Amy L. Howard - Böcker

Colleges and universities in urban centers have often leveraged their locales to appeal to students while also taking a more active role in addressing local challenges. They embrace civic engagement, support service-learning, tailor courses to local needs, and even provide university-community collaborations such as lab schools and innovation hubs. Engaging Place, Engaging Practices highlights the significant role the academy, in general, and urban history, in particular, can play in fostering these critical connections.The editors and contributors to this volume address topics ranging from historical injustices and affordable housing and land use to climate change planning and the emergence of digital humanities. These case studies reveal the intricate components of a city’s history and how they provide context and promote a sense of cultural belonging.This timely book appreciates and emphasizes the critical role universities must play as intentional-and humble-partners in addressing the past, present, and future challenges facing cities through democratic community engagement.

Colleges and universities in urban centers have often leveraged their locales to appeal to students while also taking a more active role in addressing local challenges. They embrace civic engagement, support service-learning, tailor courses to local needs, and even provide university-community collaborations such as lab schools and innovation hubs. Engaging Place, Engaging Practices highlights the significant role the academy, in general, and urban history, in particular, can play in fostering these critical connections.The editors and contributors to this volume address topics ranging from historical injustices and affordable housing and land use to climate change planning and the emergence of digital humanities. These case studies reveal the intricate components of a city’s history and how they provide context and promote a sense of cultural belonging.This timely book appreciates and emphasizes the critical role universities must play as intentional-and humble-partners in addressing the past, present, and future challenges facing cities through democratic community engagement.

Richmond, Virginia, took center stage globally in the summer of 2020 as an epicenter of antiracist protests in the wake of the police murder of George Floyd. In a period of just a few weeks, overwhelming public support grew for removing Richmond's Confederate monuments. Activists then transformed the remaining statue of Robert E. Lee into a shrine to African American resolve, to the Black Lives Matter movement, and to Black victims of police brutality. Coming to terms with Richmond's tortured racial history, however, is much more difficult than toppling symbols of white supremacy. This book explores these dynamics via a multidisciplinary framework of historical research, public policy analysis, and political analysis, showing the inner dynamics of politics and governance in Richmond. The authors reveal why change and progress has often been so difficult to achieve and why that matters, with a focus on three fundamental policy areas: education, economic development, and housing. The result is a comprehensive assessment of urban governance in a major southern city in the early twenty-first century, as well as an accounting of the policy and human consequences of both its limited successes and its recurring failures.