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The Great Inversion And The Future Of The American City (2012)

by Alan Ehrenhalt(Favorite Author)

3.66 of 5 Votes: 2

ISBN

0307272745 (ISBN13: 9780307272744)

languge

English

genre

History & Biography

publisher

Knopf

review 1: Eh. Simply taken as case studies, Ehrenhalt does a good job of reviewing what has happened in the last thirty years or so, with cities becoming wealthier and suburbs, especially first-ring suburbs, are attracting more of the poor and new immigrants. However, look beyond this, and it's pretty obvious that Ehrenhalt has no interest in actually resolving the difficult problems facing cities today: housing costs, accessibility and affordability of basic healthy food, and the quality of primary and secondary public education. I think planning can play a part in resolving some of this, but economic and racial/ethnic inequality must also be addressed, and Ehrenhalt has no interest in pursuing this.
review 2: Ehrenhalt predicts that American cities in the 21 century wi... morell resemble European cities from the 19th century (minus the mud, factories and angry proletariat). There are several interesting descriptions given of urban places such as the old Ringstrasse in Vienna, Sheffield in Chicago and the Third Ward in Houston. I agree that we are witnessing in American something much larger than gentrification that will be truly transformative for our cities.However, the majority of the book was very accommodating to the fears that led to white flight from the 1950s onward. Ehrenhalt also presupposes with phrases like "hyperdiversity" and "miniature United Nations" that to American means to be white. He fails to envision a post racial America or explore alternates to the dominance of white upper and middle class families. less

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