Description
Book SynopsisAs cities have gentrified, educated urbanites have come to prize what they regard as authentic urban life: aging buildings, art galleries, and funky ethnic restaurants. But as Sharon Zukin shows in Naked City, the pervasive demand for authenticity has helped drive out the very people who first lent a neighborhood its authentic aura: immigrants, the working class, and artists. Through a guided tour of six archetypal New York City neighborhoods, Zukin shows how the emphasis on distinctiveness has become a tool of economic elites to drive up real estate values and force out the neighborhood characters that people often idealize. With a journalist''s eye and the understanding of a longtime observer, Zukin''s panoramic survey of the city explains how our desire to consume authentic experience has become a central force in making cities more exclusive.
Trade Reviewan important study of the social and commercial forces redefining our cities. * P D Smith, The Guardian *
Table of Contents1 Origins and New Beginnings ; Uncommon Spaces ; 2 How Brooklyn Became Cool ; 3 Why Harlem is Not a Ghetto ; 4 Living Local in the East Village ; Common Spaces ; 5 Union Square and the Paradox of Public Space ; 6 A Tale of Two Globals: Pupusas and IKEA in Red Hook ; 7 The Billboard and the Garden: A Struggle for Roots ; 8 Destination Culture and the Crisis of Authenticity
