The Geography of Opportunity
The Geography of Opportunity

Author: Xavier de Souza Briggs

Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield

Published: 2006-03-30

Total Pages: 375

ISBN-13: 0815797788

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

A popular version of history trumpets the United States as a diverse "nation of immigrants," welcome to all. The truth, however, is that local communities have a long history of ambivalence toward new arrivals and minorities. Persistent patterns of segregation by race and income still exist in housing and schools, along with a growing emphasis on rapid metropolitan development (sprawl) that encourages upwardly mobile families to abandon older communities and their problems. This dual pattern is becoming increasingly important as America grows more diverse than ever and economic inequality increases. Two recent trends compel new attention to these issues. First, the geography of race and class represents a crucial litmus test for the new "regionalism"—the political movement to address the linked fortunes of cities and suburbs. Second, housing has all but disappeared as a major social policy issue over the past two decades. This timely book shows how unequal housing choices and sprawling development create an unequal geography of opportunity. It emerges from a project sponsored by the Civil Rights Project at Harvard University in collaboration with the Joint Center for Housing Studies and the Brookings Institution. The contributors—policy analysts, political observers, social scientists, and urban planners—document key patterns, their consequences, and how we can respond, taking a hard look at both successes and failures of the past. Place still matters, perhaps more than ever. High levels of segregation shape education and job opportunity, crime and insecurity, and long-term economic prospects. These problems cannot be addressed effectively if society assumes that segregation will take care of itself. Contributors include William Apgar (Harvard University), Judith Bell (PolicyLink), Angela Glover Blackwell (PolicyLink), Allegra Calder (Harvard), Karen Chapple (Cal-Berkeley), Camille Charles (Penn), Mary Cunningham (Urban Institute), Casey Dawkins (Virginia

Housing in America
Housing in America

Author: Marijoan Bull

Publisher: Taylor & Francis

Published: 2022-12-30

Total Pages: 284

ISBN-13: 1000822710

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

Housing is a fundamental need and universal part of human living that shapes our lives in profound ways that go far beyond basic sheltering. Where we live can determine our self-image, social status, health and safety, quality of public services, access to jobs, and transportation options. But the reality for many in America is that housing choices are constrained: costs are unaffordable, discriminatory practices remain, and physical features do not align with needs. We have made a national commitment to decent housing for all, yet this promise remains unrealized. Housing in America provides a broad overview of the field of housing. The evolution of housing norms and policy is explored in a historical context while underscoring the human and cultural dimensions of housing program choices. Specific topics covered include: why housing matters; housing and culture; housing frameworks and political ideologies; housing and opportunities; housing and the economy; housing discrimination; housing affordability; rental housing; and housing and climate change. Readers will gain an understanding of the basic debates within the field of housing, consider the motivations and performance of various interventions, and critically examine persistent patterns of racial and class inequality. With short case studies, primary source materials, reflective exercises, strong visuals, and interviews with practitioners, this introductory text explores improving housing choices in America.

What is Happening in Your Community?
What is Happening in Your Community?

Author: Matthew J. Hanka

Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield

Published: 2021-05-03

Total Pages: 339

ISBN-13: 1498504922

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

Communities are not static or stationary organisms. They are fluid and dynamic and change over time. The role of community development in the change and transformation of a community is critical to improving and enhancing the quality of life of the community and its residents. This book examines how community development changes a community and why that change matters, while also examining the relationship between community development and social capital. When a community improves its social capital, change can happen because people can leverage their networks to produce better results for themselves. This book also looks at comprehensive community development and collective impact models and several case studies that utilize these models. It also looks at how the transformation and revitalization of a neighborhood through new housing creates opportunities for people everywhere, and how effective placemaking strategies empower diverse groups of people in a community to reimagine their public spaces and the built environment to be more livable, walkable, creative, and sustainable while fostering greater connections with people in their community.

Creating Public Value in Practice
Creating Public Value in Practice

Author: John M. Bryson

Publisher: CRC Press

Published: 2015-02-13

Total Pages: 432

ISBN-13: 148221461X

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

Creating Public Value in Practice: Advancing the Common Good in a Multi-Sector, Shared-Power, No-One-Wholly-in-Charge World brings together a stellar cast of thinkers to explore issues of public and cross-sector decision-making within a framework of democratic civic engagement. It offers an integrative approach to understanding and applying the con

Communities of Resistance and Resilience in the Post-Industrial City
Communities of Resistance and Resilience in the Post-Industrial City

Author: Daniel Holland

Publisher: Taylor & Francis

Published: 2024-08-01

Total Pages: 251

ISBN-13: 1040101623

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

This book is about the grassroots community revitalization movement in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and Lyon, France, between 1980 and 2010, an extension of the post-WWII civil rights campaign that is rarely considered. It tells the story of residents' attempts to improve their communities through social capital or people power. In positive ways, citizens created vibrant, attractive neighborhoods. But their actions also generated unintended consequences, such as high real estate prices and minority displacement that threatened to unravel their hard work. Communities of Resistance and Resilience is an ethnographic survey that relies on oral histories, archival research, on-the-ground site surveys, and the author’s personal experience as a neighborhood reinvestment practitioner for more than 30 years. It brings to life stories that would otherwise remain obscured, such as the lingering impact of the March for Equality and Against Racism, organized in Lyon in 1983, and the formation of the Pittsburgh Community Reinvestment Group in Pittsburgh in 1988, both of which launched national movements. This is of great use to scholars of transatlantic history as well as a general audience interested in modern social movements in the United States and France.

Where are Poor People to Live?: Transforming Public Housing Communities
Where are Poor People to Live?: Transforming Public Housing Communities

Author: Larry Bennett

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2015-03-26

Total Pages: 355

ISBN-13: 1317452089

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

This groundbreaking book shows how major shifts in federal policy are spurring local public housing authorities to demolish their high-rise, low-income developments, and replace them with affordable low-rise, mixed income communities. It focuses on Chicago, and that city's affordable housing crisis, but it provides analytical frameworks that can be applied to developments in every American city. "Where Are Poor People to Live?" provides valuable new empirical information on public housing, framed by a critical perspective that shows how shifts in national policy have devolved the U.S. welfare state to local government, while promoting market-based action as the preferred mode of public policy execution. The editors and chapter authors share a concern that proponents of public housing restructuring give little attention to the social, political, and economic risks involved in the current campaign to remake public housing. At the same time, the book examines the public housing redevelopment process in Chicago, with an eye to identifying opportunities for redeveloping projects and building new communities across America that will be truly hospitable to those most in need of assisted housing. While the focus is on affordable housing, the issues addressed here cut across the broad policy areas of housing and community development, and will impact the entire field of urban politics and planning.