Overview

"Crisis Cities blends critical theoretical insight with a historically-grounded comparative study to examine the redevelopment efforts following the 9/11 and Hurricane Katrina disasters. Based on years of research in the two cities, Gotham and Greenberg contend that New York and New Orleans have emerged as paradigmatic crisis cities, representing a free-market approach to post-disaster redevelopment that is increasingly dominant for crisis-stricken cities around the world. This mode of urbanization emphasizes the privatization of disaster aid, devolution of recovery responsibility to the local state, use of tax incentives and federal grants to spur market-centered redevelopment, and utopian branding campaigns to market the redeveloped city for business and tourism. Meanwhile, it eliminates ""low-income"" and ""public benefit"" standards that once underlay emergency provisions. Focusing on the pre- and post-history of disaster, Gotham and Greenberg show how this approach exacerbates the uneven landscapes of risk and resiliency that helped produce crisis in the first place, while potentially reproducing the conditions for future crisis. At the same time, they highlight the expanding coalitions that formed following 9/11 and Katrina to contest these inequities and envision a more just and sustainable urban future."

Full Product Details

Author:   Kevin Fox Gotham (Professor of Sociology, Professor of Sociology, Tulane University) ,  Miriam Greenberg (Associate Professor of Sociology, Associate Professor of Sociology, University of California Santa Cruz)
Publisher:   Oxford University Press Inc
Imprint:   Oxford University Press Inc
Dimensions:   Width: 15.50cm , Height: 2.50cm , Length: 23.10cm
Weight:   0.454kg
ISBN:  

9780199752218

ISBN 10:   0199752214
Pages:   352
Publication Date:   17 April 2014
Audience:   College/higher education ,  Professional and scholarly ,  Undergraduate ,  Postgraduate, Research & Scholarly
Format:   Paperback
Publisher's Status:   Active
Availability:   Manufactured on demand  
We will order this item for you from a manufactured on demand supplier.

Table of Contents

"Preface List of Acronyms Chapter 1: Introduction: Comparing the Incomparable: Towards a Theory of Crisis Cities Chapter 2: ""Tighten Your Belts and Bite the Bullet"": The Legacy of Urban Crisis in New York and New Orleans Chapter 3: Constructing the Tabula Rasa: Framing and the Political Construction of Crisis Chapter 4: Crisis as Opportunity: Tracing the Contentious Spatial Politics of Redevelopment Chapter 5: Landscapes of Risk and Resilience: From Lower Manhattan to the Lower Ninth Ward Chapter 6: Re-Branding the ""Big Apple"" and the ""Big Easy"": Representations of Crisis and Crises of Representation Chapter 7: Conclusion: Lessons In the Wake of New York and New Orleans Notes References Index"

Reviews

"""Every urban crisis is also an opportunity, and in this penetrating study of post-disaster New York and New Orleans, Kevin Gotham and Miriam Greenberg show how and why the market-model of redevelopment does so little for the people and places that need it most. Crisis Cities is insightful, sophisticated, and, alas, timely. It belongs not only in the classroom, but on every mayor's desk."" --Eric Klinenberg, author of Heat Wave and Going Solo ""In this wide-ranging and carefully researched book, Gotham and Greenberg explore the crisis-driven strategies of urbanization that have been pursued in two major post-disaster U.S. cities and their deeply uneven, polarizing and destructive impacts upon the social and ecological fabric. A fundamental and original analysis of early twenty-first century urban transformations in the age of disaster capitalism, this book is a superb demonstration of how the methods of critical urban studies can illuminate the powerful social, political, economic and ideological forces that are reshaping cities and regions today."" --Neil Brenner, Professor of Urban Theory, Harvard Graduate School of Design ""Crisis Cities is a critical revelation of the political and economic forces that direct the resources offered to cities after catastrophes. The authors clearly show how the resources are not necessarily directed to the rebuilding and recovery projects that serve all segments of the communities and would provide a successful collective future. Drawing on catastrophes in two well-known American cities the dangers of this common path are clearly presented."" --Shirley Laska, Professor Emerita of Sociology, University of New Orleans ""The history, empirical work, and theoretical framework provided by Crisis Cities is a major contribution to urban sociology and, I hope, to urban policy."" --American Journal of Sociology ""Professionals in emergency management roles, particularly those responsible for preparedness and recovery planning in large urbanized areas, will recognize the challenges described in the book as relevant to the devolution of disaster recovery response and a growing reliance on privatized redevelopment. Crisis Cities should serve as required reading in this new era of crisis planning and recovery."" --Social Service Review"

