Segregation by Design: Local Politics and Inequality in American Cities - Hardcover

Trounstine, Jessica

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1108429955 ISBN 13: 9781108429955

Publisher: Cambridge University Press, 2018

Synopsis

Segregation by Design draws on more than 100 years of quantitative and qualitative data from thousands of American cities to explore how local governments generate race and class segregation. Starting in the early twentieth century, cities have used their power of land use control to determine the location and availability of housing, amenities (such as parks), and negative land uses (such as garbage dumps). The result has been segregation - first within cities and more recently between them. Documenting changing patterns of segregation and their political mechanisms, Trounstine argues that city governments have pursued these policies to enhance the wealth and resources of white property owners at the expense of people of color and the poor. Contrary to leading theories of urban politics, local democracy has not functioned to represent all residents. The result is unequal access to fundamental local services - from schools, to safe neighborhoods, to clean water.

About this title

Book Description

The first account of how local governments generate segregation, this book documents changing patterns of segregation, the political mechanisms that produce them, and the consequences. It will be read by scholars, students, and general readers interested in urban politics, inequality, segregation, race, public policy, history, and urban economics.

About the Author

Jessica Trounstine is Associate Professor of Political Science at University of California, Merced. She is the author of Political Monopolies in American Cities: The Rise and Fall of Bosses and Reformers (2008), which won the American Political Science Association's (APSA) Prize for Best Book on Urban Politics. Trounstine served as President of the Urban and Local Politics Section of APSA from 2014-2015. Her research examines subnational politics and the process and quality of representation.

Edition details

• Publisher: Cambridge University Press
• Publication date: 2018
• ISBN 10: 1108429955
• ISBN 13: 9781108429955
• Binding: Hardcover
• Language: English
• Number of pages: 282