The Origins of the Dual City: Housing, Race, and Redevelopment in Twentieth-Century Chicago

by Rast, Joel
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ISBN: 9780226661582
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Overview

Chicago is celebrated for its rich diversity, but, even more than most US cities, it is also plagued by segregation and extreme inequality. More than ever, Chicago is a "dual city," a condition taken for granted by many residents. In this book, Joel Rast reveals that today's tacit acceptance of rising urban inequality is a marked departure from the past. For much of the twentieth century, a key goal for civic leaders was the total elimination of slums and blight. Yet over time, as anti-slum efforts faltered, leaders shifted the focus of their initiatives away from low-income areas and toward the upgrading of neighborhoods with greater economic promise. As misguided as postwar public housing and urban renewal programs were, they were born of a long-standing reformist impulse aimed at improving living conditions for people of all classes and colors across the city--something that can't be said to be a true priority for many policymakers today. The Origins of the Dual City illuminates how we normalized and became resigned to living amid stark racial and economic divides.
  • Format: Trade Paperback
  • Author: Rast, Joel
  • ISBN: 9780226661582
  • Condition: Used
  • Dimensions: 8.90 x 1.00
  • Number Of Pages: 352
  • Publication Year: 2019

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