Urbanism in the Digital Age

MARK GOTTDIENER is Emeritus Professor of Sociology at the State University of New York at Buffalo and a pioneering urban theorist. He developed the socio-spatial perspective on urbanization and is the author of The Social Production of Urban Space and The New Urban Sociology. His influential research on theming, spatial analysis, and urban theory continues to influence urban studies worldwide.

• Preface ixChapter 1 What’s Wrong with This Picture? 1The Multi-Centered Metro Region Is the New Spatial Form of Urbanism 4Lefebvre Anticipates the MCMR 5Castells Anticipates the Digital Age 6What Follows 6Chapter 2 The City Is Dead. Long Live the City 8The New Form of Urban Space 8Early Approaches to Regional Multi-Centered Growth: Geddes and Gottmann 9Metropolitics: One Story of Attempted Regional Policy for the MCMR 10The Digital Age 13Chasing After the MCMR by the US Census Over Time 15Regional Studies as a Better Means of Capturing Social Space 20Moving On 22Chapter 3 Henri Lefebvre’s Urbanism: Right and Wrong 23Lefebvre’s Urbanism Theory 25The Production of Space: Understanding Why Space Is a Force of Production 28The Stages of Society and Their Spatial Formations 29The Second Circuit of Capitalism 31Capital Logic Theory and Reductionist Marxism 34The Difference in Returns on Land Between the City and the MCMR 37The Current Crisis 40Chapter 4 How the Modernist City of Corporations Transformed into the MCMR 42Breaking the Ideological Bias Favoring the City 43The Modern City of Corporate Capitalism 45The Capitalism of Corporations and the Metropolitan City Form 46The Burgess Model and Post-war Suburbanization 49The Chicago School of Sociology 49The Limited Relevance of Urban Density 53Mass Suburbanization and the Birth of a Mass Consumer Society 55The Role of Racism in Mass Suburbanization 57Mass Suburbanization Leads to the Mass Consumer Society 58The Shift to the Sunbelt and the Dominance of the MCMR Form 59The Scale Perspective 62Chapter 5 How the MCMR Functions as the New Form of Urban Space 68Deconcentration and Reconcentration—The Dual Forces Creating the MCMR 70Deconcentration 70Reconcentration 73New Spaces of Consumption and Business Anchoring the MCMR 74The Regional Mall 75The Airport as a Growth Pole 77Scientific, Industrial, and Commercial Parks 80Science and High Tech Mini-centers 81The Golden Age of Supermarkets, The Commercial Strip: Mini-centers Sustain MCMR Living 81Theming Sustains Business in the MCMR 83The MCMR and the Digital Media Revolution 84Chapter 6 The Space of Flows: Part One: Transportation 86Poor Public Transportation Is a National Disgrace 87The Unbelievable Story of Mass Transportation Destruction 87Creating an Automobile Culture: Power Not Preference Rules the Day 91Shameful Neglect of Our Historical Mass Transport Legacy 92Can We Rebalance Our Auto/Mass Transit Society? 93The Mixed Case of Government Spending on Mass Transit 95What We Can Learn from Previous Projects Wasting Money and Time 95High Speed Transport as the New Hope 98Chapter 7 The Space of Flows: The Digital Age 100Digital Media and Everyday Life—Negotiating the MCMR Space 102Manuel Castells and the Network Society 102Critiques—Relevance to the MCMR 104Digital Technology and the Smart City 106Transforming Settlement Space for Smartphone Applications 107Equality Assessment for Digital Access 108New Developments Advertising “Wired” Access—the “Smart City” 108Chapter 8 Affordable Housing and the MCMR 110The Affordable Housing Crisis 111What Is the Crisis About? 111What Are the Causes of Crisis? 113Housing Speculation and the Truth Inside Lefebvre’s Second Circuit 113Covid and Inflation as Causes for the Housing Crisis 115Some Solutions to the Affordable Housing Crisis 117How the Federal Government Dealt with Housing in the Past-bounty and Corruption Together 118How Tokyo Created Affordable Housing 121Some Creative Cases from the US 124Minneapolis Downzoning 124Habitat for Humanity 125Accessory Dwelling Units (ADUs) 125How European Cities Created Affordable Rental Housing 126Chapter 9 The Unhoused Crisis: Shame of a Nation 128Falling Down the Rabbit Hole of Cruel and Unusual 130Eviction: Capitalism as Inhumane 131Some Results of the Study 132What About Desmond’s Proposed Solutions? 