front cover of Regions That Work
Regions That Work
How Cities and Suburbs Can Grow Together
Manuel Pastor, Jr.
University of Minnesota Press, 2000
"This is a remarkable and timely book. A number of scholars and policy analysts have argued the case for uniting city and suburb. However, no study provides more compelling arguments for regional economic integration." William Julius Wilson "There's a simple, sweeping truth in this book. It's that successful twenty-first-century metropolises will be those that learn to combine agendas of economic prosperity, environmental protection, and social equity. American politics will be transformed when the regional-neighborhood ties these authors explain is fully grasped." Neal Peirce "The authors argue that for U.S. regions to prosper, they must provide and preserve opportunity for all citizens and all communities. This is an important book that helps us understand the evolving regional movement-and its potential-in this country." Myron Orfield Offering a new vision of community-based regionalism, this book arrives just as "smart growth" measures and other attempts to link cities and suburbs are beginning to make their mark on the political and analytical scene. The authors make a powerful case for emphasizing equity, arguing that metropolitan areas must reduce poverty in order to grow and that low-income individuals must make regional connections in order to escape poverty. A hard-hitting analysis of Los Angeles demonstrates that the roots of the unrest of 1992 lay in regional economic deterioration and that the recovery was slowed by insufficient attention to the poor. Regions That Work then provides a history and critique of community-development corporations, a statistical analysis of the poverty-growth relationship in seventy-four metro areas, a detailed study of three regions that have produced superior equity outcomes, and a provocative call for new policies and new politics. Manuel Pastor Jr. is professor of Latin American and Latino Studies and director of the Center for Justice, Tolerance, and Community at the University of California, Santa Cruz. Peter Dreier is E. P. Clapp Distinguished Professor of Politics at Occidental College. J. Eugene Grigsby III is director of the Advanced Policy Institute and professor at UCLA's School of Public Policy and Social Research. Marta López-Garza is an assistant professor and holds a joint position in Women's Studies Department and Chicano/Chicana Studies Department at California State University, Northridge.
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front cover of Up Against The Sprawl
Up Against The Sprawl
Public Policy And The Making Of Southern California
Jennifer Wolch
University of Minnesota Press, 2004

Los Angeles's experience in managing urban growth and change

America's first truly twenty-first-century metropolis, Los Angeles is often depicted as diverse, fragmented, polarized, and ungovernable, a city without a unifying geographic center or civic culture. The sprawling evolution of the city and its infamous problems—traffic, pollution, growing inequality—are usually attributed to a Wild West version of capitalism—the triumph of an unregulated free market over comprehensive urban planning. But market choices and lack of planning did not set the terrain of Southern California: Los Angeles has been profoundly shaped by a wide range of local, state, and federal public policies and programs.

Up Against the Sprawl details how governmental policies and public agencies have dictated many aspects of the region’s growth: infrastructure, transportation, housing, immigration, finances, civic and regional administration, the environment. The authors also argue that since public policy set the landscape, it can help forge the future. They explore countermovements by progressive activists to use innovative policies—from smart growth initiatives to the actions of living wage advocates—for greater social, economic, and environmental justice. This book is a major contribution to our understanding of past and present urban processes and policy, and highlights practical lessons for urban and regional policy makers and activists in Los Angeles and beyond.Contributors: Carolyn B. Aldana, California State U, San Bernadino; Carol S. Armstrong; Michael Dear, U of Southern California; Gary Dymski, U of California Riverside; Steven P. Erie, USC; Gregory Freeman; William Fulton; Elizabeth Gearin, USC; Genevieve Giuliano, USC; Pascale Joassart-Marcelli, U of Massachusetts, Boston; Enrico A. Marcelli; Myra A. Marks, Loyola Marymount U; Juliet Musso, USC; Stephanie Pincetl, USC; Laura Pulido; Christine M. Ryan; John P. Wilson.
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