Susan Fainstein | |
---|---|
Born | Susan Saltzman September 27, 1938 |
Nationality | American |
Occupation | Educator |
Spouse(s) | Roger Bove (divorced) Norman Fainstein |
Children | Eric Bove Paul Bove |
Academic background | |
Education | Harvard University Boston University Massachusetts Institute of Technology |
Thesis | The Movement for Community Control of Schools in New York City (1971) |
Academic work | |
Institutions | Harvard University |
Notable works | The Just City (2010);“The City Builders”(2001) |
Susan Saltzman Fainstein (born September 27,1938) is an American educator and scholar of urban planning. Fainstein is currently a Senior Research Fellow at the Harvard University Graduate School of Design,where she had previously been a professor of urban planning. Her research and writing has focused on the distributive effects of urban development strategies and megaprojects,the role of democracy and community control in local public institutions,and establishing a moral theory of "the just city." [1] [2]
A member of the urban planning faculties of Columbia University and Rutgers University for most of her career,Fainstein is now a research scholar at the Harvard Graduate School of Design.
Conducting field research in New York and London,Fainstein has studied the rise of "pro-growth" municipal regimes and accelerated real estate development since 1980. Her work charts the growth of public-private partnerships in urban development and increasing reliance on property development as a wholesale economic development strategy. [3] Noting that property-focused growth has weakened urban welfare programs and broad neighborhood revitalization strategies,she has proposed reforms to public-private partnership structures that discourage overbuilding and permit broader community benefits. [4]
Since 1999 Fainstein has worked to theorize the "just city," a concept for which her 2010 book is named. [5] Fainstein argues that urban planners need a normative theory of justice because their enthusiasm for social and built-environment diversity has not produced alternatives to inequality under pro-growth regimes. [6] [7] She maintains that the dominant "communicative planning" paradigm—in which sufficiently inclusive and deliberative planning procedures are said to yield just outcomes—cannot produce just outcomes. This is because they cannot resolve structural inequalities among actors,settle rival concepts of the public good,or account for progressive policies achieved in non-deliberative democratic societies. [8] Because of these limitations,planning procedures permit outcomes incompatible with justice such as greater economic inequality,marginalization of social groups,and political domination. [9]
Fainstein proposes an urban theory of justice in which "equity,"democracy," and diversity are the first-order concerns of urban development,with equity prevailing when such outcomes conflict. [6] [10] These principles aim to harmonize the contractarian "theory of justice" proposed by John Rawls with its post-liberal criticisms,particularly those of Iris Marion Young,who argues that the recognition of social group differences cannot be subordinated to individual distributive fairness. [11] To reconcile tradeoffs among these priorities,Fainstein endorses the "capabilities approach" of Amartya Sen and Martha Nussbaum:all three norms must be upheld sufficiently such that they can be achieved by all moral subjects,while allowing subjects to choose priority among these basic principles. [6] [12]
Fainstein has upheld Amsterdam's social housing program as a model of the "just city" paradigm because it supports a mix of household types,permits ethnic concentration but not enclavism,and safeguards a basic living standard. [6] [13] Other scholars have argued that liberalizing structural reforms since 1980 have eroded the program's claims to provide housing equity and social diversity. [14] [15]
The topic has been engaged widely by planners and urban theorists since its introduction. Peter Marcuse and Oren Yiftachel have expanded on Fainstein's justice concept,calling for greater focus on property relations and recognition of planning paradigms outside the U.S. and Europe. [16] [17] More critical reception has come from urban geographer David Harvey who,extending his Marxist critique of urban planning,has argued that "just city" theory does not remedy the inherent injustices of capitalist urbanization but instead palliates them. [18] Fainstein has responded that the approach attempts what is feasible within capitalist development and does not "depend on revolutionary change." [19]
Fainstein is married to urban sociology professor Norman I. Fainstein,who served previously as dean of arts and sciences at Baruch College in the City University of New York,dean of the faculty at Vassar College,and president of Connecticut College. In Fall 2019,Fainstein and her husband are co-teaching on "History and Theory of Urban Interventions" at the Harvard Graduate School of Design. [20] She has two sons,Eric Bove and Paul Bove,and three grandchildren.
A city is a human settlement of a substantial size. The term "city" has different meanings around the world and in some places the settlement can be very small. Even where the term is limited to larger settlements, there is no universally agreed definition of the lower boundary for their size. In a narrower sense, a city can be defined as a permanent and densely populated place with administratively defined boundaries whose members work primarily on non-agricultural tasks. Cities generally have extensive systems for housing, transportation, sanitation, utilities, land use, production of goods, and communication. Their density facilitates interaction between people, government organizations, and businesses, sometimes benefiting different parties in the process, such as improving the efficiency of goods and service distribution.
Planning theory is the body of scientific concepts, definitions, behavioral relationships, and assumptions that define the body of knowledge of urban planning. There is no one unified planning theory but various. Whittemore identifies nine procedural theories that dominated the field between 1959 and 1983: the Rational-Comprehensive approach, the Incremental approach, the Transformative Incremental (TI) approach, the Transactive approach, the Communicative approach, the Advocacy approach, the Equity approach, the Radical approach, and the Humanist or Phenomenological approach.
