Voices of Decline

"Beauregard recovers an intellectual history of the city that has been overlooked by historians and planners. Yet one cannot understand the postwar exhaustion of urban policy without knowing this history of American public discourse about cities. With care and authority, he shows how traditional American unease with cities was transformed after World War II into a powerful narrative of decline that made the hollowing-out of urban life seem 'natural,' inevitable. Anyone interested in the past and future of American cities must read this book." -- Thomas Bender, New York University, and author of TheUnfinished City and New York Intellect "Voices of Decline digs under layers of conventional urban wisdom to reveal the roots and consequences of how we think about city life. Masterfully recreating and analyzing the often melodramatic public conversation about cities over the last half century, Robert Beauregard makes the whole range of urban discourse come alive with meaning and a rich historical resonance. In this admirably revised edition, he has not only updated an invaluable work on the American city, he has made it even more incisive, powerful, and useful." -- Carlo Rotella, Boston College, and author of Good With TheirHands: Boxers, Bluesmen, and Other Characters From theRust Belt

Robert Beauregard is Professor and Director of the Graduate Program in Public and Urban Policy at the Milano School of Management and Urban Policy, New School University. He is the author of numerous articles and books.

Preface to Revised Edition Acknowledgments Framing the Discourse 1 Foundational Urban Debates Prelude to Postwar Decline 2 The Cities Wholesome and Good 3 Not Those of Decadence Escalating Downward 4 The Unhappy Process of Changing 5 On the Verge of Catastrophe From One Crisis to the Next 6 Every Problem a Racial Dimension 7 Crisis of Our Cities A Double Reversal of Fortune 8 Rising From the Ashes 9 Not Excessively Inconvenienced Reading the Discourse 10 Epilogue Index