Newcomers : gentrification and its discontents / Matthew L. Schuerman.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Schuerman, Matthew L., author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Cities and towns--United States.

Cities and towns.

Gentrification--New York (State)--New York.

Gentrification.

Gentrification--Illinois--Chicago.

Gentrification--California--San Francisco.

California--San Francisco.

Illinois--Chicago.

New York (State)--New York.

United States.

Physical Description:

330 pages : illustrations, maps ; 24 cm

Place of Publication:

Chicago : The University of Chicago Press, 2019.

Summary:

Gentrification is transforming cities, small and large, across the country. Though it's easy to bemoan the diminished social diversity and transformation of commercial strips that often signify a gentrifying neighborhood, determining who actually benefits and who suffers from this nebulous process can be much harder. The full story of gentrification is rooted in large-scale social and economic forces as well as in extremely local specifics--in short, it's far more complicated than both its supporters and detractors allow. In Newcomers, journalist Matthew Schuerman explains how a phenomenon that began with good intentions has turned into one of the most vexing social problems of our time. He builds a national story using focused histories of northwest Brooklyn, San Francisco's Mission District, and the onetime site of Chicago's Cabrini-Green housing project, revealing both the commonalities among all three and the place-specific drivers of change. Schuerman argues that gentrification has become a too-easy flashpoint for all kinds of quasi-populist rage and pro-growth boosterism. In Newcomers, he doesn't condemn gentrifiers as a whole, but rather articulates what it is they actually do, showing not only how community development can turn foul, but also instances when a "better" neighborhood truly results from changes that are good. Schuerman draws no easy conclusions, using his keen reportorial eye to create sharp, but fair, portraits of the people caught up in gentrification, the people who cause it, and its effects on the lives of everyone who calls a city home.

Contents:

Beginnings, 1956-1978

The demise of urban renewal

Back to the city: New York City, 1963-1978

Geography is destiny: San Francisco, 1966-1980

The Gold Coast and the slum, revisited: Chicago, 1966-1991

Reckoning, 1972-2000

Cassandras: 1972-1981

Adaptive reuse: New York and Chicago, 1975-1997

Supply and demand: San Francisco, 1981-2000

The rise and fall of rent control

Conflict, 1992-2018

Mixed-income mixed blessings: Chicago, 1992-2014

Zero-sum game: San Francisco, 2001-2018

300 Nassau Avenue: New York City, 2004-2016.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Other Format:

ebook version :

ISBN:

9780226476261

022647626X

OCLC:

1089853467