing. An historical introduction leads into an ...