Twenty-First Century Gateways: Immigrant Incorporation in Suburban America (James A. Johnson Metro Series) - Hardcover

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0815779267 ISBN 13: 9780815779261

Publisher: Brookings Institution Press, 2008

Synopsis

While federal action on immigration faces an uncertain future, states, cities and suburban municipalities craft their own responses to immigration. Twenty-First-Century Gateways, focuses on the fastest-growing immigrant populations in metropolitan areas with previously low levels of immigration —places such as Atlanta, Austin, Charlotte, Dallas-Fort Worth, Minneapolis-St. Paul, Phoenix, Portland, Sacramento, and Washington, D.C. These places are typical of the newest, largest immigrant gateways to America, characterized by post-WWII growth, recent burgeoning immigrant populations, and predominantly suburban settlement.

More immigrants, both legal and undocumented, arrived in the United States during the 1990s than in any other decade on record. That growth has continued more slowly since the Great Recession; nonetheless the U.S. immigrant population has doubled since 1990. Many immigrants continued to move into traditional urban centers such as New York, Chicago, and Los Angeles, but burgeoning numbers were attracted by the economic and housing opportunities of fast-growing metropolitan areas and their largely suburban settings. The pace of change in this new geography of immigration has presented many local areas with challenges —social, fiscal, and political.

Edited by Audrey Singer, Susan W. Hardwick, and Caroline B. Brettell,  Twenty-First-Century Gateways provides in-depth, comparative analysis of immigration trends and local policy responses in America's newest gateways. The case examples by a group of leading multidisciplinary immigration scholars explore the challenges of integrating newcomers in the specific gateways, as well as their impact on suburban infrastructure such as housing, transportation, schools, health care, economic development, and public safety.

The changes and trends dissected in this book present a critically important understanding of the reshaping of the United States today and the future impact of immigration, vital as the nation and metropolitan areas face changes to immigration policy.

About this title

About the Author:

Audrey Singer is a senior fellow in Metropolitan Policy at the Brookings Institution. Susan W. Hardwick is a professor of geography at the University of Oregon and senior research fellow at the Vancouver Metropolis Center. Caroline B. Brettell is the Dedman Family Distinguished Professor in the department of anthropology at Southern Methodist University and Dean ad Interim of Dedman College.

Review:

"In their remarkable new book, Singer, Hardwick, and Brettell reveal the new countours of immigrant adaptation and reception in places with little experience of immigration within living memory. Through nine carefully chosen case studies, Twenty-First Century Gateways offers new insights into the promises and pitfalls of America's diverse, multi-ethnic future." —Douglas S. Massey, Princeton University

"This important collection documents the growth of foreign-born populations in the suburbs of America's new gateway cities and will be a major contribution to the literature on emerging geographies of immigration." —Mark Ellis, University of Washington

"This is an essential guidebook to the new geography of the United States, full of rich detail and broad conceptual frameworks that illuminate immigration's impact on cities and suburbs where the foreign-born were a scant presence not long ago." —Roberto Suro, Annenberg School for Communication, University of Southern California

"One of the most significant trends in US communities is the growth of immigrant populations in suburban areas. This pattern is particularly important for a number of southern, western, and midwestern cities that have not historically been sites of immigration settlement. This anthology is among the best on this subject, and will be widely read. Highly recommended." — CHOICE

"An engaging and important body of evidence that documents the historic shift of immigration away from urban centers and toward the new suburban gateways of the 21st century in this well-written and accessible volume.... For the professional planning audience as well as policymakers, this book offers a wealth of data and a portrait of the dynamic change of a spectrum of suburbs nationally... easily accessible to practitioners and students alike." —Thomas J. Vicino, Wheaton College, Journal of the American Planning Association

"Loaded with charts, graphs, and maps, this collection of essays offers a fascinating snapshot of communities in transition....the chapters skillfully capture the mix of ambivalance, sympathy, and frustration that immigration, especially undocumented immigration, provokes in many American communities........ Twenty-First-Century Gateways offers a refreshingly level-headed examination of a very controversial topic as well as a useful road map for further research about it." — Journal of American Ethnic History

About this edition

• Publisher: Brookings Institution Press
• Publication date: 2008
• ISBN 10: 0815779267
• ISBN 13: 9780815779261
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 331
• Editor: Singer Audrey, Hardwick Susan W., Brettell Caroline B.