Urban communities / city life Books

Book SynopsisDickens and Demolition' examines how tropes, characters, or extracts from Dickens' fiction were repurposed as a portable terminology in arguments for large-scale demolition and redevelopment projects in London during his lifetime.

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Book SynopsisFrom the acclaimed author of Imagine Wanting Only This?a timely and moving meditation on isolation and longing, both as individuals and as a society.There is a silent epidemic in America: loneliness. Shameful to talk about and often misunderstood, loneliness is everywhere, from the most major of metropolises to the smallest of towns.In Seek You, Kristen Radtke''s wide-ranging exploration of our inner lives and public selves, Radtke digs into the ways in which we attempt to feel closer to one another, and the distance that remains. Through the lenses of gender and violence, technology and art, Radtke ushers us through a history of loneliness and longing, and shares what feels impossible to share.Ranging from the invention of the laugh-track to the rise of Instagram, the bootstrap-pulling cowboy to the brutal experiments of Harry Harlow, Radtke investigates why we engage with each other, and what we risk when we turn away. With her distinctive, emotionally-charged drawings and deeply empathetic prose, Kristen Radtke masterfully shines a light on some of our most vulnerable and sublime moments, and asks how we might keep the spaces between us from splitting entirely.

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Book SynopsisCities are the world's future. Today, more than half of the global population, 3.7 billion people, are urban dwellers, and that number is expected to double by 2050. There is no question that cities are growing; the only debate is-over how they will grow. Will we invest in the physical and social infrastructure necessary for Iiveable, equitable, and-sustainable cities? In the latest edition of State of the World, the flagship publication of the Worldwatch Institute, experts from around the globe examine the core principles of sustainable urbanism and profile cities that are putting them into practice. State of the World first puts our current moment in context, tracing cities in the arc of human history. It also examines the basic structural elements of every city: materials and fuels; people and economics; and biodiversity. In part two, professionals working on some of the world's most inventive urban sustainability projects share their first-hand experience. Success stories come from places as diverse as Ahmedabad, India; Freiburg, Germany; and Shanghai, China. In many cases, local people are acting to improve their cities, even when national efforts are stalled. Parts three and four examine cross-cutting issues that affect the success of all cities. Topics range from the nitty-gritty of handling waste and developing public transportation to civic participation and navigating dysfunctional government. Throughout, readers discover the most pressing challenges facing communities and the most promising solutions currently being developed. The result is a snapshot of cities today and a vision for global urban sustainability tomorrow.

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Here is a kaleidoscopic assemblage and poetic history of New York: an unparalleled and original homage to the city, composed entirely of quotations. Drawn from a huge array of sources-histories, memoirs, newspaper articles, novels, government documents, emails-and organized into interpretive categories that reveal the philosophical architecture of the city, Capital is the ne plus ultra of books on the ultimate megalopolis.It is also a book of experimental literature that transposes Walter Benjamin's unfinished magnum opus of literary montage on the modern city, The Arcades Project, from 19th-century Paris to 20th-century New York, bringing the streets to life in categories such as "Sex," "Commodity," "Downtown," "Subway," and "Mapplethorpe."Capital is a book designed to fascinate and to fail-for can a megalopolis truly be written? Can a history, no matter how extensive, ever be comprehensive? Each reading of this book, and of New York, is a unique and impossible passage.

