Mobilizing Under an "Anti-Community Organizing" Banner

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Thursday August 13, 2009 · 6:32 PM PDT

2009/08/13 · 18:32

Reeling after a disappointing November, the Republican Party has suffered a case of organizational schizophrenia as they try to retool the Party’s message. Republicans just aren’t on the same page when it comes to the GOP’s future organizing agenda. But if there's one concept that's building steam, it's the disdain for "community organizing." I wonder how that will play out in future mobilizing efforts...

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Monday June 22, 2009 · 4:07 PM PDT

2009/06/22 · 16:07

The Obama administration unveiled an impressive, innovative approach to metropolitan policy last week. The administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency met with the secretaries of Transportation and Housing & Urban Development to work out the skeleton for a promising new approach to urban policy. The three government agencies vowed to work in a coordinated effort to address transportation, environmental and affordable housing issues all under the umbrella of our continued economic recovery plan. If this unified partnership is followed through, the potential impact could drastically alter the landscape of metropolitan America.

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Friday June 19, 2009 · 12:46 PM PDT

2009/06/19 · 12:46

The Obama administration has said "we are thinking a lot about transportation." But how, exactly are they thinking about it? Is it simply some means to be eco-friendly, or is mass transit a social justice for those that need it?

Who requires mass transit, and why? And why aren't we talking about them???

SocialScienceLite

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Thursday June 18, 2009 · 1:36 PM PDT

2009/06/18 · 13:36

Costco became Harlem's newest big box development. Yet, in a neighborhood with 30,000 food stamp recipients, Costco is refusing their business. With tremendous arrogance, Costco is turning their back on Harlem as they sap resources from the neighborhood.

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Wednesday June 17, 2009 · 1:43 PM PDT

2009/06/17 · 13:43

A new urban policy is sweeping the nation...and it's called "shrinkage." Yes, "shrinkage." In response to growing housing vacancies in Michigan, some civic leaders want to bulldoze whole neighborhoods. But which neighborhoods will be decimated, and which will remain? I have a few ideas...

SocialScienceLite

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Tuesday June 16, 2009 · 6:54 AM PDT

2009/06/16 · 06:54

This was exactly the topic of Ben Adler’s piece "A Tale of Two Exurbs" published last month at The American Prospect. Adler details life in two Washington, DC "exurbs"—suburbs so far from central cities that they are more like suburbs of suburbs—pointing out the pitfalls of suburban sprawl. In Leesburg, VA, the "archetypical American exurb," transportation is deplorable. Roads are congested, walkability is absent, and the community is without "character." In short, Leesburg is where sprawl went wrong.

Oh, but this is not intrinsic to exurban living, Adler thankfully proclaims. Indeed, Gaithersburg, MD offers a fascinating counter-example. Gaithersburg has a quaint "downtown," very few cars, lots of walking, and...wait for it...a wonderful sense of community. Click Below to Read The Full Article

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Monday June 15, 2009 · 12:05 PM PDT

2009/06/15 · 12:05

For those that don’t really follow urban spatial arrangements the same way I do, you might not know that metropolitan Europe has an entirely different spatial pattern than metropolitan America. In the United States, most suburban development occurred as a result of middle-class exodus from central cities. The general pattern in Europe is almost exactly the opposite; the poor live in the ‘burbs, while the central city typically houses the bourgeois class. Paris, for example, is like the anti-Detroit: Imagine Bloomfield Hills as a sprawling slum, and downtown Detroit as home to Michigan’s most wealthy. But, Paris might be changing all of that.

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Mobilizing Under an "Anti-Community Organizing" Banner

The Genius of Interagency Metropolitan Policy

Environmentalism is Political White Privilege

Our New Corporate Neighbor: Costco Comes to East Harlem

Urban..."Shrinkage?"

A Tale of Two (Segregated) Exurbs

France's Urban Utopia