The City Creative: The Rise of Urban Placemaking in Contemporary America offers the definitive history of “placemaking,” a concept that has become central to the perceived vitality of the twenty-first century city. From William H. Whyte in the 1950s to Richard Florida in the twenty-first century, The City Creative highlights the roles of such prominent individuals and organizations as Jane Jacobs, Robert Putnam, Project for Public Spaces, and the National Endowment for the Arts in the evolution of urban placemaking. What this history ultimately illustrates is that one cannot understand the evo ... More

The City Creative: The Rise of Urban Placemaking in Contemporary America offers the definitive history of “placemaking,” a concept that has become central to the perceived vitality of the twenty-first century city. From William H. Whyte in the 1950s to Richard Florida in the twenty-first century, The City Creative highlights the roles of such prominent individuals and organizations as Jane Jacobs, Robert Putnam, Project for Public Spaces, and the National Endowment for the Arts in the evolution of urban placemaking. What this history ultimately illustrates is that one cannot understand the evolution of the American city throughout the past 60 years without understanding the concept of placemaking. This historical understanding of placemaking has proven successful in influencing both the language and shape of urban redevelopment policy: city officials in a myriad of urban centers have sought to build a “culture economy” through placemaking, as a means to attract and retain the “Creative Class,” a group of educated workers deemed essential for the growth of any post-industrial urban economy. Yet such an approach to both placemaking and urban redevelopment often overlooks an important demographic: the residents who already call these cities homes. By highlighting the histories of such indigenous populations, The City Creative ultimately calls for a new definition of placemaking, one that sees such sites as spaces of production and redistribution. Aided by the stunning photography of David Schalliol, this book ultimately documents and analyzes how Americans are working through economic hardship to re-imagine and re-order the urban landscape.