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Book SynopsisAt a time when environmental and social stakes are at their highest – with rising crises and contradictions at the nexus of a building sense of environmental and social collapse – there are no easy solutions. Global Im-Possibilities explores just what can be done around the world to ameliorate this dynamic. Using a range of essays and a multitude of case studies, this book explores what new lessons can be learned from examining the challenges and impediments to achieving just sustainabilities on the levels of policy, planning, and practice, and considers how these challenges and impediments can be addressed by individuals and/or governments. Taking a nuanced approach to provide an intersectional analysis of a particular issue relating to the ideals for achieving sustainability, this book asserts that that it is only in recognizing such complexity that we can hope to achieve just sustainabilities.Trade ReviewGlobal Im-Possibilities is a collective scholarly endeavour in the best sense of the term. Area specialists provide convincing case studies ranging far and wide, beginning with the Mercedes Benz sports stadium in Atlanta and the impact of oil on indigenous communities in North Dakota. It follows through with a series of ‘unfinished stories’ documenting in impressive detail how the forces of neoliberalism time and again frustrate the quest for just sustainabilities in communities in Sri Lanka, Ghana, Bangladesh, Greece, Australia and more. The book is held together by a structure that explains these struggles by connecting environmental justice, environmental racism, and intersectionality, finding optimism in the prospect of many small victories. At a time when Sustainable Development is widely and mostly uncritically seen as the answer to all our problems, this book is a welcome and sometimes optimistic reality check. * Leslie Sklair, Emeritus Professor of Sociology, London School of Economics *Godfrey and Buchanan challenge sustainability advocates to grapple with the paradoxes, contradictions, and tensions of the sustainability interventions examined in this volume. The contributors bring together stories of just and unjust sustainabilities, featuring a breathtaking diversity of protagonists – from the African American communities subject to the injustices of environmental ornamentation perpetrated by the construction of Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta, the members of the Baltimore activist group who call themselves The 1619 Coalition, the rickshaw pullers of Dhaka, and the lowland Indigenous communities, who experienced a collective sense of institutional betrayal under the Morales administration. This volume offers a treasure trove of insights and inspirations for those interested in the multiple pursuits of environmental and climate justice. * Prakash Kashwan, Associate Professor, University of Connecticut *Table of ContentsIntroduction -- Phoebe Godfrey, Mary Buchanan Part I: Promises & Deliveries 1. Destroy and rebuild: Considering harm, community benefits & environmental ornamentation in community development in Atlanta -- Dr. Lemir Teron, Ms. T’Shari White, Ms. Farah Nibbs, Ms. Farzaneh Khayat 2. The sovereignty paradox: Negotiating values amid tribal adaptation to shale oil extraction -- Jacqline Wolf Tice, David Casagrande 3. Activism or extractivism: Indigenous land struggles in eastern Bolivia -- Evan Shenkin Part II: Cities, Citizens & Systems 4. The bi-polar waterfront: Paradoxes of shoreline place-making in contemporary Accra and Colombo -- Rapti Siriwardane-de Zoysa, Epifania A. Amoo-Adare 5. Negotiations and contestations of just mobility: Rickshaws in Dhaka, Bangladesh -- Md Musleh Uddin Hasan 6. Paradoxes of just sustainabilities in urban water sociotechnical systems: Lessons from Athens, Greece -- Marcia Rosalie Hale Part III: Scales of Decision-Making & Action 7. Resistance to restricting? The politics of cars in Copenhagen -- Kevin T. Smiley 8. Popular consultations and extractivism in Colombia: From local to global actions against mining and climate change -- Aracely Burgos-Ayala, Emerson Harvey Cepeda-Rodríguez 9. Rescaling energy governance and the democratizing potential of ‘Community Choice’ -- Sean Kennedy, Ph.D. Part IV: Re-imagining the Possible 10. Organic (dis)organization and transformation: Stories of resistance and return at CERES Community Environment Park -- Natalie Osborne & Deanna Grant-Smith 11. Just sustainability on the range: Empowering decisions at the soil surface -- Andrea and Tony Malmberg 12. Welcome to Tubman House -- Anthony Bayani Rodriguez Conclusion: Global [Im]-Possibilities for Just Sustainabilities? -- Phoebe Godfrey, Mary Buchanan Contributors Index

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Book SynopsisA memoir like no other, A Single Headstrong Heart passionately and intelligently reveals both the era and the individual. Funny, quirky and touching, this latest offering from Kevin Myers describes in a first-person narrative his childhood up to the early years of his career as a journalist and his departure from University College Dublin in the late 1960s. Related with a Rabelaisian verve, A Single Headstrong Heart is a prequel to Myers’ bestselling Watching the Door, set in Belfast at the height of the Troubles during the 1970s, and it has all the panache and particularity of that masterly book. As they grow up in Leicestershire, England, with regular holiday visits to Ireland, Kevin and his twin sister Maggie are sheltered by a mother’s domestic diligence and survive a father’s eccentricity and gradual disintegration. Being Irish and Catholic in an English provincial town brings fascinating tensions and analysis to bear on boarding school experiences, social status, sport and a burgeoning sexuality. The travails of puberty have rarely been so candidly depicted. Pop music, political awareness and modernity break in with the advent of the Sixties and modernity as this rare, ebullient personality undergoes social and political transformation. With a sometimes grotesque humour reminiscent of Roald Dahl, these recollections retain an authentic childlike sense of galloping self-importance in an adult re-casting. Broadly chronological, the main narrative arc is sustained by the author’s relationship with his father, with a startling denouement revealed after his father’s death that lends context to these vivid memories.Trade Review"The book, finally, is remarkable because of the surprise the author pulls off at the end – and it really is a surprise.” -The Irish Times

