Description
Book SynopsisTHE LIVING CITY
An intelligent analysis. Sensible, undoctrinaire, evengood-humored. An appealing mixture of passion and clinicaldispassion.
-Washington Post Book World
The best antidote I''ve read to the doom-and-gloom propheciesconcerning the future of urban America.
-Bill Moyers
This is fresh and fascinating material; it is essential forunderstanding not only how to avoid repeating terrible mistakes ofthe past, but also how to recover from them.
-Jane Jacobs, author of The Death and Life of Great AmericanCities
From coast to coast across America there are countless urbansuccess stories about rejuvenated neighborhoods and resurgentbusiness districts. Roberta Brandes Gratz defines the phenomenon asurban husbandry-the care, management, and preservation of thebuilt environment nurtured by genuine participatory planningefforts of government, urban planners, and average citizens.
Table of ContentsTHINKING SMALL IN A BIG WAY.
Process Is People.
Savannah's Victorian District.
Gentrification and Displacement.
Winning Skirmishes, Losing Wars.
Understanding the Lessons.
Urban Husbandry: The Economy of Wisdom.
Planned Shrinkage: The Economy of Waste.
Urban Dispersal.
THE CITY REDISCOVERED.
Big Steps, Modestly: The Stories of Ithaca and Corning.
Outside, Inside: Burlington and Pittsfield.
Avoiding Wrong Lessons: The Remnant Complex vs.
Small Improvement, Big Differences.
Culprits.
Streets Have Value.
Old Areas Flourish Anew.
THE TROJAN HORSE: BIG PLANS, BIG MISTAKES.
The Past Over and Over Again.
The Question Is Why: Concrete Bunker or Else.
Epilogue.
Notes.
Index.
