Abstract

Renewing Urban Renewal

This article critically appraises the book "Between Eminence & Notoriety: Four Decades of Radical Urban Planning," by Chester Hartman. A rare critical voice within the urban planning profession, Hartman graduated from and then taught urban planning at Harvard and other universities; served as consultant to many public and private agencies, such as the Department of Housing and Urban Development and the Civil Rights Commission; has written or edited more than a dozen books; and currently is president and executive director of the Poverty and Race Research Action Council in Washington. This book is a compendium of articles penned by him over four decades, covering displacement, affordable housing, poverty, race, social activism, transportation, the failings of planning schools and other pertinent issues.