Clear as Mud
Clear as Mud

Author: Robert B. Olshansky

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2017-11-08

Total Pages: 282

ISBN-13: 1351177990

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Planning the rebuilding of New Orleans after Hurricanes Katrina and Rita has been among the greatest urban planning challenges of our time. Since 2005, Robert B. Olshansky and Laurie A. Johnson, urban planners who specialize in disaster planning and recovery, have been working to understand, in real time, the difficult planning decisions in this unusual situation. As both observers of and participants in the difficult process of creating the Unified New Orleans Plan, Olshansky and Johnson bring unparalleled detail and insight to this complex story. The recovery process has been slow and frustrating, in part because New Orleans was so unprepared for the physical challenges of such a disaster, but also because it lacked sufficient planning mechanisms to manage community reconstruction in a viable way. New Orleans has had to rebuild its buildings and institutions, but it has also had to create a community planning structure that is seen as both equitable and effective, while also addressing the concerns and demands of state, federal, nonprofit, and private-sector stakeholders. In documenting how this unprecedented process occurred, Olshansky and Johnson spent years on the ground in New Orleans, interviewing leaders and citizens and abetting the design and execution of the Unified New Orleans Plan. Their insights will help cities across the globe recognize the challenges of rebuilding and recovering after disaster strikes.

Digital (In)justice in the Smart City
Digital (In)justice in the Smart City

Author: Debra Mackinnon

Publisher: University of Toronto Press

Published: 2022-12-21

Total Pages: 398

ISBN-13: 1487527187

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In the contemporary moment, smart cities have become the dominant paradigm for urban planning and administration, which involves weaving the urban fabric with digital technologies. Recently, however, the promises of smart cities have been gradually supplanted by recognition of their inherent inequalities, and scholars are increasingly working to envision alternative smart cities. Informed by these pressing challenges, Digital (In)Justice in the Smart City foregrounds discussions of how we should think of and work towards urban digital justice in the smart city. It provides a deep exploration of the sources of injustice that percolate throughout a range of sociotechnical assemblages, and it questions whether working towards more just, sustainable, liveable, and egalitarian cities requires that we look beyond the limitations of "smartness" altogether. The book grapples with how geographies impact smart city visions and roll-outs, on the one hand, and how (unjust) geographies are produced in smart pursuits, on the other. Ultimately, Digital (In)Justice in the Smart City envisions alternative cities – smart or merely digital – and outlines the sorts of roles that the commons, utopia, and the law might take on in our conceptions and realizations of better cities.

Frustrated Majorities
Frustrated Majorities

Author: Seth J. Hill

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Published: 2022-09-22

Total Pages: 257

ISBN-13: 1009207458

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Democratic elections do not always deliver what majorities want. Many conclude from frustrated majorities a failure of democracy. This book argues the opposite may be true – that politicians who represent their constituents sometimes frustrate majorities. A theory of issue intensity explains how the intensity with which different voters care about political issues drives key features of elections, political participation, representation, and public policy. Because candidates for office are more certain of winning the votes of those who care intensely, they sometimes side with an intense minority over a less intense majority. Voters who care intensely communicate their intensity by taking political action: volunteering, contributing, and speaking out. From questions like whose voices should matter in a democracy to whose voices actually matter, this rigorous book blends ideas from democratic theory and formal political economy with new empirical evidence to tackle a topic of central importance to American politics.