Quick references

Before I forget, here's a few references I stumbled upon which might be interesting to some QSG students:

M. Purcell, “Neighborhood Activism among Homeowners as a Politics of Space,” The Professional Geographer 53:2 (2001), 178-194 (17 pages).

Abstract: “Most approaches to neighborhood activism among homeowners explain it in terms of a single social variable, such as class or race or gender. This article argues that, by focusing on one social category, these approaches fail to examine the range of variables that influence homeowner activism. The paper argues that, instead of understanding homeowner activism as a politics of class or race or gender, it should be understood as a politics of space. Such an approach allows us to understand how social variables interrelate in homeowners’ political project and provides a more effective explanation for why this agenda is translated into action.”

David Wilson and Thomas Mueller, “Representing ‘Neighborhood’: Growth Coalitions, Newspaper Reporting, and Gentrification in St. Louis,” Professional Geographer (2004), 282-294 (13 pages).

Abstract: “Newspaper reporters are important actors in promoting gentrification. This study of St. Louis examines their use of a prominent representation of neighborhood in this process: dying neighborhoods in need of middle-class technical salvationists. We examine its use to help drive two processes to promoting gentrification: legitimating restructuring at actual or anticipated sites and isolating “revitalization-contaminating” communities. We discover this neighborhood representation is applied primarily to legitimate restructuring at specific sites. Revitalization-threatening neighborhoods, represented differently, indicates this representation is task specific in this city's “gentrification project.””