The Road to Resegregation : Northern California and the Failure of Politics

"How could Northern California, the wealthiest and most politically progressive region in the United States, become one of the earliest epicenters of the foreclosure crisis? How could this region continuously reproduce racial poverty and reinvent segregation in old farm towns one hundred miles from the urban core? This is the story of the suburbanization of poverty, the failures of regional planning, urban sprawl, NIMBYism, and political fragmentation between middle class white environmentalists and communities of color. As Alex Schafran shows, the responsibility for this newly segregated geography lies in institutions from across the region, state, and political spectrum, even as the Bay Area has never managed to build common purpose around the making and remaking of its communities, cities, and towns. Schafran closes the book by presenting paths toward a new politics of planning and development that weave scattered fragments into a more equitable and functional whole"--Provided by publisher How could Northern California, the wealthiest and most politically progressive region in the United States, become one of the earliest epicenters of the foreclosure crisis? How could this region continuously reproduce racial poverty and reinvent segregation in old farm towns one hundred miles from the urban core?
 
This is the story of the suburbanization of poverty, the failures of regional planning, urban sprawl, NIMBYism, and political fragmentation between middle class white environmentalists and communities of color. As Alex Schafran shows, the responsibility for this newly segregated geography lies in institutions from across the region, state, and political spectrum, even as the Bay Area has never managed to build common purpose around the making and remaking of its communities, cities, and towns. Schafran closes the book by presenting paths toward a new politics of planning and development that weave scattered fragments into a more equitable and functional whole.
How could Northern California, the wealthiest and most politically progressive region in the United States, become one of the earliest epicenters of the foreclosure crisis? How could this region continuously reproduce racial poverty and reinvent segregation in old farm towns one hundred miles from the urban core? This is the story of the suburbanization of poverty, the failures of regional planning, urban sprawl, NIMBYism, and political fragmentation between middle-class white environmentalists and communities of color. As this book shows, the responsibility for this newly segregated geography lies in institutions from across the region, state, and political spectrum, even as the Bay Area has never managed to build common purpose around the making and remaking of its communities, cities, and towns. The book closes by presenting paths toward a new politics of planning and development that weave scattered fragments into a more equitable and functional whole. Cover......Page 1 The Road to Resegregation......Page 4 Title......Page 6 Copyright......Page 7 Dedication......Page 8 CONTENTS......Page 10 List of Illustrations......Page 12 Acknowledgments......Page 14 Preface: The Personal and the Political......Page 18 Introduction: Ghosts in the Machine......Page 26 1 • The Suburbanization of Segregation......Page 47 2 • The Postindustrial Garden......Page 79 3 • The Dougherty Valley Dilemma......Page 110 4 • The Reproduction of Babylon and the Gentrification Dilemma......Page 142 5 • Silicon San Francisco and the West Bay Wall......Page 175 6 • The Altamont Line and the Planning Dilemma......Page 211 7 • The Regionalist Dream......Page 235 8 • The Unrealized Coalition......Page 259 Conclusion: Resegregation and the Pursuit of Common Purpose......Page 279 Notes......Page 306 References......Page 330 Index......Page 364