Living City - Hardcover

Gratz calls into question much urban development conducted today in the name of community renewal. "The big money continues to pour . . . into the big, the overwhelming and the inappropriate," charges this former New York Post reporter. The rescue of vacant buildings in a 10-block area of the South Bronx, and the revitalization of Savannah, Ga., whose residents renovated the Victorian District without forcing out poor people, are examples of what Gratz calls "urban husbandry"care and management of the built environmentposed here as an alternative to trickle-down policies. Gratz advises that "thinking small in a big way works," and her useful, even inspiring book is filled with examples of successfully rebuilt cities and neighborhoods observed at first hand. Her case studies of defeated shopping-mall projects in Ithaca, N.Y., Burlington, Vt., and Pittsfield, Mass., dramatize the hidden costs of "mega-change." This challenging report could become a bible for back-to-the-city and anti-gentrification movements.
Copyright 1989 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Gratz, a former New York Post reporter, examines the successes and failures of urban renewal projects throughout the country. She criticizes the reluctance of the government to invest even modest sums in renovation projects undertaken by community-based groups and its preference for large-scaled projects proposed by developers. She backs up this criticism with examples: The South Bronx's community-sponsored revitalization of Kelly Street has been a success, while New York's Co-op City, a large developer project, has been a failure. The author advocates "urban husbandry" and "planned shrinkage"--small-scale efforts to renovate and adapt existing facilities--as preferred methods of revitalizing cities. Highly recommended for urban libraries as well as those with urban studies collections.
- Donald H. Dederick, SUNY Health Science Ctr. at Brooklyn
Copyright 1989 Reed Business Information, Inc.