Full Description
When cash-strapped local governments fail to provide adequate services, and planning policies prioritize economic development over community needs, how do concerned citizens respond? In The Help-Yourself City, Gordon Douglas looks closely at the people who take urban planning into their own hands, dubbed "do-it-yourself urban design." Through in-depth interviews with do-it-yourselfers, professional planners, and community members, as well as participant observation, photography, media, and policy analysis, Douglas demonstrates that many do-it-yourselfers employ professional techniques and expertise to enable and inspire their actions. He argues that many unauthorized interventions are created from a position of privilege, where legal repercussions are unlikely, while people from disadvantaged communities where improvements may be most needed face disincentives to taking such actions themselves. Presenting a needed social analysis of this growing trend, while connecting it to debates on inequality, citizenship, and contemporary urban political economy, The Help-Yourself City tells a street-level story of people's relationships to their surroundings and the individualization of democratic responsibility.
Contents
Acknowledgements
Chapter 1. Introduction
Chapter 2. Constructive Deviance: What is DIY Urban Design? And What is it Not?
Chapter 3. Individualizing Civic Responsibility: DIY Urban Design in the Help-Yourself City
Chapter 4. "I'm an Expert on Public Space": Professional and Scholarly Knowledge at Work in DIY Urbanism
Chapter 5. The Spatial Reproduction of Inequality: Social Privilege and Disadvantage in Creative Transgression
Chapter 6. Pop-Up Planning: From Park(ing) Day to Parklet Dining, DIY Goes Official
Chapter 7. Conclusions
Appendix 1: Table of Projects
Appendix 2: Postface: Methods and Research Design
Bibliography
