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The Changing American Neighborhood argues that the physical and
social spaces created by neighborhoods matter more than ever for
the health and well-being of twenty-first-century Americans and
their communities. Taking a long historical view, this book
explores the many dimensions of today's neighborhoods, the forms
they take, the forces and factors influencing them, and the people
and organizations trying to change them. Challenging conventional
interpretations of neighborhoods and neighborhood change, Alan
Mallach and Todd Swanstrom adopt a broad, inter-disciplinary
perspective that shows how neighborhoods are messy, complex
systems, in which change is driven by constant feedback loops that
link social, economic and physical conditions, each within distinct
spatial and political contexts. The Changing American Neighborhood
seeks to understand neighborhoods and neighborhood change not only
for their own importance, but for the insights they offer to help
guide peoples' efforts sustaining good neighborhoods and rebuilding
struggling ones.
What is a decent home? Does it simply provide shelter from the
elements? Is it affordable enough that you can buy the other
necessities of life? Does it connect you to a community with
adequate social and economic resources? Noted housing expert
Mallach turns his decades of experience to these questions in A
Decent Home. ? Mallach's nuanced analysis of housing issues
critical to communities across the country will help planners
evaluate the housing situation in their own communities and
formulate specific plans to address a variety of housing problems.
The book is both a practical step-by-step guide to developing
affordable housing and a sophisticated introduction to housing
policy. Chapters address design, site selection, project approval,
financing, and the history of housing policy in the United States.
Planners will find useful information about inclusionary and
exclusionary zoning, affordable housing preservation, and the risks
and rewards of affordable-home-ownership programs. Mallach also
connects the dots among regional economic competitiveness, quality
of life, community revitalization, and affordable housing.
Over the past hundred years, the global motto has been “more,
more, more” in terms of growth – of population, of the built
environment, of human and financial capital, and of all manner of
worldly goods. This was the reality as the world population boomed
during the 1960s and 1970s. But reality is changing in front of our
eyes. Growth is already slowing down, and according to the most
sophisticated demographers, the earth’s population will begin to
decline not hundreds of years from now, but within the lifetimes of
many of the people now living on the planet. In Smaller Cities in a
Shrinking World, urban policy expert Alan Mallach seeks to
understand how declining population and economic growth, coupled
with the other forces that will influence their fates, particularly
climate change, will affect the world’s cities over the coming
decades. What will it mean to have a world full of shrinking
cities? Does it mean that they are doomed to decline in more ways
than simply population numbers, or can we uncouple population
decline from economic decay, abandoned buildings and
impoverishment? Mallach has spent much of the last thirty or more
years working in, looking at, thinking, and writing about shrinking
cities, from Trenton, New Jersey, where he was director of housing
and economic development, to other American cities like Detroit,
Flint, and St. Louis, and from there to cities in Japan and Central
and Eastern Europe. He has woven together his experience, research,
and analysis in this fascinating, realistic yet hopeful look at how
smaller, shrinking cities can thrive, despite the daunting
challenges they face.
The Changing American Neighborhood argues that the physical and
social spaces created by neighborhoods matter more than ever for
the health and well-being of twenty-first-century Americans and
their communities. Taking a long historical view, this book
explores the many dimensions of today's neighborhoods, the forms
they take, the forces and factors influencing them, and the people
and organizations trying to change them. Challenging conventional
interpretations of neighborhoods and neighborhood change, Alan
Mallach and Todd Swanstrom adopt a broad, inter-disciplinary
perspective that shows how neighborhoods are messy, complex
systems, in which change is driven by constant feedback loops that
link social, economic and physical conditions, each within distinct
spatial and political contexts. The Changing American Neighborhood
seeks to understand neighborhoods and neighborhood change not only
for their own importance, but for the insights they offer to help
guide peoples' efforts sustaining good neighborhoods and rebuilding
struggling ones.
This policy focus report explores the challenges of regenerating
America's legacy cities--older industrial cities that have
experienced sustained job and population loss over the past few
decades. It identifies the powerful obstacles that stand in the way
of fundamental change in the dynamics of these cities, and suggests
directions by which cities can overcome those obstacles and embark
on the path of regeneration.
While almost all of the nation's older industrial cities declined
through the 1980s, the picture has changed in more recent decades.
The report examines 18 representative cities to explore how their
trajectories have changed, with some showing signs of revival while
others continued to decline. These 18 cities were selected from a
universe of approximately 50 legacy cities, which met two primary
criteria: population of at least 50,000 in 2010; and loss of at
least 20 percent from the city's peak population. The cities
represent geographic diversity, including New England,
Mid-Atlantic, Southern, and Midwestern cities, as well as variation
in their level of recovery or regeneration.
Alan Mallach and Lavea Brachman lay the groundwork by exploring the
challenges these cities face and reviewing the economic, social,
market, physical, and operational factors that have led to their
present condition. The relative health or vitality of each of these
cities was tracked with 15 separate indicators to measure
population change, socioeconomic condition, housing markets, and
economic activity. Some appear highly successful, at least in
relative terms; others are clearly unsuccessful; and others fall in
between.
Legacy cities have many assets that can be starting points for
revitalization and change, including downtown employment bases,
stable neighborhoods, multimodal transportation networks, colleges
and universities, local businesses, historic buildings and areas,
and arts, cultural, and entertainment facilities. A renewed
competitive advantage, which will enable them to build new economic
engines and draw new populations, is likely to come from leveraging
the value of their assets.