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Book Synopsis'Essential for any serious technical library' PROFESSOR MARTIN GREEN, UNIVERSITY OF NEW SOUTHWALES, AUSTRALIA 'Valuable, detailed information that helps me plan for the future' DON OSBORN, FORMERLY OF SACRAMENTO MUNICIPAL UTILITY DISTRICT The Advances in Solar Energy series offers state-of-the-art information on all primary renewable energy technologies, including solar, wind and biomass, bringing together invited contributions from the foremost international experts in renewable energy. Spanning a broad range of technical subjects, this volume and series is a 'must-have' reference on global developments in the field of renewable energy. Volume 17 focuses primarily on solar energy, with respect to heating, hot water, drying and detoxification. Specific chapter subjects include: Alternative World Energy Outlook 2006: A Possible Path towards a Sustainable Future Quantum Well Solar Cells Recent Progress of Organic Photovoltaics Thermal and Material Characterization of Immersed Heat Exchangers for Solar Domestic Hot Water Photocatalytic Detoxification of Water with Solar Energy Solar-Hydrogen: A Solid-State Chemistry Perspective Solar Heat for Industrial Processes Solar Energy Technology in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) for Sustainable Energy, Water and EnvironmentTrade Review"* 'Essential for any serious technical library' Professor Martin Green, University of New South Wales, Australia * 'Valuable, detailed information that helps me plan for the future' Don Osborn, formerly of Sacramento Municipal Utility District"Table of ContentsForeword * Alternative World Energy Outlook 2006: A Possible Path towards a Sustainable Future * Quantum Well Solar Cells * Recent Progress of Organic Photovoltaics * Thermal and Material Characterization of Immersed Heat Exchangers for Solar Domestic Hot Water * Photocatalytic Detoxification of Water with Solar Energy * Solar-Hydrogen: A Solid-State Chemistry Perspective * Solar Heat for Industrial Processes * Solar Energy Technology in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) for Sustainable Energy, Water and Environment *

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Book SynopsisCurrent urban planning systems are not equipped to deal with the major urban challenges of the twenty-first century, including effects of climate change, resource depletion and economic instability, plus continued rapid urbanization with its negative consequences such as poverty, slums and urban informality. These planning systems have also, to a large extent, failed to meaningfully involve and accommodate the ways of life of communities and other stakeholders in the planning of urban areas, thus contributing to the problems of spatial marginalization and exclusion. It is clear that urban planning needs to be reconsidered and revitalized for a sustainable urban future. Planning Sustainable Cities reviews the major challenges currently facing cities and towns all over the world, the emergence and spread of modern urban planning and the effectiveness of current approaches. More importantly, it identifies innovative urban planning approaches and practices that are more responsive to current and future challenges of urbanization. The Global Report on Human Settlements is the most authoritative and up-to-date global assessment of human settlements conditions and trends. It is an essential reference for researchers, academics, public authorities and civil society organizations all over the world. Preceding issues of the report have addressed such topics as Cities in a Globalizing World, The Challenge of Slums, Financing Urban Shelter and Enhancing Urban Safety and Security.Trade Review"This report documents many effective and equitable examples of sustainable urbanization that are helping to define a new role for urban planning. I commend its information and analysis to all who are interested in promoting economically productive, environmentally safe and socially inclusive towns and cities." From the Foreword by BAN KI-MOON, Secretary-General, United Nations "Today's Books put Planning Sustainable Cities on the 'A-List!'" Kelly Spann, Today's Books. "This will be invaluable to anyone seeking a comprehensive review of global problems in this field." Library Journal, May 2010"A great reference book." Built Environment "This book is of interest of those who are interested in promoting sustainable process, and is particularly useful in pointing out new directions and in providing recent effective and equitable examples." Lia Maria Dias Bezerra, University of Brasilia,Urban Research and Practice"This is a most useful survey of urban planning worldwide. It is thought provoking and persuasive." Manjusha Misra, School of Planning and Architecture, Bhopal, International Journal of Environmental StudiesTable of ContentsPart I: Challenges and Context 1. Urban Challenges and the Need to Revisit Urban Planning 2. Understanding the Diversity of Urban Contexts Part II: Global Trends: The Urban Planning Process (Procedural) 3. The Emergence and Spread of Contemporary Urban Planning 4. The Institutional and Regulatory Framework for Planning 5. Planning, Participation and Politics Part III: Global Trends: The Content Of Urban Plans (Substantive) 6. Bridging the Green and Brown Agendas 7. Planning and Informality 8. Planning, Spatial Structure of Cities and Provision of Infrastructure Part IV: Global Trends: Monitoring, Evaluation And Education 9. The Monitoring and Evaluation of Urban Plans 10. Planning Education Part V: Future Policy Directions 11. Towards a New Role for Urban Planning Part VI: Statistical Annex