133Solutions to the Unhoused Crisis: Case Studies 134UK: Monitoring Is Right and Wrong 134Finland: A Simple Plan 135What Worked in Finland Is Attacked in the US 136Using the MCMR Expanse to Find Shelter for the Unhoused 137Houston Case Study 137Cincinnati Case Study 138The War Against the Unhoused 138Cities Alone Cannot Bear the Burden 139Chapter 10 Perpetual Problems: Racism, Segregation, Their Effects, and the MCMR Solution 140White Racism Is a Cultural Problem; Do Black Culture Changes Help? 141African American Segregation—the Material Sign of Racism and Poverty 142The Costs of Involuntary Segregation 142Measuring Segregation 143The Taubers 143Hypersegregation 144Ghettoization 145Massey and Denton’s Measure of Isolation 147The Barrio as Ghetto and Hispanic Segregation 148Understanding the Barrio 148Mexican American Urban Removal 149The Crisis in Mexican American Education 150The Useless Class and the White, Blue Collar Education Problem 152Does MCMR Residency Have an Effect on Segregation? 152Analytical Research of Data says “Yes” 153America’s MCMRs Are on the Frontline of Racial and Ethnic Neighborhood Change 155White Racism and the Effect of Central City Gentrification 157Before and After Covid: Is Gentrification All Bad? 157Chapter 11 Urban Planning in the MCMR 159Regional Urban Planning vs. City Urban Planning: Understanding the Differences 160Defining Regional Urban Planning 160Defining City Urban Planning 160The MCMR and Regional Planning 161The Regional Planning Authority Dilemma 162Anti-planning Ideologies 163The Ideology of Privatism 163Exclusionary Zoning 164The Ideology of NIMBY 165How Local Political Control Undercuts Regional Planning 165Planned Sprawl 166Zoning and Its Discontents 169New Urbanism, Old Urbanism, City of the Future: Planning Strategies to Preserve Urban Life 170New Urban Planning for Pedestrians but Not Local Shops 172Chapter 12 Architecture and the MCMR – The Crisis of Environmental Sustainability and Landmark Building 173Urban Heat Islands 173Environmental Solutions to Mini-center Pollution 174Climate Change and the Need for Innovation 175The Important Role of Architecture for Sustainable Building 176Sustainable Design and Passive Strategies 177Green Roofs and Walls 177The Well Building Movement and the European Commission’s New Bauhaus 178Architecture and the MCMR—Signature Buildings as Landmarks 179Attracting Consumers to Locations in the MCMR—Themes and Landmarks 180Signature Architecture vs Landmarks 181Chapter 13 Public Policy and the MCMR: Political Fragmentation, Social Polarization, and Some Possible Solutions to Regional Governance 186The Government Eating Itself 187Fragmentation of Local Government 188Hung Up by Historical Artifact of Many Local Governments 188The Lasting Effects of Covid on Regional Governance 190Failing Infrastructure Cost Outstrips Local Government Resources 190Some Possible Solutions: 191Switching to a MCMR Perspective and Using Digital Technology 191The Need for Professional Local Managers 192The Mass Immigration Problem Requires a Regional Solution 192The State vs. City Dilemma Paralyzing Policy Progress 194An MCMR Solution via “Multi-Stakeholder Collaboration” 195MSI Morphs to Ethical Considerations 196Chapter 14 Neoliberalism and Its Failure to Contain Social Problems: The Current Crisis, the Need for Social Action, and the Fallacy of the “Right to the City” 198The New Regime of Accumulation: Global Capitalism and Neoliberalism 199Post-1975 Transformation to Neoliberalism—Direct Forms of Intervention for Capital 201Austerity 202Why Lefebvre remains important 204Tax the Super Rich 205The Right to the City Fallacy and the Importance of Urban Social Movements 206Castells vs. Lefebvre 207Bibliography 208Index 225