Rebuilding the American City: Design and Strategy for the 21st Century Urban Core

There's plenty to like in Rebuilding the American City: Design and Strategy for the 21st Century Urban Core...After a succinct introduction, 15 U.S. case studies show both the public side and the messy underside of rebuilding key parts of cities....This book is the real deal, worth a dozen thinly disguised puff pieces and not to be confused with them. -- Harold Henderson, Planning Magazine

Transforming our cities, building a bridge to a more sustainable and productive way of life, is both essential and hard work. This book provides a highly informative account of how 15 US cities succeeded by leveraging their key assets - anchor institutions, natural features, existing momentum, obsolescent lands and transit investment - to do so. -Ken Greenberg, Greenberg Consultants

Without ignoring issues of equity and displacement, Rebuilding American Cities celebrates the inventiveness of cities as they leverage the assets of the city by breaking down barriers, blurring boundaries, and building connections. In an age when government no longer leads in rebuilding cities, the authors tell the behind -the-scenes story of how public, private, and nonprofit civic entrepreneurs collaborate to make it happen. Rebuilding American Cities is essential reading for those who want to know how urban revitalization really happens from the viewpoint of those who actually make it happen. -Todd Swanstrom, Des Lee Professor, University of Missouri-St. Louis