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Book SynopsisChina is in the midst of the fastest and most intense process of urbanisation the world has ever known, and Shanghai - its biggest, richest and most cosmopolitan city - is positioned for acceleration into the twenty-first century. Yet, in its embrace of a hopeful - even exultant - futurism, Shanghai recalls the older and much criticised project of imagining, planning and building the modern metropolis. Today, among Westerners, at least, the very idea of the futuristic city - with its multilayered skyways, domestic robots and flying cars - seems doomed to the realm of nostalgia, the sadly comic promise of a future that failed to materialise. Shanghai Future maps the city of tomorrow as it resurfaces in a new time and place. It searches for the contours of an unknown and unfamiliar futurism in the city's street markets as well as in its skyscrapers. For though it recalls the modernity of an earlier age, Shanghai's current re-emergence is only superficially based on mimicry. Rather, in seeking to fulfill its ambitions, the giant metropolis is reinventing the very idea of the future itself. As it modernises, Shanghai is necessarily recreating what it is to be modern.Trade Review'This is a fascinating and highly original book - a difficult achievement given how much has been written about Shanghai in recent years by both journalists and scholars. The author contributes not only to the literature on contemporary China and conversations about the nature of Chinese modernity, but also to interdisciplinary debates in urban studies and philosophical and literary discussions of the future. Shanghai Future should find interested readers in fields ranging from Chinese studies to urban studies, cultural geography to science fiction studies.' * Jeffrey Wasserstrom, author of China in the 21st Century: What Everyone Needs to Know *'In the boom of writing on Shanghai Greenspan's work stands out for its depth and originality. There is much written about Shanghai's past, but this original text explores how Shanghai represents its own and our collective human futures. A fascinating collection of musings and empirical explorations of the projection of the future onto Shanghai's cityscapes.' * James Farrer, Professor of Sociology at Sophia University and author of Opening Up: Youth Sex Culture and Market Reform in Shanghai *'This is a fascinating narrative of Shanghai's urban and cultural changes, reflecting the process of Chinese ubiquitous modernisation. Anna Greenspan's keen observations on the history of Shanghai and its current transformation provide insightful understandings of the making of modernity in China, like Paris to modern capitalism. The specificity of urban cultural studies is artfully examined from a perspective of national development. A book which profoundly enriches China's urban studies.' * Fulong Wu, Bartlett Professor of Planning, University College London and author of China's Emerging Cities: The Making of New Urbanism *'Shanghai is a global metropolis that constantly seeks to outdo itself. Those who arrive in the city for the first time are routinely shocked and awed by its dizzying skyline, bursting urbanism, and glaring ambitions. Anna Greenspan uses this adopted home to delve into the intriguing question of the future city. Drawing on a wide range of materials and first-hand observations, Greenspan convincingly shows how Shanghai and China will continue to reshape the world and redefine our imaginations of the future.' * Tong Lam, author of Abandoned Futures and A Passion for Facts *

