The Help-Yourself City: Legitimacy and Inequality in DIY Urbanism

by Gordon C.C. Douglas

When local governments neglect public services or community priorities, how do concerned citizens respond? In The Help-Yourself City, Gordon Douglas looks closely at people who take urban planning into their own hands with homemade signs and benches, guerrilla bike lanes and more. Douglas explores the frustration, creativity, and technical expertise behind these interventions, but also the position of privilege from which they often come. Presenting a needed analysis of this growing trend from vacant lots to city planning offices, The Help-Yourself City tells a street-level story of people's relationships to their urban surroundings and the individualization of democratic responsibility.

Genres: Nonfiction, Urbanism, Sociology, Urban Planning, Architecture, Cities, Activism

264 pages, Kindle Edition

Published January 2, 2018

About the author

Gordon Douglas is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Urban and Regional Planning and Director of the Institute for Metropolitan Studies at San José State University. He is a multidisciplinary urbanist whose research sits at the intersection of sociology, critical studies, and urban planning and design. In addition to his work on DIY urbanism and creative placemaking, other recent publications have examined the cultural geography of gentrification and the impacts of community identity on development projects.

Gordon received his doctorate in sociology from the University of Chicago and also holds degrees from the University of Southern California and the London School of Economics. Before coming to San Jose State, he also held positions at New York University's Institute for Public Knowledge. He lives in Oakland with his family.

Reviews

[Ricardo Magalhães · Rating 4 out of 5]

Absolutely loved the content of this book; a well-researched and very wide gamut of urbanism practices around the world and its social impact. However, it reads almost like a dissertation/thesis, which makes all of it a bit rough to digest. While I do love the subject, I wouldn't necessarily want to re-read this and would much rather have it separated in easier to digest topics. Definitely not recommending this to friends; 5 star content in a 3 star presentation.

[Michael · Rating 5 out of 5]

Instead of complaining about local government inaction, this DIY Urbanism book showcases example after example of regular citizens making their local neighborhoods better. Residents take it into their own hands to improve life around them.

As the author states, "the real ideal behind DIY urbanism is people improving their own communities" and not relying upon big government to do it.

"Urban places and public spaces are closely tied to identity, and it is no wonder that people are possessive and defensive of them. This is, at the root, exactly what motivates many do-it-yourselfers to try to improve their surroundings on their own!"

You don't need to have urban planning degrees to make change for yourself and others. Most tend to be:
- In the "creative class". Have stable day jobs of a wider variety, from things like professional art practice, writing and small business ownership to careers in formal design and urban planning.
- In their late 20s through late 50s
- primarily white (though Asians make up a sizable minority, followed by a smaller number of black and Latinos)
- Twice as many men as women

This book inspired me to make change within my neighborhood through action in talking to local government and also taking things also into my own hands when they did not manifest improvements needed for my street.

Bravo to the author Gordon C.C. Douglas for bringing to light the incredible work by thousands around the country contributing to their communities.

[David Moss · Rating 4 out of 5]

A solid look behind the what and how of informal urban interventions to the who and in what context are they judged. Beyond just the ethnographic investigation into legitimacy and community embeddedness, Douglas asks what promise lies in the often unknown or misunderstood direct actions taken out of a feeling of necessity that ultimately lie mostly barren in front of an apathetic populace going about their lives.

[Jessica DeWitt · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was originally drawn to this book after hearing Douglas on a podcast discuss the rise of DIY urbanism in relation to neoliberalism (individuals taking more and more responsibility over from governments). As it turns out, this topic only took up a small section of the book, but I still gained a lot from it. I especially appreciated Douglas’ exploration of legitimacy in relation to successful DIY urbanism projects, which has less to do with legality and more to do with race and class. I also appreciated how the examples prompted me to think differently about actions around my own neighbourhood, things we’ve done in the past, and possibilities for the future.

[Erik Tanouye · Rating 4 out of 5]

Christmas present from Diana.

[Alex Gibson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really interesting book, not at all what I was expecting. I had never considered the impacts and attitudes to diy interventions in different communities