Camden After the Fall : Decline and Renewal in a Post-Industrial City / Howard Gillette, Jr.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Gillette, Jr., Howard, author.

Series:

Politics and Culture in Modern America

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Urban renewal--History--Camden--New Jersey.

Urban renewal.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (340 p.)

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

Philadelphia : University of Pennsylvania Press, [2011]

Language Note:

English

Summary:

What prevents cities whose economies have been devastated by the flight of human and monetary capital from returning to self-sufficiency? Looking at the cumulative effects of urban decline in the classic post-industrial city of Camden, New Jersey, historian Howard Gillette, Jr., probes the interaction of politics, economic restructuring, and racial bias to evaluate contemporary efforts at revitalization. In a sweeping analysis, Gillette identifies a number of related factors to explain this phenomenon, including the corrosive effects of concentrated poverty, environmental injustice, and a political bias that favors suburban amenity over urban reconstruction.Challenging popular perceptions that poor people are responsible for the untenable living conditions in which they find themselves, Gillette reveals how the effects of political decisions made over the past half century have combined with structural inequities to sustain and prolong a city's impoverishment. Even the most admirable efforts to rebuild neighborhoods through community development and the reinvention of downtowns as tourist destinations are inadequate solutions, Gillette argues. He maintains that only a concerted regional planning response-in which a city and suburbs cooperate-is capable of achieving true revitalization. Though such a response is mandated in Camden as part of an unprecedented state intervention, its success is still not assured, given the legacy of outside antagonism to the city and its residents.Deeply researched and forcefully argued, Camden After the Fall chronicles the history of the post-industrial American city and points toward a sustained urban revitalization strategy for the twenty-first century.

Contents:

Frontmatter

Contents

Preface

Introduction

PART I. Shifting Fortunes

Chapter 1. A City That Worked

Chapter 2. Camden Transformed

PART II. Shifting Power

Chapter 3. To Save Our City

Chapter 4. From City to County: The Rise of the Suburban Power Structure

PART III. Shifting Strategy

Chapter 5. The Downtown Waterfront: Changing Camden's Image

Chapter 6. The Neighborhoods: Not by Faith Alone

Chapter 7. The Courts: Seeking Justice and Fairness

PART IV. Shifting Prospects

Chapter 8. The Politics of Recovery

Chapter 9. Future Camden: Reinventing the City, Engaging the Region

Conclusion

Note on Sources

Notes

Index

Acknowledgments

Notes:

Bibliographic Level Mode of Issuance: Monograph

Description based on online resource; title from PDF title page (publisher's Web site, viewed 08. Jul 2019)

ISBN:

9786613212306

9781283212304

1283212307

9780812205275

0812205278

OCLC:

759158205