{"product_id":"9780199845460","title":"Naked City: The Death and Life of Authentic Urban Places","description":"As cities have gentrified, educated urbanites have come to prize what they regard as \"authentic\" urban life: aging buildings, art galleries, small boutiques, upscale food markets, neighborhood old-timers, funky ethnic restaurants, and old, family-owned shops. These signify a place's authenticity, in contrast to the bland standardization of the suburbs and exurbs.  But as Sharon Zukin shows in \u003cem\u003eNaked City\u003c\/em\u003e, the rapid and pervasive demand for authenticity--evident in escalating real estate prices, expensive stores, and closely monitored urban streetscapes--has helped drive out the very people who first lent a neighborhood its authentic aura: immigrants, the working class, and artists. Zukin traces this economic and social evolution in six archetypal New York areas--Williamsburg, Harlem, the East Village, Union Square, Red Hook, and the city's community gardens--and travels to both the city's first IKEA store and the World Trade Center site. She shows that for followers of Jane Jacobs, this transformation is a perversion of what was supposed to happen. Indeed, \u003cem\u003eNaked City\u003c\/em\u003e is a sobering update of Jacobs' legendary 1961 book, \u003cem\u003eThe Death and Life of Great American Cities\u003c\/em\u003e. Like Jacobs, Zukin looks at what gives neighborhoods a sense of place, but argues that over time, the emphasis on neighborhood distinctiveness has become a tool of economic elites to drive up real estate values and effectively force out the neighborhood \"characters\" that Jacobs so evocatively idealized.","brand":"Oxford University Press","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47106865955056,"sku":"9780199845460","price":17.49,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0737\/7593\/9824\/files\/9780199845460_p0.jpg?v=1763672877","url":"https:\/\/shop-qa.barnesandnoble.com\/products\/9780199845460","provider":"Barnes \u0026 Noble (DEV)","version":"1.0","type":"link"}