The Informal American city : beyond taco trucks and day labor. / txt
edited by Vinit Mutkhija and Anastasia Loukaitou-Sideris.
- 325 p. ill. 23 cm. book
Includes bibliographical references and index.
Acknowledgments ix -- Introduction 1 Vinit Mukhija and Anastasia Loukaitou Sideris -- Part I Settings : 1 The Garage Sale as Informal Economy and Transformative Urbanism Margaret Crawford 21 -- 2 Outlaw In-Laws: Informal Second Units and the Stealth Reinvention of Single-Family Housing Vinit Mukhija 39 -- 3 The Reproduction of Informality in Low-Income Self-Help Housing Communities Peter M. Ward 59 -- 4 Making and Supporting Community Gardens as Informal Urban Landscapes Jeffrey Hou 79 -- 5 "This Is My Front Yard!" Claims and Informal Property Rights on Sidewalks Anastasia Loukaitou-Sideris and Renia Ehrenfeucht 97 -- 6 Learning from the Margin: Placemaking Tactics Nabil Kamel 119 -- 7 Surviving in America's Playground: Informal Sustenance Strategies among the Chronically Unhoused Jacob Avery 137 -- Part II Responses : 8 The Irreconcilable Tension between Dwelling in Public and the Regulatory State Renia Ehrenfeucht and Anastasia Loukaitou Sideris 155 -- 9 Learning from Informal Practices : Implications for Urban Design Michael Rios 173 -- 10 Formalizing City Farms : Conflict and Conciliation Matt Covert and Alfonso Morales 193 -- 11 A More Delicious City : How to Legalize Street Food 209 Mark Vallianatos 209 -- 12 Crystals, Mud, and Space : Street Vemding Informality Gregg Kettles 227 -- 13 ''Keep Your Wheels On'' : Mediating Informality in the Food Cart Industry Ginny Browne, Will Dominie, and Kate Mayerson 243 -- 14 Regulating Day Labor : Worker Centers and Organizing in the Informal Economy Abel Valenzuela Jr. 261 -- 15 Informal Parking Markets : Turning Problems into Solutions Donald Shoup 277 -- Conclusion : Deepening the Understanding of Informal Urbanism Anastasia Loukaitou Sideris and Vinit Mukhija 295 -- Contributors 305 -- Index 311 -- Series List --
Every day in American cities street vendors spread out their wares on sidewalks, food trucks serve lunch from the curb, and homeowners hold sales in their front yards -- examples of the wide range of informal activities that take place largely beyond the reach of government regulation. This book examines the "informal revolution" in American urban life, exploring a proliferating phenomenon often associated with developing countries rather than industrialized ones and often dismissed by planners and policy makers as marginal or even criminal. The case studies and analysis in The Informal City challenge this narrow conception of informal urbanism. The chapters look at informal urbanism across the country, empirically and theoretically, in cities that include Los Angeles, Sacramento, Seattle, Portland, Phoenix, Kansas City, Atlantic City, and New York City. They cover activities that range from unpermitted in-law apartments and ad hoc support for homeless citizens to urban agriculture, street vending and day labor. The contributors consider the nature and underlying logic of these activities, argue for a spatial understanding of informality and its varied settings, and discuss regulatory, planning, and community responses --
9780262525787 9780262027076
Informal sector Economics--United States. Cities and towns--Social conditions Cities and towns--Social conditions--United States Social interaction United States.