Description
Book SynopsisHistoric preservation is typically regarded as an elitist practice. Through rich case studies of Baltimore and Brooklyn, Aaron Passell complicates this story, exploring how community activists and local governments use historic preservation to accelerate or slow down neighborhood change.
Trade ReviewHistoric preservation is a movement focused on preserving the physical past. In
Preserving Neighborhoods, Aaron Passell deftly illustrates the ways preservation is actually used as a catalyst for changing a neighborhood’s physical and social dimensions.
Preserving Neighborhoods is a nuanced and detailed look at historic preservation as a force for neighborhood change and should be in the library of anyone with an interest in the physical and social fabric of urban communities. -- Lance Freeman, author of
A Haven and a Hell: The Ghetto in Black AmericaPreserving Neighborhoods is a powerful book about how people and organizations work the system to advance parochial projects, a vivid demonstration of how the "social" shapes "social policy" and, with it, urban form. There are far too few comparative ethnographies in urban studies, and Passell has produced an exemplary work. -- Eric Klinenberg, author of
Palaces for the People: How Social Infrastructure Can Help Fight Inequality, Polarization, and the Decline of Civic LifeSo-called neighborhood preservation lands very differently from one place to another; here we learn just why. There is a radical specificity that determines why the effect in Brooklyn is so different than in Baltimore. Replete with insight and irony, Passell’s book makes a genuine contribution to urban analysis more generally. -- Harvey Molotch, New York University
Aaron Passell’s
Preserving Neighborhoods is a must-read for anyone interested in urban preservation. With case studies from Baltimore and Brooklyn, Passell reveals preservation as a malleable strategy that facilitates different ends across varied contexts, from neighborhoods facing gentrification and development pressure to those crumbling under the weight of entrenched vacancy and abandonment. -- Stephanie Ryberg-Webster, Cleveland State University
Preserving Neighborhoods draws on a comparison between two distinct contexts to show how historic designation unfolds differently across different places. In doing so, Aaron Passell engages with a critical urban policy area of vital public importance that has received insufficient scholarly attention. -- Jeremy Levine, University of Michigan
It offers many new insights, as well as challenges to conventional wisdom about neighborhood preservation and
gentrification. The book is a good candidate to assign in urban sociology or urban studies undergraduate or graduate courses, particularly on research methods. * Social Forces *
Passell’s contribution to urban studies and mixed methodology is loud and clear, and the book does the work of a great sociological account by dispelling—or at least complicating—conventional wisdom about an issue in a way that moves us forward and affords us better comprehension of the world around us. * American Journal of Sociology *
Table of ContentsAcknowledgments
1. Introduction
2. Explaining Change in Baltimore’s Historic Neighborhoods
3. Mitigating Gentrification Through Preservation in Central Brooklyn
4. Vacancy, Abandonment, Demolition by Neglect, and Project CORE in Baltimore
5. Struggling to Preserve in the Context of Aggressive Development Pressure
6. Conclusion
Appendix: Data, Methods, and Measures
Notes
Bibliography
Index
