Building Equitable Cities: How to Drive Economic Mobility and Regional Growth

by Henry Cisneros, Henry Cisneros, Jeffrey Lubell

Discover how local government and business leaders are working together to improve services in underserved neighborhoods, to add affordable housing, and to strengthen education, workforce, and financial outcomes for all – and how these efforts are paying off in terms of economic growth for the region. This book covers best practices and proven policies, providing readers with replicable tools, techniques, and processes

Genres: Urban Planning

176 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2018

Reviews

[Matt · Rating 2 out of 5]

At the ULI 2017 Fall Meeting in Los Angeles, I sat in on a panel discussion with Henry Cisneros, Janis Bowdler, and Jeffrey Lubell as they introduced this book to the world. At the time, I was intrigued by their thesis statement that economic mobility is the key to building equitable cities. The idea is that the more opportunities individuals have to move up the economic ladder, the less cities will experience inequality and extreme poverty.

After the discussion, I was excited to get their book and read it for myself. I was on a student budget, so I skipped lunch in order to pay for it. Now, months later, I finally forced my way through to the end of the book, and I’m thinking I would have been better off getting that burrito instead.

I don’t know why, but everything ULI puts out reads like a text book. It doesn’t make sense to me. Most commercial real estate professionals I know are charismatic and easy to talk to. Why is it then that all their writing is so dry and boring?! Come on guys, I know we can do better than this!

The book was essentially split into two parts, each addressing ways that cities can improve economic mobility. The first section focused on place-based strategies (i.e. real estate) and was the longer of the two sections. Unfortunately, there was nothing in this section that I had not already heard. No new ideas, nothing that hasn’t been tried before. The second section focused on people-based strategies (i.e. public services) and had a few good ideas, like the case study on New York City’s Office of Financial Empowerment. Outside of that example, it was more of the same.

Overall, I think this book was a noble effort, but failed to deliver. I agree with the premise that income equality can best be addressed at the city level (with Federal and State assistance, of course) but I don’t believe the solution lies in just doing more of what has already been done. I found this quote on page 126 to be incredibly ironic. “Rather than simply summarize a city’s existing programs in a new format, an economic mobility plan or equity plan should challenge the status quo.” It’s ironic, because all this book does is summarize programs in a new format, and nothing it suggests challenges the status quo.

[Rich · Rating 4 out of 5]

A good description of best practices being used by a variety of cities to create more equitable lives, economic mobility for their populations.

I am interested in understanding what we are doing as a country to combat the growing gap in incomes between the top x% and the lower 50%. The gap has been widening for decades and is one of the major contributing factors to our social unrest. (MY OPINION OF COURSE)

Fairly easy book to read, short and to the point. Provides good examples of the kinds of policies, organizations and measures that are needed to make progress. Also provides the perspective of thinking in terms of a decade to make measurable progress.

[matt · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is a four star brief introduction to the topic of equity in cities with an excellent bibliography. I would have liked a bit more meat, but it’s pretty decent for 140 pages.