Crisis Cities is a very valuable academic contribution to studies of post-disaster rebuilding. It encourages the reader to ask the important normative question recovery for whom?. The book builds an important bridge between critical urban and geographical theory and literature on disaster. It adds important empirical material to earlier accounts on disaster capitalism (Klein, 2007) by taking into consideration the historical development of social disadvantages. Henrik Jacobsen, Urban Studies Every urban crisis is also an opportunity, and in this penetrating study of post-disaster New York and New Orleans, Kevin Gotham and Miriam Greenberg show how and why the market-model of redevelopment does so little for the people and places that need it most. Crisis Cities is insightful, sophisticated, and, alas, timely. It belongs not only in the classroom, but on every mayor's desk. Eric Klinenberg, author of Heat Wave and Going Solo In this wide-ranging and carefully researched book, Gotham and Greenberg explore the crisis-driven strategies of urbanization that have been pursued in two major post-disaster U.S. cities and their deeply uneven, polarizing and destructive impacts upon the social and ecological fabric. A fundamental and original analysis of early twenty-first century urban transformations in the age of disaster capitalism, this book is a superb demonstration of how the methods of critical urban studies can illuminate the powerful social, political, economic and ideological forces that are reshaping cities and regions today. Neil Brenner, Professor of Urban Theory, Harvard Graduate School of Design Crisis Cities is a critical revelation of the political and economic forces that direct the resources offered to cities after catastrophes. The authors clearly show how the resources are not necessarily directed to the rebuilding and recovery projects that serve all segments of the communities and would provide a successful collective future. Drawing on catastrophes in two well-known American cities the dangers of this common path are clearly presented. Shirley Laska, Professor Emerita of Sociology, University of New Orleans

Every urban crisis is also an opportunity, and in this penetrating study of post-disaster New York and New Orleans, Kevin Gotham and Miriam Greenberg show how and why the market-model of redevelopment does so little for the people and places that need it most. Crisis Cities is insightful, sophisticated, and, alas, timely. It belongs not only in the classroom, but on every mayor's desk. --Eric Klinenberg, author of Heat Wave and Going Solo In this wide-ranging and carefully researched book, Gotham and Greenberg explore the crisis-driven strategies of urbanization that have been pursued in two major post-disaster U.S. cities and their deeply uneven, polarizing and destructive impacts upon the social and ecological fabric. A fundamental and original analysis of early twenty-first century urban transformations in the age of disaster capitalism, this book is a superb demonstration of how the methods of critical urban studies can illuminate the powerful social, political, economic and ideological forces that are reshaping cities and regions today. --Neil Brenner, Professor of Urban Theory, Harvard Graduate School of Design Crisis Cities is a critical revelation of the political and economic forces that direct the resources offered to cities after catastrophes. The authors clearly show how the resources are not necessarily directed to the rebuilding and recovery projects that serve all segments of the communities and would provide a successful collective future. Drawing on catastrophes in two well-known American cities the dangers of this common path are clearly presented. --Shirley Laska, Professor Emerita of Sociology, University of New Orleans

Author Information

Kevin Fox Gotham is Professor of Sociology at Tulane University. Miriam Greenberg is Associate Professor of Sociology at the University of California, Santa Cruz.

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