SOCIOLOGY
Parks for Profit
Selling Nature in the City KEVIN LOUGHRAN
Political Exercise
Active Living, Public Policy, and the Built Environment LAWRENCE D. BROWN
“Parks for Profit asks how a generation of refurbished parks change the picturesque framing of nature
“In the lively, elegant, and finely crafted Political
by imagining a union of wild nature and the
Exercise, Lawrence D. Brown begins with a simple
postindustrial landscape. Loughran’s insightful
and completely uncontroversial idea: active living is
and thoughtful analysis of the parks is valuable
a key to health and happiness. And yet it’s devilishly
and even lyrical.”
hard to configure cities in a way that promotes this
—Gregory Smithsimon, author of Cause: . . . And How It
idea. In the little steps toward active living taken
Doesn’t Always Equal Effect
in five cities, Brown finds lessons, cautions, and tempered success. An enjoyable and very readable
Kevin Loughran explores the High Line in New York, the Bloomingdale Trail/606 in Chicago, and Buffalo Bayou Park in Houston to offer a critical perspective on the rise of the postindustrial park. He reveals how elites deploy the popularity and seemingly benign nature of parks to achieve their cultural, political, and economic goals. Tracing changing ideas about cities and nature and underscoring the centrality of race and class, Loughran argues that postindustrial parks aestheticize past disinvestment while serving as green engines of gentrification. KEVIN LOUGHRAN
is an assistant professor of sociology at
Temple University.
book with lessons and advice for urbanists, policy analysts, health care specialists, and reformers.” —James A. Morone, author of Republic of Wrath: How American Politics Turned Tribal from George Washington to Donald Trump
Lawrence D. Brown examines five case studies of cities that have promoted active living with varying success through a range of approaches. Political Exercise offers a framework for scholars, policy makers, and reformers to understand both the rationales behind active living and the political strategies that spur change. LAWRENCE D. BROWN
is professor of health policy and
management in the Mailman School of Public Health at Columbia University.
$30.00 / £25.00 paper 978-0-231-19405-1 $120.00 / £100.00 cloth 978-0-231-19404-4 $29.99 / £25.00 e-book 978-0-231-55062-8
$30.00 / £25.00 paper 978-0-231-17351-3 $120.00 / £100.00 cloth 978-0-231-17350-6 $29.99 / £25.00 e-book 978-0-231-55344-5
N O V E M B E R 296 pages / 5.5" x 8.5" / 20 b&w illustrations
J A N U A R Y 256 pages / 5.5" x 8.5"
S O C I O LO G Y
S O C I O LO G Y
All Rights: Columbia University Press
All Rights: Columbia University Press
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