A Nation of Neighborhoods

by Benjamin Looker

Author	: Benjamin Looker
Publisher	: University of Chicago Press
Total Pages	: 442
Release	: 2015-10-22
Genre	: History
ISBN	: 022629031X

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Benjamin Looker investigates the cultural, social, and economic complexities of the idea of neighborhood in postwar America. In the face of urban decline, competing visions of the city neighborhood s significance and purpose became proxies for broader debates over the meaning and limits of American democracy. Looker examines radically different neighborhood visions by urban artists, critics, writers, and activists to show how sociological debates over what neighborhood values resonated in art, political discourse, and popular culture. The neighborhood- both the epitome of urban life and, in its insularity, an escape from it was where twentieth-century urban Americans worked out solutions to tensions between atomization or overcrowding, harsh segregation or stifling statism, ethnic assimilation or cultural fragmentation."

Nonprofit Neighborhoods

by Claire Dunning

Author	: Claire Dunning
Publisher	: University of Chicago Press
Total Pages	: 352
Release	: 2022-06-23
Genre	: History
ISBN	: 0226819892

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An exploration of how and why American city governments delegated the responsibility for solving urban inequality to the nonprofit sector. American cities are rife with nonprofit organizations that provide services ranging from arts to parks, and health to housing. These organizations have become so ubiquitous, it can be difficult to envision a time when they were fewer, smaller, and more limited in their roles. Turning back the clock, however, uncovers both an eye-opening story of how the nonprofit sector became such a dominant force in American society, as well as a troubling one of why this growth occurred alongside persistent poverty and widening inequality. Claire Dunning's book connects these two stories in histories of race, democracy, and capitalism, revealing an underexplored transformation in urban governance: how the federal government funded and deputized nonprofits to help individuals in need, and in so doing avoided addressing the structural inequities that necessitated such action in the first place. Nonprofit Neighborhoods begins in the decades after World War II, when a mix of suburbanization, segregation, and deindustrialization spelled disaster for urban areas and inaugurated a new era of policymaking that aimed to solve public problems with private solutions. From deep archival research, Dunning introduces readers to the activists, corporate executives, and politicians who advocated addressing poverty and racial exclusion through local organizations, while also raising provocative questions about the politics and possibilities of social change. The lessons of Nonprofit Neighborhoods exceed the municipal bounds of Boston, where much of the story unfolds, providing a timely history of the shift from urban crisis to urban renaissance for anyone concerned about American inequality--past, present, or future.

Stuck in Place

by Patrick Sharkey

Author	: Patrick Sharkey
Publisher	: University of Chicago Press
Total Pages	: 261
Release	: 2013-05-15
Genre	: Social Science
ISBN	: 0226924262

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In the 1960s, many believed that the civil rights movement’s successes would foster a new era of racial equality in America. Four decades later, the degree of racial inequality has barely changed. To understand what went wrong, Patrick Sharkey argues that we have to understand what has happened to African American communities over the last several decades. In Stuck in Place, Sharkey describes how political decisions and social policies have led to severe disinvestment from black neighborhoods, persistent segregation, declining economic opportunities, and a growing link between African American communities and the criminal justice system. As a result, neighborhood inequality that existed in the 1970s has been passed down to the current generation of African Americans. Some of the most persistent forms of racial inequality, such as gaps in income and test scores, can only be explained by considering the neighborhoods in which black and white families have lived over multiple generations. This multigenerational nature of neighborhood inequality also means that a new kind of urban policy is necessary for our nation’s cities. Sharkey argues for urban policies that have the potential to create transformative and sustained changes in urban communities and the families that live within them, and he outlines a durable urban policy agenda to move in that direction.

A Nation of Neighborhoods

by Benjamin Looker

Author	: Benjamin Looker
Publisher	: University of Chicago Press
Total Pages	: 442
Release	: 2015-10-22
Genre	: History
ISBN	: 022629045X

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Despite the pundits who have written its epitaph and the latter-day refugees who have fled its confines for the half-acre suburban estate, the city neighborhood has endured as an idea central to American culture. In A Nation of Neighborhoods, Benjamin Looker presents us with the city neighborhood as both an endless problem and a possibility. Looker investigates the cultural, social, and political complexities of the idea of “neighborhood” in postwar America and how Americans grappled with vast changes in their urban spaces from World War II to the Reagan era. In the face of urban decline, competing visions of the city neighborhood’s significance and purpose became proxies for broader debates over the meaning and limits of American democracy. By studying the way these contests unfolded across a startling variety of genres—Broadway shows, radio plays, urban ethnographies, real estate documents, and even children’s programming—Looker shows that the neighborhood ideal has functioned as a central symbolic site for advancing and debating theories about American national identity and democratic practice.

