As cities have gentrified, educated urbanites have come to prize what they regard as "authentic" urban life: aging buildings, art galleries, and funky ethnic restaurants. But as Sharon Zukin shows in Naked City, the pervasive demand for authenticity has helped drive out the very people who first lent a neighborhood its authentic aura: immigrants, the working class, and artists. Through a guided tour of six archetypal New York City neighborhoods, Zukin
shows how the emphasis on distinctiveness has become a tool of economic elites to drive up real estate values and force out the neighborhood "characters" that people often idealize. With a journalist's eye and the understanding of a longtime observer, Zukin's panoramic survey of the city explains how our desire
to consume authentic experience has become a central force in making cities more exclusive.
- ISBN10 0199794464
- ISBN13 9780199794461
- Publish Date 30 June 2011 (first published 7 January 2010)
- Publish Status Active
- Publish Country US
- Imprint Oxford University Press Inc
- Format Paperback
- Pages 312
- Language English