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Book SynopsisThe world's urban population now exceeds the world's rural population. What does this mean for the state of our cities, given the strain this global demographic shift is placing upon current urban infrastructures? Following on from previous State of the World's Cities reports, this edition uses the framework of 'The Urban Divide' to analyze the complex social, political, economic and cultural dynamics of urban environments. In particular, the book focuses on the concept of the 'right to the city' and ways in which many urban dwellers are excluded from the advantages of city life, using the framework to explore links among poverty, inequality, slum formation and economic growth. The volume will be essential reading for all professionals and policymakers in the field, as well as a valuable resource for researchers and students in all aspects of urban development. Published with UN-Habitat.Trade Review'It is compelling reading for all those who feel they have a right to the city, whether or not they are experts.' Urban WorldTable of ContentsPart 1: Urban Trends 1.1. Cross-Currents in Global Urbanization 1.2. The Wealth of Cities 1.3. Slum Dwellers: Proportions are Declining, but Numbers are Growing Part 2: The Urban Divide 2.1. The Urban Divide: Overview and Perspectives 2.2. The Economic Divide: Urban Income Inequalities 2.3. The Spatial Divide: Marginalization and its Outcomes 2.4. The Opportunity Divide: When the 'Urban Advantage' Eludes the Poor 2.5. The Social Divide: Impact on Bodies and Minds Part 3: Bridging the Urban Divide 3.1. Taking Forward the Right to the City 3.2. The Regional Dynamics of Inclusion 3.3. The Five Steps to an Inclusive City

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Book SynopsisCivilizations fail when they become trapped in a way of looking at the world that no longer works. For many, globalization is pushing us to the edge of disaster - an onward march of blinkered vision, encouraging passivity, moral blindness and a culture of dependency.A Community Manifesto is an elegantly written polemic offering a new way of looking at our social, cultural and economic realities. Tackling the crucial dimensions of personal responsibility, consensus and community, it shows how we can find a new language through which we can reinvigorate our individual and social lives, developing the resourcefulness we need but which proves so difficult to cultivate. The vision it presents is persuasive and very timely - only by building community can human society evolve and progress.Table of ContentsIntroduction: The Spectre of Doubt * A Thoroughly Modern Way of Living * Ways of the World * Regaining a Sense of Direction * Focusing the Mind * Notes and References * Index

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Book SynopsisAcross the developing world the preceding decade or so has witnessed a profound reconfiguration of the political economy of urban policy. This new policy environment is driven by globalization, the neo-liberal macro-economic package of 'market enablement' and structural adjustment, which now form the dominant development paradigm. The consequences of this approach for urban development agendas and ultimately the lives and livelihoods of millions of people across the globe are profound. Market Economy and Urban Change explores and evaluates urban sector and development policies in the context of market enablement, and the associated instruments of structural adjustment, urban management reform and 'good' governance. By articulating the linkages between this neo-liberal development paradigm and the way different actors in the urban sector enact policy responses, the book provides an understanding of both the factors driving market enablement, and its impacts on urban sector policies and programmes. With case studies drawn from countries such as Egypt, Mexico, Kenya, Brazil, Colombia and transitional economies, the book focuses in particular on the implications for land, shelter and related sectoral policies for poverty alleviation. By linking policy to practice, the book seeks to inform policy-makers in governments, donor and implementing agencies of the impact of shifts in the development debate on urban sector strategies.Table of ContentsPreface * Market Enablement and the Urban Sector * Developmental Welfare and Political Economy: Reflections on Policy-conditioned Aid and Strategic Redirection of International Housing and Urban Policies, 1960-2000 * The State, Foreign Aid and the Political Economy of Shelter in Egypt * Tackling Urban Poverty: Principles and Practice in Project and Programme Design in Kenya * Bridging the Rural - Urban Divide: What Can the Urban Learn from the Rural? Reflections on the Case of Mexico * Between Command and Market Economies: The Changing Roles of Public and Private Housing Sectors in Transitional Economies * Urban Land Tenure in Brazil: From Centralized State to Market Processes of Housing Land Delivery * Market Enablement and the Reconfiguration of Urban Structure in Columbia * Index

