Summary

The city that never sleeps also never stops changing. And while New Yorkers are renowned for theirtrendsetting, this thought-provoking book argues that New York City itself has become a follower rather than a leader. Once-distinctive streets and neighborhoods have become awash in generic stores, apartment boxes, and garish signs and billboards. Legendary neighborhoods (Little Italy, Hell's Kitchen, Harlem, the Lower East Side) have been smoothed over with cute monikers, remade for real-estate investment and for sale to the highest bidder.

What does the future hold for the legendary metropolis, gateway to immigrants and strivers, magnet for builders and dealers, muse for artists and dreamers? Will the current political, economic, and social influences dull its once-famous creative edge and culture of opposition? What will become of the special allure of New York? The Suburbanization of New York presents fourteen timely, provocative articles that explore the radical transformation unfolding in New York City and raise serious questions about the future of any metropolis struggling to maintain its unique identity. It is essential reading for anyone interested in the field of urban studies or the forces shaping our cities today.

Publisher's Weekly Review

In a series of essays, each by a New Yorker taking on a specific locale or topic (Harlem, Orchard Street, "the City of Perpetual Arrival"), this book wrestles with the question posed in the subtitle, and what it means if the answer is yes. Unfortunately, the writing here is markedly uneven, plagued by an arch tone and too much generalization. Eric Darton's "News from Nowheresville," in which he discusses Robert Moses's Coliseum and the "vertical mall" that replaced it--the Time Warner Center--makes a telling example, rendered ineffective by glib overstatement ("Here real estate pornography has [reached] ... a kind of ultimate pitch"), charged language ("The evil of banality") and jokey speculation ("imagine what sort of havoc the pounding did to the kidneys of the machine operators"). Bright spots do shine through, including Suzanne Wasserman's quick-and-dirty history of the disappearing neighborhood fair and the rise of street fair corporations like Mardi Gras Productions. Marshall Berman's essay sketches an evocative portrait of Times Square over the past hundred-plus years, expertly combining personal experience, colorful detail and urban theory. More pieces as well-crafted as Berman's would have made this collection a worthy read; as is, readers curious about social changes in the city should look elsewhere (such as Berman's 2006 On the Town). b/w photos throughout. (Mar.) Copyright 2007 Reed Business Information.