| Abstract |
"In her critically acclaimed The Battle for Gothan, Roberta Brandes Gratz revistis the New York of the 1960s and 1970s--particullary the titanic clash of wills between Robert Moses and Jane Jacobs--to tell a deeply revisionist history of the city's transformation during that period of stagnation, crime, and near-bankruptcy. And in looking at the evolution of New York, Gratz provides strategies for responding to the modern troubles afflicting American cities. Gratz, a longtime friend and colleague of Jane Jacobs, draws on hours of previously unpublished conversations with her mentor to richly illustrate the hidden sotry behind Jacob's urban vision--a vision that has been affirmed in the years since her death. Indeed, New York's strongest neighborhoods today are those untouched by Moses and his replacement-style stratietis and those most in need of help are the ones he knocked down and rebuilt to fit his 'highway and tower' vision. Gratz, one of Planetzen's top 10urban thinkers, shows that Jacob's organic approahch to urban planning is again vital to the regeneration of metropolitican life. A profoundly personal account of New York through the ages, The Battle for Gotham is an anatomy of urban renewal and community success."--P [4] of cover. |
