This book will change the way Americans think about their cities. It provides a comprehensive economic and social history of urban America since 1950, covering the 29 largest urban areas of that period. Specifically, the book covers 17 cities in the Northeast, 6 in the South, and 6 in the West, decade by decade, with extensive data and historical narrative. The author divides his analysis into three periods - urban growth (1950 to 1970), urban crisis (late 1960s to 1990), and urban rebirth (since 1990). He draws on the concepts of the vicious circle and the virtuous circle to offer the first in-depth explanation for the transition from urban crisis to urban rebirth that took place in the early 1990s. "Urban America" is both a message of hope and a call to action for students and professionals in urban studies. It will inspire readers to concentrate on finding ways and means to ensure that the urban rebirth will continue.

This unique and inexpensive book provides a demographic and economic history of urban America over the last 65 years. The growth and decline of most northern cities is contrasted with the steady growth of western and southern cities. Various urban government policies are explored, including federal, state, and local policies. There is a chapter focusing on Detroit and its rapid decline toward bankruptcy and its recent strategies to slow recovery. The final two chapters speculate on what's next for urban America and gives suggestions for stimulating growth.

The rise of cities in the United States from the early seventeenth century to the 1960s is the subject of this sophisticated and witty appraisal by a Pulitzer Prize historian. Constance McLaughlin Green traces the forces - economic, political, social - that led to today's urban civilization, beginning with the growth of colonial seaports and local government, the rise of new cities that competed for wealth and power with the older cities, the spread of industrialization, transportation and communications that made complex city life possible. She discussed the influence of city life on art and architecture, the impact of depression and prosperity upon urban centres, and analyses present-day problems - race-relations, the population explosion, automation, the rise of suburbia, and the development of the 'megapolis' that links city with city in one vast urban interstate region. This book was first published in 1966.

This unique and inexpensive book provides a demographic and economic history of urban America over the last 65 years. The growth and decline of most northern cities is contrasted with the steady growth of western and southern cities. Various urban government policies are explored, including federal, state, and local policies. There is a chapter focusing on Detroit and its rapid decline toward bankruptcy and its recent strategies to slow recovery. The final two chapters speculate on what's next for urban America and gives suggestions for stimulating growth.

This book addresses the questions of what went wrong with Detroit and what can be done to reinvent the Motor City. Various answers to the former-deindustrialization, white flight, and a disappearing tax base-are now well understood. Less discussed are potential paths forward, stemming from alternative explanations of Detroit's long-term decline and reconsideration of the challenges the city currently faces. Urban crisis-socioeconomic, fiscal, and political-has seemingly narrowed the range of possible interventions. Growth-oriented redevelopment strategies have not reversed Detroit's decline, but in the wake of crisis, officials have increasingly funnelled limited public resources into the city's commercial core via an implicit policy of "urban triage." The crisis has also led to the emergency management of the city by extra-democratic entities. As a disruptive historical event, Detroit's crisis is a moment teeming with political possibilities. The critical rethinking of Detroit's past, present, and future is essential reading for both urban studies scholars and the general public.