THE NEW URBAN REALITY

America's inner cities, especially those in older industrial metropolitan areas, have declined sharply in both pupulation and employment over the past two decades. This book is an interdisciplinary collection of papers addressing the following questions: How much of the decline of cities is due to technological advances in transportation, communication, and manufacturing? How much of it is due to the changing racial composition of the central cities? Can any set of public policies retard or reverse the decline of the industrial cities? The ways in which adverse economic and racial changes interact are discussed, and more realistic federal policies to counteract these changes are urged. The growing mismatch between inner-city jobs and residents is analyzed, and the economics of inner-city-gentrification are discussed. On the subject of racial change, race relations in a gentrifying inner-city neighborhood are depicted. The social and economic problems of inner-city blacks are delineated. Bold efforts are called for to reverse the continuing urban pattern of racial segregation. The ways cities have responded to economic and racial change are reviewed. The impact of transportation policy is discussed, and increasing efforts to control urban crime are found ineffective. The effect of political factors on the fiscal condition of cities is emphasized. In a review of preceding material, little hope is held for the role of racial integration as the central social strategy in solving urban problems; the author is optimistic, however, about the internal resources of America's minority communities.

  • Corporate Authors:

    Brookings Institution

    1775 Massachusetts Avenue, NW
    Washington, DC  United States  20036
  • Publication Date: 1985

Media Info

  • Features: Figures; Tables;
  • Pagination: 301 p.

Subject/Index Terms

Filing Info

  • Accession Number: 00399610
  • Record Type: Publication
  • Report/Paper Numbers: 84-45848
  • Files: TRIS
  • Created Date: Sep 30 1985 12:00AM