L' altra New York. Alla ricerca della metropoli autentica

A curiously uninformative look at the gentrification of a selection of New York neighbourhoods, heavy on local detail (so much so it gets pretty boring) but low on analysis. The history of each area's gentrification is studied closely, but there's no real attempt to see where it might be heading or

From my master's thesis (academic language alert), a quick rundown of this book. Sharon Zukin’s introduction to Naked City (2009) articulates a dialectic relationship between the search for “authentic origins” and the desire for ever more upscale urban consumption. Zukin’s study, subtitled “the death Leggi tutto

The first hundred fifty pages are cringe-worthy. Then there is some interesting journalistic stuff on Red Hook and community gardens. Then you're done and you return the book to the store.

I was hoping to REALLY like this book... I love New York, I love "authentic places", I love thinking about how gentrification/modernization/development/cultural density can shape a city. Yet, even by non-fiction standards, it never drew me in and I was never really convinced of whatever I was suppos Leggi tutto

This is an excellent read if you're interested in the development of cities, from abandoned and crime ridden to exclusive. The author writes from a perspective that I can only describe as bourgeois, but that doesn't detract from the book. While it focuses on New York City specifically, the events de Leggi tutto

I liked it a lot-probably a lot because I just moved here and so feel like I have to absorb as much NYC as possible as fast as possible. I also liked how she framed the questions that we, as gentrifiers(if you fall in that category) who don't want to be negatively labeled as gentrifiers make and supp Leggi tutto

great book, replace williamsburg with wicker park and harlem with bronzeville or humboldt park and this could've been a book about chicago. really explores the cultural impacts of neoliberalism and how the little choices people make in life do add up. in terms of the condo class, or as she puts it,

The subtitle of Sharon Zukin’s book, “The Death and Life of Authentic Urban Places,” puts her work directly in line with Jane Jacobs’s work, echoing the title of Jacobs’s most famous book. Zukin isn’t concerned as much about keeping neighborhoods and towns alive as making them feel alive--making the Leggi tutto