Providence The Renaissance City

The authoritative account of one city s dramatic rebirth."

As an undergraduate at Brown University, Tyler Denmead founded New Urban Arts, a nationally recognized arts and humanities program primarily for young people of color in Providence, Rhode Island. Along with its positive impact, New Urban Arts, under his leadership, became entangled in Providence's urban renewal efforts that harmed the very youth it served. As in many deindustrialized cities, Providence's leaders viewed arts, culture, and creativity as a means to drive property development and attract young, educated, and affluent white people, such as Denmead, to economically and culturally kick-start the city. In The Creative Underclass, Denmead critically examines how New Urban Arts and similar organizations can become enmeshed in circumstances where young people, including himself, become visible once the city can leverage their creativity to benefit economic revitalization and gentrification. He points to the creative cultural practices that young people of color from low-income communities use to resist their subjectification as members of an underclass, which, along with redistributive economic policies, can be deployed as an effective means with which to both oppose gentrification and better serve the youth who have become emblematic of urban creativity.

This book rhetorically and historically examines the contextual and experiential dimensions of a wide range of public places—from memorials to stadiums—that are rife with political implications. Fourteen public places ranging from the national to local, from 9/11 memorials to a baseball park are analyzed. The authors investigate the histories of these public spaces, examine their designs, and discuss their political implications in order to outline their role within the public sphere. This book begins with a loose theoretical framework for understanding public places as rhetorically drawn from extant scholarship, and concludes with a systematic means of exploring the allocation of power by public places. Recommended for scholars of communication studies, rhetoric, political science, and architecture.

This collection of 12 case studies illustrates the range of problems facing mid-sized cities in the USA and the variety of approaches that mayors have used to cope with them. Topics covered include education, crime, economic development and the political incorporation of minorities.

There has been much written on the new creative economy, but most work focuses on the so-called 'creative class,' with lifestyle preferences that favor trendy new restaurants, mountain biking, and late night clubbing. This 'creative class,' flagship cultural destinations, and other forms of commodity-driven cultural production, now occupy a relatively uncritical place in the revitalization schemes of most cities up and down the urban hierarchy. In contrast, this book focuses on small- to medium-size post-industrial cities in the US, Canada, and Europe that are trying to redress the effects of deindustrialization and economic decline through cultural economic regeneration. It examines how culture-infused economic opportunities are being incorporated into planning in distinct ways, largely under the radar, in many working class communities and considers to what extent places rooted in an industrial past are able to envisage a different economic future for themselves. It questions whether these visions replicate strategies employed in larger cities or put forth plans that better suit the unique histories and challenges of places that remain outside the global limelight. Exploring the intersection between a cultural and sustainable economy raises issues that are central to how urban regeneration is approached and neighborhood needs and assets are understood. Case studies in this book examine spaces and planning processes that hold the possibility of addressing inequality by forging new economic and social relationships and by embarking on more inclusive and collaborative experiments in culture-based economic development. These examples often focus on building upon the assets of existing residents and broadly define creativity and talent. They also acknowledge both the economic and non-monetary value of cultural practices. This book maintains a critical edge, incorporating left critiques of mainstream creative economy theories and practices into empirical case studies that depart from standard cultural economy discourse. Structural barriers and unequal distributions of power make the search for viable urban development alternatives especially difficult for smaller post-industrial cities and risk derailing even creative grassroots initiatives. While acknowledging these obstacles, this book moves beyond critique and focuses on how the growing economy surrounding culture, the arts, and ecological design can be harnessed and transformed to best benefit such cities and improve the quality of life for its residents.

"With a new introduction that takes account of the extraordinary renaissance that Liverpool is currently enjoying, the second edition of this collection by one of the leading scholars of the city's history offers a timely and perceptive examination of the origins and persistence of Liverpool's exceptionalism."--BOOK JACKET.

This timely textprovides a comprehensive overview of the dramatic and rapidly evolving issues confronting the cities of North America. Metropolitan areas throughout the United States and Canada face a range of dynamic and complex concerns—including the redistribution of economic activities, the continued decline of manufacturing, and a global growth in services. The contributors provide compelling examples: Inner cities have experienced both gentrification and continued areas of segregation and poverty. Downtown revitalization has created urban spectacles that include festivals, marketplaces, and sports stadiums. Older, inner-ring suburbs now confront decline and increased poverty, while the outer-ring suburbs and exurbs continue to expand, devouring green space. The book explores how the combined processes of urbanization and globalization have added new responsibilities for city governments at the same time leaders are grappling with planning, economic development and finance, justice, equity, and social cohesion. Cities have become the stage upon which new forms of ethnic, racial, and sexual identities are constructed and reconstructed. They are also connected to wider ecological processes as urban spaces are compromised by manmade and natural disasters alike. Introducing contemporary spatial arrangements and distributions of activities in metropolitan areas, this clear and accessible book covers economic, social, political, and ecological changes. It is also the only text to include the physical geography of urban areas. Bringing together leading geographers, it will be an ideal resource for courses on urban geography and geography of the city. Contributions by: Matthew Anderson, Lisa Benton-Short, Geoff Buckley, Christopher DeSousa, Bernadette Hanlon, Amanda Huron, Yeong-Hyun Kim, Nathaniel M. Lewis, Robert Lewis, Deborah Martin, Lindsey Sutton, John Tiefenbacher, Thomas J. Vicino, Katie Wells, and David Wilson.

Congressman David Cicilline offers his provocative takes on Republicans, Democrats, and the world of politics in the wake of Donald Trump. The rioters were still in the Capitol, shattering the door to the House Chamber and bellowing “Hang Mike Pence,” when David Cicilline, safely locked inside his office, began writing the articles of impeachment that would lead to Donald Trump’s second Senate trial. He helped prosecute the case, earning admiration from his fellow progressives and a national following. But by summer he would be calling out some of those same colleagues for caving to special interests and attempting to block his plan to rein in the Big Tech companies like Facebook and Google. Beyond sounding an alarm, House on Fire identifies the key threat to our democracy—that the GOP has become a Trumpist authoritarian cult—and outlines how we fight back. A response that must include both citizen opposition and practical reforms, including an end to the Senate filibuster, discarding the Electoral College, expanding the Supreme Court, and requiring that justices adhere to a code of ethics. Cicilline actually believes in politics and the system. He used them both to deliver for the people in a once-corrupt city he ran as mayor and in Washington, where he has risen to help lead the Democratic Party in Congress. In HOUSE ON FIRE, Cicilline spares no one from criticism as he argues for a politics that produces results and warns that without it Trump, or someone worse, will take power in 2024 and make us wish for the days when the only thing we complained about was gridlock.