Kim Dovey is an Australian architectural and urban critic and Professor of Architecture and Urban Design at the University of Melbourne, Australia, teaching and researching architecture and urban design. Born in Western Australia he received degrees from Curtin University and the University of Melbourne, and a Ph.D. from the University of California, Berkeley, USA. He has lectured and broadcast widely on social issues in architecture and urban design. His book Framing Places explores theories of place as mediators of power, incorporating case studies of politics of public space, housing, shopping malls and corporate towers. Becoming Places (2010) explores the formation of place identity and develops a theory of place as dynamic assemblage. Urban Design Thinking (2016) is a broad-ranging application of assemblage thinking in urban design. Mapping Urbanities (2017) demonstrates applied research using urban mapping in the production of spatial knowledge. He has made significant contributions to theories of place, homelessness, transit-oriented development, urban density, walkability, informal settlement and creative clusters. He is co-author of the Urban DMA theory of walkability. The Atlas of Informal Settlement (2023) is the first global comparative study of informal urban design, and the theory of inventraset assemblages demonstrates how informal street vending, transport and settlement mesh within global South cities. He is Co-Director of the InfUr- research hub at the University of Melbourne.
Suburbanization, also spelled suburbanisation, is a population shift from historic core cities or rural areas into suburbs. Most suburbs are built in a formation of (sub)urban sprawl. As a consequence of the movement of households and businesses away from city centers, low-density, peripheral urban areas grow. Proponents of curbing suburbanization argue that sprawl leads to urban decay and a concentration of lower-income residents in the inner city, in addition to environmental harm.
Barrington Moore Jr. was an American political sociologist, and the son of forester Barrington Moore.
The creative class is the posit of American urban studies theorist Richard Florida for an ostensible socioeconomic class. Florida, a professor and head of the Martin Prosperity Institute at the Rotman School of Management at the University of Toronto, maintains that the creative class is a key driving force for economic development of post-industrial cities in North America.
An arts district or cultural district is a demarcated urban area, usually on the periphery of a city centre, intended to create a 'critical mass' of places of cultural consumption - such as art galleries, theatres, art cinemas, music venues, and public squares for performances. Such an area is usually encouraged by public policy-making and planning, but sometimes occurs spontaneously. It is associated with allied service-industry jobs like cafes, printers, fashion outlets, restaurants, and a variety of 'discreet services'.
Janet Lippman Abu-Lughod was an American sociologist who made major contributions to world-systems theory and urban sociology.
Spatial justice links social justice to space, most notably in the works of geographers David Harvey and Edward W. Soja. The field analyzes the impact of regional planning and urban planning decisions. It is promoted by the scholarly tradition of critical geography, which arose in the 1970s.
A creative city is a city where creativity is a strategic factor in urban development. A creative city provides places, experiences, attractions, and opportunities to foster creativity among its citizens.
The Urban Homesteading Assistance Board (UHAB), formed in 1974, is a city-wide non-profit housing and tenant advocacy group in New York City.
Richard G. Smith is a British geographer. His research focuses on the philosophy of Jean Baudrillard, and urban studies, especially on poststructuralist cities.
Matthew Gandy, FBA is a geographer and urbanist. He is Professor of Cultural and Historical Geography and Fellow of King's College at the University of Cambridge, moving from University College London (UCL) in 2015, where he was also the founder and first Director of the UCL Urban Laboratory from 2005 to 2011.
Peter Marcuse was a German-born American lawyer and professor of urban planning.
Neo-Marxism is a collection of Marxist schools of thought originating from 20th-century approaches to amend or extend Marxism and Marxist theory, typically by incorporating elements from other intellectual traditions such as critical theory, psychoanalysis, or existentialism. Neo-Marxism comes under the broader framework of the New Left. In a sociological sense, neo-Marxism adds Max Weber's broader understanding of social inequality, such as status and power, to Marxist philosophy.
Urban planning is a technical and political process concerned with the use of land and design of the urban environment, including air, water, and the infrastructure passing into and out of urban areas such as transportation and distribution networks.
Urban planning, also known as town planning, city planning, regional planning, or rural planning in specific contexts, is a technical and political process that is focused on the development and design of land use and the built environment, including air, water, and the infrastructure passing into and out of urban areas, such as transportation, communications, and distribution networks, and their accessibility. Traditionally, urban planning followed a top-down approach in master planning the physical layout of human settlements. The primary concern was the public welfare, which included considerations of efficiency, sanitation, protection and use of the environment, as well as effects of the master plans on the social and economic activities. Over time, urban planning has adopted a focus on the social and environmental bottom lines that focus on planning as a tool to improve the health and well-being of people, maintaining sustainability standards. Similarly, in the early 21st century, Jane Jacobs's writings on legal and political perspectives to emphasize the interests of residents, businesses and communities effectively influenced urban planners to take into broader consideration of resident experiences and needs while planning.
Shadow Cities: A Billion Squatters, A New Urban World is a 2004 book by Robert Neuwirth. He wrote it after visiting informal settlements such as Dharavi, Kibera and Rocinha.
Faranak Miraftab is an Iranian-American urban scholar and is currently a professor of Urban and Regional Planning at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. She is known for her works on urban planning and development. She is a winner of Davidoff Book Award and American Sociological Association's Global & Transnational Sociology section Book Award and a finalist in C. Wright Mills Book Award for her book Global Heartland: Displaced Labor, Transnational Lives and Local Placemaking.
Costis Hadjimichalis is a Greek radical urban planner, economic geographer, author, and academic. Hadjimichalis is former Professor economic geography and regional planning and Head of the Department at Harokopio University of Athens. He is known for his work from a Marxist perspective on uneven geographical development in economic geography, urban planning, and regional development with a specific focus on Greece, the EU, and Southern Europe. He is editor of the Greek academic journal Geographies and section editor for Regional Development of the International Encyclopaedia of Human Geography, Elsevier. From 1983 to 2013, he was co-organizer of the International Aegean Seminars, a forum for radical ideas on geography and planning. Hadjimichalis graduated with an engineering degree from The Aristotle University of Thessaloniki in 1968, then an M.A. in urban planning (1976) and a Ph.D. in Economic Geography and Urban Planning (1980) from UCLA.