Making Our Neighborhoods, Making Our Selves

by George C. Galster

Author	: George C. Galster
Publisher	: University of Chicago Press
Total Pages	: 415
Release	: 2019-03-13
Genre	: Social Science
ISBN	: 022659985X

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Drawing on economics, sociology, geography, and psychology, Galster delivers a clear-sighted explanation of what neighborhoods are, how they come to be—and what they should be. Urban theorists have tried for decades to define exactly what a neighborhood is. But behind that daunting existential question lies a much murkier problem: never mind how you define them—how do you make neighborhoods productive and fair for their residents? In Making Our Neighborhoods, Making Our Selves, George C. Galster delves deep into the question of whether American neighborhoods are as efficient and equitable as they could be—socially, financially, and emotionally—and, if not, what we can do to change that. Galster aims to redefine the relationship between places and people, promoting specific policies that reduce inequalities in housing markets and beyond.

Washington at Home

by Kathryn S. Smith

Author	: Kathryn S. Smith
Publisher	:
Total Pages	: 560
Release	: 2010-05-31
Genre	: Architecture
ISBN	:

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Washington, D.C., conjures images of marble monuments, national memorials, and world-class museums. To many, the world beyond the National Mall is invisible. Yet within an area of only 68 square miles lies a residential city of diversity, beauty, and charm. In the long-awaited update of her 1988 classic Washington at Home, Kathryn Schneider Smith and a team of historians, journalists, folklorists, museum professionals, and others who know the city intimately offer a fresh look at the social history of this intriguing city through the prism of 26 diverse neighborhoods. Lavishly illustrated with engaging historical photographs and maps, Washington at Home introduces readers to the famous residents, colorful characters, distinct flavors, and important events that helped shape the city beyond the federal façade. This second edition adds six new neighborhoods from all parts of the city. Extensive notes make the book invaluable for those doing their own research as well as the more casual reader. Journalists, historians, politicians, residents, real estate agents, and students regularly consult Washington at Home as the standard resource on the social history of Washington, D.C. This expanded and updated edition will appeal to residents, both new and old, as well as to visitors eager to deepen their experience in the nation’s capital.

Chicago Neighborhoods and Suburbs

by Ann Durkin Keating

Author	: Ann Durkin Keating
Publisher	: University of Chicago Press
Total Pages	: 340
Release	: 2008-11-15
Genre	: History
ISBN	: 0226428834

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""Which neighborhood?" It's one of the first questions you're asked when you move to Chicago. And the answer you give - be it Bucktown, Bronzeville, or Bridgeport - can give your inquisitor a good idea of who you are, especially in a metropolis with so many different neighborhoods and suburbs to choose from." "Many of us know little of the neighborhoods beyond those where we work, play, and live. This is particularly true in Chicagoland, a region that spans over 4,400 square miles and is home to more than 9.5 million residents. Now, historian Ann Durkin Keating's compact guide, drawn largely from the bestselling Encyclopedia of Chicago, brings the history of Chicago neighborhoods to life."--BOOK JACKET.

There Goes the Neighborhood

by William Julius Wilson

Author	: William Julius Wilson
Publisher	: Vintage
Total Pages	: 242
Release	: 2011-06-15
Genre	: Social Science
ISBN	: 0307794709

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From one of America’s most admired sociologists and urban policy advisers, There Goes the Neighborhood is a long-awaited look at how race, class, and ethnicity influence one of Americans’ most personal choices—where we choose to live. The result of a three-year study of four working- and lower-middle class neighborhoods in Chicago, these riveting first-person narratives and the meticulous research which accompanies them reveal honest yet disturbing realities—ones that remind us why the elusive American dream of integrated neighborhoods remains a priority of race relations in our time.

There Goes the Neighborhood

by Ali Noorani

Author	: Ali Noorani
Publisher	:
Total Pages	: 322
Release	: 2019
Genre	: Law
ISBN	: 1633885666

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A leading advocate for immigration reform interviews a wide range of citizens from communities throughout the nation to gauge the level of acceptance of new immigrants. This compelling approach to the immigration debate takes the reader behind the blaring headlines and into communities grappling with the reality of new immigrants and the changing nature of American identity. Ali Noorani, the Executive Director of the National Immigration Forum, interviews nearly fifty local and national leaders from law enforcement, business, immigrant, and faith communities to illustrate the challenges and opportunities they face. From high school principals to church pastors to sheriffs, the author reveals that most people are working to advance society's interests, not exploiting a crisis at the expense of one community. As he shows, some cities and regions have reached a happy conclusion, while others struggle to find balance. Whether describing a pastor preaching to the need to welcome the stranger, a sheriff engaging the Muslim community, or a farmer's wind-whipped face moistened by tears as he tells the story of his farmworkers being deported, the author helps readers to realize that America's immigration debate isn't about policy; it is about the culture and values that make America what it is. The people on the front lines of America's cultural and demographic debate are Southern Baptist pastors in South Carolina, attorneys general in Utah or Indiana, Texas businessmen, and many more. Their combined voices make clear that all of them are working to make America a welcome place for everyone, long-established citizens and new arrivals alike. Especially now, when we feel our identity, culture, and values changing shape, the collective message from all the diverse voices in this inspiring book is one of hope for the future. Now in paperback with a new preface.