Originally published in 1979 and 1990 the 2 volumes in this set: Analyse the economic and social rationale of housing improvement in London. Review the progress of improvement legislation as applied to London. Identifies the connection between grant distribution and socio-economic change within Housing Action Areas in the 1960s and 70s. Provide introductory background to regional imbalance and policy in Britain. Examine the economic and social data suggestive of a North-South divide . Question well-known assumptions about regional imbalance.
Originally published in 1979, this book discusses housing improvement, and particularly its effects upon the residential population of the inner areas of West London. The economic and social rationale is explained, and the role of landlords, developers and local authorities is analysed. The book concentrates both on the defects of the improvement process as a whole, and on the application of housing legislation within a specific geographical area. Housing improvement is related to the debate about the inequality of wealth by implicitly questioning who benefits and who loses from improvement policy.
Originally published in 1990, this book examines the extent to which the ‘north-south divide’ in the UK has been a reality in recent years. It also reveals the degree to which the gap between the two parts of Britain has worsened. An issue of enduring relevance, particularly given the political drive to ‘level up’ the regions, the book focusses particularly on the 1980s, a period when regional assistance became a victim of both monetarism and free market ideology. The book reviews legislation and considers whether regional policy has been effective and consistent. To widen the debate, the author questions some common assumptions about regional imbalance, and argues that intraregional disparities and the plight of Inner London were causes of concern no less serious than the problem of the north-south imbalance.
Why have so many central and inner cities in Europe, North America and Australia been so radically revamped in the last three decades, converting urban decay into new chic? Will the process continue in the twenty-first century or has it ended? What does this mean for the people who live there? Can they do anything about it? This book challenges conventional wisdom, which holds gentrification to be the simple outcome of new middle-class tastes and a demand for urban living. It reveals gentrification as part of a much larger shift in the political economy and culture of the late twentieth century. Documenting in gritty detail the conflicts that gentrification brings to the new urban 'frontiers', the author explores the interconnections of urban policy, patterns of investment, eviction, and homelessness. The failure of liberal urban policy and the end of the 1980s financial boom have made the end-of-the-century city a darker and more dangerous place. Public policy and the private market are conspiring against minorities, working people, the poor, and the homeless as never before. In the emerging revanchist city, gentrification has become part of this policy of revenge.
The volumes in this set, originally published between 1970 and 1998, draw together research by leading academics in the area of urban planning, and provide a rigorous examination of related key issues. The volumes examine teaching, urban markets, planning, transport planning, poverty, politics, forecasting techniques and an examination of the inner city in Europe and the US, whilst also exploring the general principles and practices of planning. This set will be of particular interest to students of sociology, geography, planning and urbanization respectively.
Uniquely well suited for teaching, this innovative text-reader strengthens students’ critical thinking skills, sparks classroom discussion, and also provides a comprehensive and accessible understanding of gentrification.
In every major city in the world there is a housing crisis. How did this happen and what can we do about it? Everyone needs and deserves housing. But today our homes are being transformed into commodities, making the inequalities of the city ever more acute. Profit has become more important than social need. The poor are forced to pay more for worse housing. Communities are faced with the violence of displacement and gentrification. And the benefits of decent housing are only available for those who can afford it. In Defense of Housing is the definitive statement on this crisis from leading urban planner Peter Marcuse and sociologist David Madden. They look at the causes and consequences of the housing problem and detail the need for progressive alternatives. The housing crisis cannot be solved by minor policy shifts, they argue. Rather, the housing crisis has deep political and economic roots—and therefore requires a radical response.
The Routledge Handbook of Environmental Justice presents an extensive and cutting-edge introduction to the diverse, rapidly growing body of research on pressing issues of environmental justice and injustice. With wide-ranging discussion of current debates, controversies, and questions in the history, theory, and methods of environmental justice research, contributed by over 90 leading social scientists, natural scientists, humanists, and scholars from professional disciplines from six continents, it is an essential resource both for newcomers to this research and for experienced scholars and practitioners. The chapters of this volume examine the roots of environmental justice activism, lay out and assess key theories and approaches, and consider the many different substantive issues that have been the subject of activism, empirical research, and policy development throughout the world. The Handbook features critical reviews of quantitative, qualitative, and mixed methodological approaches and explicitly addresses interdisciplinarity, transdisciplinarity, and engaged research. Instead of adopting a narrow regional focus, it tackles substantive issues and presents perspectives from political and cultural systems across the world, as well as addressing activism for environmental justice at the global scale. Its chapters do not simply review the state of the art, but also propose new conceptual frameworks and directions for research, policy, and practice. Providing detailed but accessible overviews of the complex, varied dimensions of environmental justice and injustice, the Handbook is an essential guide and reference not only for researchers engaged with environmental justice, but also for undergraduate and graduate teaching and for policymakers and activists.
A first-class work of reference that will be both an essential resource for independent study as well as a useful aid in teaching: a solid but also provocative starting point for wider exploration of the city.
Gentrification is arguably the most dynamic area of conflict in current urban development policy – it is the process by which poorer populations are displaced by more affluent groups. Although gentrification is well-documented, German and international research largely focuses on improvements in the built environment and social composition of neighbourhoods. The consequences for those who are displaced often remain overlooked. Where do they move? What does it mean to be forced to leave a familiar residential area? What kinds of resistance strategies are developed? How does anti-gentrification work? With a focus on Berlin – the German "capital of gentrification" – the chapters in this volume use innovative methods to explore these pressing questions.