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Book SynopsisSoziale Grenzziehungen prägen das Zusammenleben in Städten. Wie diese Einsicht in der quantitativen Stadtsoziologie berücksichtigt werden kann, thematisiert dieser Sammelband. Beispielhaft vermitteln dessen Beiträge die Bedeutung von gruppen- und raumbezogener Kategorisierung für die Analyse räumlicher Sozialstruktur. Anhand verschiedener empirischer Studien zu Ausmaß, Ursachen und Konsequenzen von Segregation und räumlicher Ungleichheit liefern sie gleichzeitig eine Bestandsaufnahme räumlicher Differenz in Deutschland.Table of ContentsWo und wie Grenzen ziehen? Soziale Kategorisierung in der quantitativen Stadtsoziologie-Die sozialräumliche Verteilung von Zugewanderten in den deutschen Städten zwischen 2014 und 2017.- Muster ethnischer Segregation in Deutschland – Ein Vergleich anhand räumlicher Segregationsmaße.- Nachbarschaften als Bildungskontexte und die Dynamiken räumlicher Mobilität von Familien.-Ethnic Choice Effects“: Welche Rolle spielt die räumliche Verfügbarkeit anspruchsvoller Bildungsalternativen?.- Ethnische Nachbarschaftskomposition und die Entwicklung einwanderungsbezogener Sorgen in Zeiten starker Zuwanderung.- Der Halo-Effekt in Deutschland – Revisited. Sind Menschen, die in der Nähevon – aber nicht in – ethnisch diversen Nachbarschaften leben besonders Xenophob und Rassistisch?.- Kulturelle und ethnische Definitionen von Zugehörigkeit in Ost- und Westdeutschland und im Stadt-Land-Vergleich.- Welche kontextuellen Faktoren beeinflussen interethnische Beziehungen in der Schule? Eine explorative Netzwerkanalyse.

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Book SynopsisExamines how postwar thinkers from both sides of the Atlantic considered urban landscapes radically changed by the political and physical realities of sprawl, urban decay, and urban renewal. The author traces changing responses to the challenging issues that most affected day-to-day life in the world's cities.

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Book SynopsisDiscuss real estate with any young family and the subject of schools is certain to come up - in fact, it will likely be a crucial factor in determining where that family lives. In this title, the author shows how education policy makes overt attempts to prevent, or at least slow, middle-class flight to the suburbs.Trade Review"Maia Bloomfield Cucchiara provides a very clear and compelling example of the involvement of private people and business in public education and of the ways in which market strategies have been at work here. She offers a major contribution that provides a good, detailed look at how 'market mechanisms' play out in practice." (Lisa Stulberg, New York University)"

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Book SynopsisA portrait of city life which explores the dilemma of both blacks and whites, the underclass and the middle class, caught up in the new struggle not only for common ground--prime real estate in a racially changing neighborhood--but for shared moral community.

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Book SynopsisA city is more than a massing of citizens, a layout of buildings and streets, or an arrangement of political, economic, and social institutions. This book explores this infrastructure of ideas through an examination of the development of the first successful waterworks systems in Philadelphia, Boston, and Chicago between the 1790s and 1860s.Trade Review"City Water, City Life is a gem of a book, a tightly focused meditation on the antebellum city's 'infrastructure of ideas.' By masterfully compressing myriad period sources, Carl Smith makes major contributions to our understanding of American society and culture." (Harold Platt, Loyola University Chicago)"

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Book SynopsisExplores the struggle for influence that dominated the planning and development of Chicago's South Side during the Progressive Era. This work examines the University of Chicago, Chicago's public parks, and the Black Belt to consider how community leaders looked to the physical design of the city to shape its culture and promote civic interaction.Trade Review"Bachin incisively charts the development of key urban institutions and landscapes that helped constitute the messy vitality of Chicago's late nineteenth- and early twentieth-century public realm." - Daniel Bluestone, Journal of American History "This is an ambitious book filled with important insights about issues of public space and its use by urban residents.... It is thoughtful, very well written, and should be read and appreciated by anyone interested in Chicago or cities generally. It is also a gentle reminder that people are as important as structures and spaces in trying to understand urban development." - Maureen A. Flanagan, American Historical Review"

