Neighborhood Change and Neighborhood Action

R. Allen Hays is emeritus professor of political science and public policy at the University of Northern Iowa.

This book is an examination of neighborhood mobilization and engagement from the perspective of several disciplines: psychology, social work, political science, planning, and education. The essays included in the work examine both internal and external factors related to the ability of neighborhoods to meet the human needs of their residents. They address the constraints put on neighborhood mobilization by the local and international political economy, but they also show how those constraints can, in a number of cases, be overcome by effective action. They treat neighborhood engagement as an educational process through which residents enhance their skills and knowledge as they participate. Taken together, these essays provide a comprehensive and multi-faceted view of the issues facing contemporary urban neighborhoods.

Introduction: Neighborhood Action: Organization, Context, and LearningR. Allen Hays1. Critical Perspectives on Neighborhood Engagement and Participatory DevelopmentSara M. Eccleston, Jyoti Gupta, and Douglas Perkins2. Neighborhood Networks, Collective Action, and Public SafetyR. Allen Hays3. Formations of Participation: The Pathways of Emergent Community Land TrustsJakob Schneider, Claire Cahen, and Susan Saegert4. Studying Learning in Neighborhood Level Democratic Activity: Participatory Budgeting in Chicago's 49th WardJosé Meléndez5. Gentrification, Demobilization, and Participatory PossibilitiesJamila Michener and Diane Wong6. Your Family, Your Neighborhood: An Intervention to Develop Social CohesionDaniel Brisson and Stephanie Lechuga-Peña7. Citizens' Roles in Public Service Delivery: Reconceptualizing CoproductionKelechi Uzochukwu8. Escape from Violence and Changes in Neighborhood Informal Social Control: Understanding Causes and Consequences of Residential MobilityEileen Ahlin and Maria João Lobo Antunes