The Living City How America's Cities Are Being Revitalized by Thinking Small in a Big Way

by Gratz, Roberta Brandes

• ISBN13: 9780471144250
• ISBN10: 0471144258
• Edition: 1st
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 1995-07-19
• Publisher: Wiley

Summary

THE LIVING CITY "An intelligent analysis. Sensible, undoctrinaire, even good-humored. An appealing mixture of passion and clinical dispassion." -Washington Post Book World "The best antidote I've read to the doom-and-gloom prophecies concerning the future of urban America." -Bill Moyers "This is fresh and fascinating material; it is essential for understanding not only how to avoid repeating terrible mistakes of the past, but also how to recover from them." -Jane Jacobs, author of The Death and Life of Great American Cities From coast to coast across America there are countless urban success stories about rejuvenated neighborhoods and resurgent business districts. Roberta Brandes Gratz defines the phenomenon as "urban husbandry"-the care, management, and preservation of the built environment nurtured by genuine participatory planning efforts of government, urban planners, and average citizens.

Author Biography

Roberta Brandes Gratz lives in New York City, where she has been involved in urban matters as a community activist, as executive director of a historic restoration project, and as a reporter for the New York Post. In addition, she lectures and writes on urban affairs.

Table of Contents

Foreword To The New Edition	i
Preface	11	(4)
Introduction	15	(14)
PART ONE: THINKING SMALL IN A BIG WAY	29	(182)
Process Is People	31	(15)
Savannah's Victorian District	46	(16)
Gentrification and Displacement	62	(20)
Winning Skirmishes, Losing Wars	82	(39)
Understanding the Lessons	121	(26)
Urban Husbandry: the Economy of Wisdom	147	(28)
Planned Shrinkage: The Economy of Waste	175	(18)
Urban Dispersal	193	(18)
PART TWO: THE CITY REDISCOVERED	211	(124)
Big Steps, Modestly: The Stories of Ithaca and Corning	213	(19)
Outside, Inside: Burlington and Pittsfield	232	(20)
Avoiding Wrong Lessons: The Remnant Complex vs. Small Improvement, Big Differences	252	(23)
Culprits	275	(18)
Streets Have Value	293	(21)
Old Areas Flourish Anew	314	(21)
PART THREE: THE TROJAN HORSE: BIG PLANS, BIG MISTAKES	335	(46)
The Past Over and Over Again	337	(23)
The Question Is Why: Concrete Bunker or Else	360	(21)
Epilogue	381	(12)
Notes	393	(6)
Index	399