American cities entered a new phase when; beginning in the 1950s; artists and developers looked upon a decaying industrial zone in Lower Manhattan and saw; not blight; but opportunity: cheap rents; lax regulation; and wide open spaces. Thus; SoHo was born. From 1960 to 1980; residents transformed the industrial neighborhood into an artist district; creating the conditions under which it evolved into an upper-income; gentrified area. Introducing the ideamdash;still potent in city planning todaymdash;that art could be harnessed to drive municipal prosperity; SoHo was the forerunner of gentrified districts in cities nationwide; spawning the notion of the creative class.In The Lofts of SoHo; Aaron Shkuda studies the transition of the district from industrial space to artistsrsquo; enclave to affluent residential area; focusing on the legacy of urban renewal in and around SoHo and the growth of artist-led redevelopment. Shkuda explores conflicts between residents and property owners and analyzes the cityrsquo;s embrace of the once-illegal loft conversion as an urban development strategy. As Shkuda explains; artists eventually lost control of SoHorsquo;s development; but over several decades they nonetheless forced scholars; policymakers; and the general public to take them seriously as critical actors in the twentieth-century American city.
#3670323 in eBooks 2016-04-12 2016-04-12File Name: B01E6EV29S
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