From urban village to East Village : the battle for New York's Lower East Side
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Bibliographic Information
From urban village to East Village : the battle for New York's Lower East Side
Blackwell, 1994
- : hbk
- : pbk
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Note
Bibliography: p. [355]-374
Includes index
Description and Table of Contents
- Volume
-
: hbk ISBN 9781557865236
Description
Whereas the dominant model for the study of inner city neighbourhoods in the US has been that of the "urban village" or "ethnic enclave" - natural communities where residents share a common culture and pursue a relatively unified set of interests vis a vis outsiders - this study demonstrates the existence of a different reality within today's inner cities. Now numerous multi-ethnic, highly diversified districts contain sub-groups with varying lifestyles, class interests, goals and ideologies. The author argues that inner-city neighbourhoods have lost their common culture and consensus and have become, instead, a place of diverse groups which intermingle in physical space but pursue disparate lifestyles and conflicting goals. The book focuses on New York's Lower East Side as an example. For almost a decade, "yuppies", developers, politicians, squatters, the homeless, the police and a broad multi-ethnic population have been caught up in a complex battle over ownership of the district - the outcome of which still remains to be seen.
In the Lower East Side, sub-groups vie not only with "outside" interests such as developers, but with one another - in a particularly visible blueprint of similar battles being fought across urban America. This study aims not only to delineate a new form of urban neighbourhood, but also to embody a new form of neighbourhood study. In an effort to represent a complex and fragmentary situation, it suggests that the single-author ethnography is no longer possible. The way forward, rather, is for a team of single authors to each gain the trust - and an understanding - of a separate group, and to represent this in the finished work. "The End of the Urban Village" should be of interest to scholars and researchers of the contemporary inner city, as well as for students of urban politics, urban sociology, community studies and planning.
Table of Contents
1 Welcome to the Neighbourhood by Janet Abu-Lughod. PART I THE PAST IS STILL THERE 2 The Changing Economy of the Lower East Side by Jan Chien Lin (University of Houston). 3 The Tenement as a Built Form by Richard Plunz (Columbia University) and Janet Abu-Lughod. 4 A History of Tompkins Square Park by Marci Raven (New York History Project) and Jeanne Houck (Eugene Lang College). 5 Deja Vu: Replanning the Lower East Side in the 1930s by Suzanne Wasserman (Iona College). PART II THE PROCESS OF GENTRIFICATION 6 Neighbourhood `Burn-Out': Puerto Ricans at the End of the Queue by Christopher Mele (New School for Social Research, New York). 7 From Disinvestment to Reinvestment: Tax Arrears and Turning Points in the East Village by Neil Smith (Rutgers University) and others. 8 The Process of Gentrification in Alphabet City by Christopher Mele. 9 Public Action: New York City Policy and the Gentrification of the Lower East Side by William Sites (Queens University, New York). PART III CONTESTING COMMUNITY: THE ISSUES AND THE PROTAGONISTS 10 A Resident's View of Conflict on Tompkins Square by Diane Gordon (College of the City of New York). 11 The Battle for Tompkins Square Park by Janet Abu-Lughod. 12 The Residents in Tompkins Square Park by Dorne Greshof and John Dale (New School for Social Research). 13 The Squatters: A Chorus of Voices, But Is Anyone Listening? by Andrew van Kleunen (New School for Social Research). 14 Defending the Cross-Subsidy Plan: The Tortoise Wins Again by Janet Abu-Lughod. 15 Conclusions and Implications by Janet Abu-Lughod.
- Volume
-
: pbk ISBN 9781557865250
Description
This landmark study explores a new reality in today's inner cities - one that diverges radically from the dominant models of either the urban village, with its shared culture, or the disorganized zone of urban anomie. Growing numbers of inner city neighbourhoods now contain populations drawn from a multiplicity of ethnicities, subcultures, and classes. These groups may share physical space, but they pursue disparate ways of life and hold very different views of their neighbourhood's future. Such areas have become contested turf - arenas of heated political struggle.
Nowhere has this struggle been so complexly joined than in the East Village on New York's Lower East Side. For over two decades, established and new immigrants, community activists, hippies, squatters, yuppies, developers, drug dealers, artists, the homeless, and the police have been battling for control of the district and its central meeting ground, Tompkins Square Park.
Based on five years of research and participant observation, this book gives a vivid account of the contestants and their struggles in the battle for the Lower East Side. It is a battle which is likely to be replicated, perhaps less violently, in many other parts of urban America.
Table of Contents
1 Welcome to the Neighbourhood by Janet Abu-Lughod. PART I THE PAST IS STILL THERE 2 The Changing Economy of the Lower East Side by Jan Chien Lin (University of Houston). 3 The Tenement as a Built Form by Richard Plunz (Columbia University) and Janet Abu-Lughod. 4 A History of Tompkins Square Park by Marci Raven (New York History Project) and Jeanne Houck (Eugene Lang College). 5 Deja Vu: Replanning the Lower East Side in the 1930s by Suzanne Wasserman (Iona College). PART II THE PROCESS OF GENTRIFICATION 6 Neighbourhood `Burn-Out': Puerto Ricans at the End of the Queue by Christopher Mele (New School for Social Research, New York). 7 From Disinvestment to Reinvestment: Tax Arrears and Turning Points in the East Village by Neil Smith (Rutgers University) and others. 8 The Process of Gentrification in Alphabet City by Christopher Mele. 9 Public Action: New York City Policy and the Gentrification of the Lower East Side by William Sites (Queens University, New York). PART III CONTESTING COMMUNITY: THE ISSUES AND THE PROTAGONISTS 10 A Resident's View of Conflict on Tompkins Square by Diane Gordon (College of the City of New York). 11 The Battle for Tompkins Square Park by Janet Abu-Lughod. 12 The Residents in Tompkins Square Park by Dorne Greshof and John Dale (New School for Social Research). 13 The Squatters: A Chorus of Voices, But Is Anyone Listening? by Andrew van Kleunen (New School for Social Research). 14 Defending the Cross-Subsidy Plan: The Tortoise Wins Again by Janet Abu-Lughod. 15 Conclusions and Implications by Janet Abu-Lughod.
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