Mary Newsom reviews a new book on New York City by Roberta Brandez Gratz, and finds lessons that cross borders even into her very different city of Charlotte.
"Her book is partly urban observation and partly memoir of her life in the city. But the insight she offers that has resonance for Charlotte and other U.S. cities is this:
The post-World War II distress that afflicted New York and many cities - which began easing in the 1980s - relates to the start and end of urban renewal. New York began healing, she writes, only when urban renewal money dried up.
Gratz' observations - as well as Jacobs' - convince her that small businesses, and particularly small manufacturing, form the overlooked and underappreciated backbone of cities' economic vitality."
The book, "The Battle for Gotham: New York in the Shadow of Robert Moses and Jane Jacobs", looks at the legacy of urban renewal projects, and how even in their wake, cities are still inadvertently destroying the small businesses that help them survive.
FULL STORY: What urban 'renewal' didn't renew
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Planetizen Federal Action Tracker
A weekly monitor of how Trump’s orders and actions are impacting planners and planning in America.
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Urban Design for Planners 1: Software Tools
This six-course series explores essential urban design concepts using open source software and equips planners with the tools they need to participate fully in the urban design process.
Planning for Universal Design
Learn the tools for implementing Universal Design in planning regulations.
Village of Glen Ellyn
Central Transportation Planning Staff/Boston Region MPO
Heyer Gruel & Associates PA
Institute for Housing and Urban Development Studies (IHS)
City of Grandview
Harvard GSD Executive Education
Regional Transportation Commission of Southern Nevada
Toledo-Lucas County Plan Commissions