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April 19, 2007
An interesting review at American Prospect online of a book on neo-liberalism and urban renewal: Jason Hackworth's The Neo-Liberal City. Some theoretical debates about urbanization and neo-liberalism can be found here.
Hackworth has found a common theme among those trends -- gentrification, privatization, corporate invasion, and public-private revitalization projects -- that have come to symbolize renewal in the urban core in recent years.The common theme is neo-liberalism, which he defines as "an ideological rejection of egalitarian liberalism in general and the Keynesian welfare state in particular, combined with a selective return to classical liberalism.
Adelaide appears to have adopted Richard Florida's "creative class" theory of urban revitalization, in which hope for the city to rescue itself from post-industrial depression comes from an invigorating influx of young creative professionals. In Adelaide the ideas about urban renewal, creativity and innovation come from Florida and more from Charles Landry.
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