Q Ideas for the common good

http://www.qideas.org/cities/

similar to TED Ideas worth spreading

Housing and the Democratic Ideal: The Life and Thought of Charles Abrams

A. Scott Henderson

Housing and the Democratic Ideal is the only comprehensive work on Charles Abrams to date. Though structured as a narrative biography, this book also uses Abrams's experiences as a lens through which we can better understand the development of American social policy and state expansion during the twentieth century. In his left-leaning critique of centrist liberalism, Abrams took aim at the use of fiscal and monetary policies to achieve social objectives—a practice that allowed business interests to maximize private profits at the expense of public benefits. His growing concern over racial discrimination prefigured its emergence as a highly contested aspect of the American state.

http://cup.columbia.edu/book/978-0-231-11950-4/

Urban observatory

http://www.urbanobservatory.org/compare/index.html

comparison of cities' maps including land-use, transport, and other indicators.

Sharon Zukin: "Pacification by cappuccino"

Sharon Zukin is professor of sociology at Brooklyn College and at the CUNY Graduate Center. Zukin is the author of books on cities, culture and consumer culture, and a researcher on urban, cultural and economic change. She was Broeklundian Professor from 1996 to 2008. She received the Lynd Award for Career Achievement in urban sociology, from the American Sociological Association, and the C. Wright Mills Book Award for Landscapes of Power. She was visiting professor at the University of Amsterdam, 2010-11.

Teaching at the New School, New York
http://www.newschool.edu/continuing-education/events.aspx?id=85604

BOOKS:

Loft Living (1982)
The Cultures of Cities (1995) 
Naked City: The Death and Life of Authentic Urban Places (Oxford University Press, 2010) is an update to Jane Jacobs'  The Death and Life of Great American Cities (1961)
Landscapes of Power: From Detroit to Disney World (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1991)
Point of Purchase

Mitchel, D. : The Right to the City: Social Justice and the Fight for Public Space

In the wake of recent terrorist attacks, efforts to secure the American city have life-or-death implications. Yet demands for heightened surveillance and security throw into sharp relief timeless questions about the nature of public space, how it is to be used, and under what conditions. Blending historical and geographical analysis, this book examines the vital relationship between struggles over public space and movements for social justice in the United States. Presented are a series of linked cases that explore the judicial response to public demonstrations by early twentieth-century workers, and comparable legal issues surrounding anti-abortion protests today; the Free Speech Movement and the history of People's Park in Berkeley; and the plight of homeless people facing new laws against their presence in urban streets. The central focus is how political dissent gains meaning and momentum--and is regulated and policed--in the real, physical spaces of the city.

Harvey, D. (2012). Rebel cities: from the right to the city to the urban revolution.

Harvey, D. (2012). Rebel cities: from the right to the city to the urban revolution Verso. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com.lib-ezproxy.tamu.edu:2048/docview/1095629252?accountid=7082

Pavement to Plaza NYC

DOT works with selected not-for-profit organizations to create neighborhood plazas throughout the City to transform underused streets into vibrant, social public spaces. The NYC Plaza Program is a key part of the City's effort to ensure that all New Yorkers live within a 10-minute walk of quality open space.

Eligible not-for-profit organizations can propose new plaza sites for their neighborhoods through a competitive application process. DOT prioritizes sites that are in neighborhoods that lack open space, and partners with community groups that commit to operate, maintain, and manage these spaces so they are vibrant pedestrian plazas.

The sixth round of the NYC Plaza Program is now open and accepting applications until Wednesday, July 31, 2013. Please read the program Guidelines before submitting an application. To learn more about the program, you may attend an information session.

http://www.nyc.gov/html/dot/html/pedestrians/publicplaza.shtml

THE EQUALITY OF OPPORTUNITY PROJECT

Summary of Project Findings, July 2013
THE EQUALITY OF OPPORTUNITY PROJECT

Raj Chetty, Harvard University
Nathaniel Hendren, Harvard University
Patrick Kline, University of California Berkeley
Emmanuel Saez, University of California Berkeley

http://www.equality-of-opportunity.org/

Chris Butler: Henri Lefebvre Spatial Politics, Everyday Life and the Right to the City

Chris Butler: Henri Lefebvre Spatial Politics, Everyday Life and the Right to the City

http://books.google.com/books?id=TaQJawakHPYC&printsec=frontcover&dq=the+right+to+the+city+lefebvre&hl=en&sa=X&ei=zHkyUv6dH4W52wWAt4DYDA&ved=0CC8Q6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=the%20right%20to%20the%20city%20lefebvre&f=false

Henri Lefebvre: The Right to the City

Lefebvre, H. (1968). The Right to the City. In E. Kofman & E. Lebas (Eds.), Writings on

Cities. (147 159). Oxford: Blackwell Publishers Ltd.

Sep 11

Synopsis

Lefebvre argues that cities are no longer what their historical purpose was: to provide

‘ouvre’ anthropological needs for information, symbolism, the imaginary and play.

Cities in his opinion became empty theatres of consumer goods for tourists.

He argues that only working class has the power to take action and power into their

hands. Lefebvre suggests a program of urban renewal to be put forward and presented

preferentially to the ‘left’ parties or political formations who would be willing to represent

the working class.

Allen J. Scott: A world in Emergence

Cities and Regions in 21st Century

Rentification

'rentification'
Perhaps we shouldn't all try to 'buy as investment' , rent out, and rent ourselves.

Video describing how the renting out of properties to short term renters damages community. Neighbors change rapidly and no relationships are created. Renting has an impact on the social quality of neighborhoods. 

A Loss of Community: Neighborhoods across the country are being transformed, as houses built for homeowners are turned into rental properties. Residents of one such community in Memphis, Tenn., discuss the changes.

By SHAILA DEWAN

Published: August 28, 2013

http://www.nytimes.com/video/2013/08/28/business/100000002382289/a-loss-of-community.html?smid=pl-share

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/08/29/business/economy/as-renters-move-in-and-neighborhoods-change-homeowners-grumble.html?smid=fb-nytimes&WT.z_sma=BU_ARM_20130829&_r=0