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Book SynopsisDrawing on ethnographic research in four distinct communities - the Chicago neighborhoods of Andersonville and Argyle and the New England towns of Provincetown and Dresden - this title paints a colorful portrait of how residents new and old, from wealthy gay homeowners to Portuguese fishermen, think about gentrification.Trade Review"A Neighborhood That Never Changes offers a sophisticated reinvention of the classic community study by emphasizing how local residents interpret contemporary economic and political forces through the lens of culture and the imagination of authenticity. Brown-Saracino's intellectually ambitious and entertaining book adds to the burgeoning literature on gentrification by slicing through some of the assumptions of the field with empirical rigor." - David Grazian, University of Pennsylvania"

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Book SynopsisAt fifteen, Victor Rios found himself a human target flat on his ass amid a hail of shotgun fire, desperate for money and a place on the street. Faced with the choice of escalating a drug turf war or eking out a living elsewhere, he turned to a teacher, who mentored him and helped him find a job at an auto shop. That job would alter the course of his whole life putting him on the road to college and eventually a PhD. Now, Rios is a rising star, hailed for his work studying the lives of African American and Latino youth. In Human Targets, Rios takes us to the streets of California, where we encounter young men who find themselves in much the same situation as fifteen-year-old Victor. We follow young gang members into schools, homes, community organizations, and detention facilities, watch them interact with police, grow up to become fathers, get jobs, get rap sheets and in some cases get killed. What is it that sets apart young people like Rios who succeed and survive from the ones who don't?Rios makes a powerful case that the traditional good kid/bad kid, street kid/decent kid dichotomy is much too simplistic, arguing instead that authorities and institutions help create these identities and that they can play an instrumental role in providing young people with the resources for shifting between roles. In Rios's account, to be a poor Latino youth is to be a human target victimized and considered an enemy by others, viewed as a threat to law enforcement and schools, and treated with stigma, disrepute, and punishment. That has to change. This is not another sensationalistic account of gang bangers. Instead, the book is a powerful look at how authority figures succeed and fail at seeing the multi-faceted identities of at-risk youths, youths who succeed and fail at demonstrating to the system that they are ready to change their lives. In our post-Ferguson era, Human Targets is essential reading.

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Book SynopsisMany people understand urban renewal projects and the power of eminent domain as two of the most widely despised, and even racist, tools for reshaping American cities in the postwar period. Concerned more with winners and losers than with heroes and villains, this book offers a sober assessment of money and power in Jim Crow America.Trade Review"A World More Concrete marks the arrival of an exciting new voice in American political and social history. Through a fascinating history of Miami, Connolly brings together politics, culture, and economics in a riveting account of how shared understandings of property rights and real estate were central to the racial segregation that has plagued America's cities. Connolly unpacks the complex dynamics of property transactions and urban development, meticulously analyzing all the various institutional actors who shape this market in order to understand the political economy of racism." (Julian E. Zelizer, Princeton University)"

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Book SynopsisIn recent decades a growing number of middle-class parents have considered sending their children to - and often end up becoming active in - urban public schools. Their presence can bring long-needed material resources to such schools. The author shows that, it can also introduce new class and race tensions, and even exacerbate inequalities.Trade Review"Posey-Maddox's book makes an original contribution that is important to current conversations about urban schools. The question of what role middle-class families can/should play in urban school reform is a pressing one, and her research raises a series of questions that I have not seen raised elsewhere as clearly or directly. It captures key dimensions of how cities are changing and the impact those changes are having on our most important institutions." (Amanda E. Lewis, Emory University)"

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Book SynopsisNestled between Santa Monica and Marina del Rey, Venice is a Los Angeles community filled with apparent contradictions. There, people of various races and classes live side by side. The author invites the reader on an ethnographic tour of this legendary California beach community and the people who live there.Trade Review"Andrew Deener writes clearly and engagingly about development and gentrification in Venice, one of those places that everyone has heard about but few people actually know. Unfailingly interesting to anyone interested in urbanism, urban sociology, and history, this first-class book will command respect from scholars. Deener clearly knows what he's talking about, and when he's through, so do you." -Howard S. Becker, University of California, Santa Barbara"

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