Social Science - Sociology - Urban

A meticulously reported, character-driven, unforgettable investigation of a time when nothing was certain and everything was at stake, by the acclaimed sociologist and best-selling author Eric Klinenberg "A gripping, deeply moving account of a signal year in modern history, told through the stories of...

For over 10,000 years, humans have been busy altering our environment, evolving from communities of hunter-gatherers to the independent, metropolitan sophisticates that we see ourselves as today. By the early 21st century, humans had become a majority urban species for the first time. What...

A bold reassessment of "smart cities" that reveals what is lost when we conceive of our urban spaces as computers Computational models of urbanism--smart cities that use data-driven planning and algorithmic administration--promise to deliver new urban efficiencies and conveniences. Yet these models limit our...

From the Haitian-style "shotgun" houses of the 19th century to the lavish high-rises of the 21st century, a walk through the streets of America's neighborhoods that reveals the rich history--and future--of urban housing The Philadelphia row house. The New York tenement. The Boston triple-decker....

Abolish Rent takes aim at one of the foremost engines of inequality and injustice. Rent drives millions into debt, despair, and onto the streets. The social cost of rent is too damn high. Written for anyone fed up with the permanent housing crisis, complicit...

Locally, regionally, and nationally, the lack of affordable housing is an urgent and ongoing issue. As elected officials rush to ramp up aid for the construction of affordable apartments, scholars and policymakers are asking how our present system of housing subsidies--both its strengths and...

Dive into Cleveland's deep past and return with a new vision for how we should think about the region today.The land we call "northeast Ohio" was originally forged through eons of glacial pressure, geologic shifts, and the relentless movement of the Cuyahoga River. Since...

Ed Simon tells the story of Pittsburgh through this exploration of its hidden histories--the LA Review of Books calls it an epic, atomic history of the Steel City.The land surrounding the confluence of the Allegheny, Monongahela, and Ohio rivers has supported communities of humans...

A groundbreaking legal advocate argues that only by recognizing housing as a fundamental human right can we hope to solve America's homelessness crisis. In And Housing for All, founder of the National Homelessness Law Center Maria Foscarinis reveals the human impact of the housing...

A galvanizing story of how everyday people built a powerful anti-eviction movement in gentrified San Francisco. In the early 2010s, San Francisco experienced a tech boom that created both great wealth and great inequality. The city became known for runaway gentrification, a major housing...

What if scrapping one flawed policy could bring US cities closer to addressing debilitating housing shortages, stunted growth and innovation, persistent racial and economic segregation, and car-dependent development? It's time for America to move beyond zoning, argues city planner M. Nolan Gray in Arbitrary...

"Guirgis, like other storytellers who explore the sacred and profane, is most interested in how grace transforms us."--The New YorkerWritten with humor, tenderness, grit, and wonderment by acclaimed playwright Stephen Adly Guirgis, Between Riverside and Crazy is an extraordinary new play: a dark comedy...

The Great Migration of African Americans from the South to northern and western cities between 1915 and 1970 fundamentally altered the political, social, and cultural landscapes of major urban centers like New York, Chicago, Philadelphia, and Detroit, and changed the country as well. By...

"A bonkers, kitchen-sink cultural history of Oklahoma City, with the local Thunder's would-be dynasty as its driving soul."--The New York Times "Dizzyingly pleasurable . . . curious, hilarious, and wildly erudite."--The New YorkerA BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR: The New York Times Book Reviews,...

The best old neighborhoods leave lasting impressions--but why is that so hard to achieve in new development? Many new neighborhoods follow all the right design principles yet still fall short in delivering the human experience people value. Building Charm presents a proven, practical system...

Full of playful graphics, provocative questions, and curious facts, this book asks what makes a city and how we might make them differently. What makes a city a city? Who says? Drafted over decades out of a dialogue between artist and author Nika Dubrovsky,...

"Condensed yet energetic and substantial history of Chicago. Spinney has a firm sense of historical narrative as well as a keen eye for entertaining and illuminating detail."― Publishers WeeklyA city of immigrants and entrepreneurs, Chicago is quintessentially American. Spinney brings it to life and...

The changing fortunes of Detroit, told through the lens of the city's major sporting events, by the bestselling author of Soccernomics, and a prizewinning cultural critic From Ty Cobb and Hank Greenberg to the Bad Boys, from Joe Louis and Gordie Howe to the...

Postwar New York City famously expired in a 1970s tableau of burning Bronx tenements, subway graffiti, crushing debt, and the tabloid headline "Ford to City: Drop Dead." From its ashes the city reemerged to reach new heights, whether in stock averages or the gleaming...

This new edition of the visionary social history of Los Angeles is "as central to the L.A. canon as anything that . . . Joan Didion wrote in the seventies" (New Yorker). No metropolis has been more loved or more hated. To its official...