The authors argue that regeneration is grounded in the cities'
abilities to find new forms, including new physical forms that
address the loss of population and changing economy. New models of
governance and leadership, new forms of export-oriented economic
activity, and new ways of building stronger regional and
metropolitan relationships are other vehicles to successful
regeneration.
In further addressing "what does it take to change?" the authors
discuss what is meant by successful regeneration, followed by an
exploration of obstacles to change, leading to the presentation of
a model, which they call strategic incrementalism, as a framework
with which cities can overcome these obstacles and pursue
successful change.
The final section offers a series of recommendations to foster
change in the nation's legacy cities. These include:
- rebuilding the central core;
- sustaining viable neighborhoods;
- repurposing vacant land for new activities;
- using assets to build cities' competitive advantages;
- re-establishing the central economic role of the city;
- using economic growth to increase community and resident
well-being;
- building stronger local governance and partnerships;
- building stronger ties between legacy cities and their
regions;
- making change happen through strategic incrementalism; and
- rethinking state and federal policy toward legacy cities.
Who really benefits from urban revival? Cities, from trendy coastal
areas to the nation's heartland, are seeing levels of growth beyond
the wildest visions of only a few decades ago. But vast areas in
the same cities house thousands of people living in poverty who see
little or no new hope or opportunity. Even as cities revive, they
are becoming more unequal and more segregated. What does this mean
for these cities--and the people who live in them? In The Divided
City, urban practitioner and scholar Alan Mallach shows us what has
happened over the past 15 to 20 years in industrial cities like
Pittsburgh, Detroit, Cleveland, and Baltimore, as they have
undergone unprecedented, unexpected revival. He draws from his
decades of experience working in America's cities, and pulls in
insightful research and data, to spotlight these changes while
placing them in their larger economic, social, and political
context. Mallach explores the pervasive significance of race in
American cities and looks closely at the successes and failures of
city governments, nonprofit entities, and citizens as they have
tried to address the challenges of change. The Divided City offers
strategies to foster greater equality and opportunity. Mallach
makes a compelling case that these strategies must be local in
addition to being concrete and focusing on people's
needs--education, jobs, housing and quality of life. Change, he
argues, will come city by city, not through national plans or
utopian schemes. This is the first book to provide a comprehensive,
grounded picture of the transformation of America's older
industrial cities. It is neither a dystopian narrative nor a
one-sided "the cities are back" story, but a balanced picture
rooted in the nitty-gritty reality of these cities. The Divided
City is imperative for anyone who cares about cities and who wants
to understand how to make today's urban revival work for everyone.
For America's Legacy Cities-cities losing population and their
economic base-this book puts forth strategies to create smaller,
healthier cities. Creative strategies for using vacant land need to
be matched with successful efforts to stabilize the local economy
and re-engage residents in the workforce, and to reinvigorate the
city's still-viable neighborhoods. This volume offers a broader
discussion which recognizes the complex relationships between
today's problems and their solutions. The rich material contained
in this volume provides thought-provoking reading for anyone
concerned with the transformation of America's older industrial
cities, either with respect to a specific city or from a broader
perspective, whether the reader is a policymaker, practitioner, or
concerned layperson. These chapters do not suggest that that the
process of change will be an easy one. They do offer a robust
collection of ideas and directions that can help animate local
action or state policy and help practitioners and policymakers take
the steps that may indeed lead to the smaller, stronger, and
healthier city that the authors believe is possible.
The headlines about cities celebrate their resurgence, with empty
nesters and Millennials alike investing in our urban areas, moving
away from car dependence, and demanding walkable, transit-oriented
neighbourhoods. But, in reality, these changes are taking place in
a scattered and piecemeal fashion. While areas of a handful of
cities are booming, most US metros continue to follow old patterns
of central city decline and suburban sprawl. As demographic shifts
change housing markets and climate change ushers in new ways of
looking at settlement patterns, pressure for change in urban policy
is growing. More and more policy makers are raising questions about
the soundness of policies that squander our investment in urban
housing, built environment, and infrastructure while continuing to
support expansion of sprawling, auto-dependent development.
Changing these policies is the central challenge facing US cities
and metro regions, and those who manage them or plan their future.
In America's Urban Future, urban experts Tomalty and Mallach
examine US policy in the light of the Canadian experience and use
that experience as a starting point to generate specific policy
recommendations. Their recommendations are designed to help the US
further its urban revival, build more walkable, energy-efficient
communities, and in particular, help land use adapt better to the
needs of the ageing population. Tomalty and Mallach show how
Canada, a country similar to the US in many respects, has fostered
healthier urban centres and more energy- and resource-efficient
suburban growth. They call for a rethinking of US public policies
across those areas and look closely at what may be achievable at
federal, state, and local levels in light of both the constraints
and the opportunities inherent in today's political systems and
economic realities.
What is a decent home? Does it simply provide shelter from the
elements? Is it affordable enough that you can buy the other
necessities of life? Does it connect you to a community with
adequate social and economic resources? Noted housing expert Alan
Mallach turns his decades of experience to these questions in "A
Decent Home". Mallach's nuanced analysis of housing issues critical
to communities across the country will help planners evaluate the
housing situation in their own communities and formulate specific
plans to address a variety of housing problems. The book is both a
practical step-by-step guide to developing affordable housing and a
sophisticated introduction to housing policy. Chapters address
design, site selection, project approval, financing, and the
history of housing policy in the United States. Planners will find
useful information about inclusionary and exclusionary zoning,
affordable housing preservation, and the risks and rewards of
affordable-home-ownership programs. Mallach also connects the dots
among regional economic competitiveness, quality of life, community
revitalization, and affordable housing.
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