Social Cities

Detroit, St. Louis, Cincinnati, Cleveland, Pittsburgh, Buffalo, and Baltimore - at one time these were among the 20 most populous and important cities in the US. They helped build our national economy through much of the 20th century but have since struggled due to deindustrialization. As a result of their shared past, this group of former industrial powerhouse cities shares unique structural and cultural traits that make them fertile ground upon which to build a startup-driven resurgence; an outcome that would yield nationwide economic, social, and well-being benefits.

Part memoir, part manifesto, Radical is this fearless advocate's incisive, intensely personal call-to-arms. Rhee combines the story of her own extraordinary experience with dozens of compelling examples from schools she's worked in and studied-from students from unspeakable home lives who have thrived in the classroom to teachers whose radical methods have produced unprecedented leaps in achievement. Radical chronicles Rhee's awakening to the potential of every child, her rage at the special interests blocking badly-needed change, and her recognition that it will take a grassroots movement to create outstanding public schools.

After smartphones, smart TVs, smart windows, and other smart products on the horizon, smart cities were the next logical step in trying to create a better, brighter, more sustainable, and economically sound future. A relatively new term, smart cities conjures images of a cooperative, wired, prosperous utopia where citizens of all classes achieve a high quality of life. In this audiobook, we look at the qualities needed for future cities to survive and thrive.

Empire City tells the story of the dreams that inspired the changes in the landscape and the problems that eluded solution. Author David Scobey paints a remarkable panorama of New York's uneven development, a city-building process careening between obsessive calculation and speculative excess. Envisioning a new kind of national civilization, “bourgeois urbanists” attempted to make New York the nation's pre-eminent city.

A young African American millennial filmmaker's funny, sometimes painful, true-life coming-of-age story of trying to make it in New York City - a chronicle of poverty and wealth, creativity and commerce, struggle and insecurity, and the economic and cultural forces intertwined with "the serious, life-threatening process" of gentrification.

Aaron Iturra was just 18 years old when he was found dead in his bedroom in Eugene, Oregon. Soon, the quiet community would be rocked and shocked by who was behind the killing: Mary Louise Thompson, also known as Gang Mom. An anti-gang activist, she was a modern day deadly Fagin, running her own gang of juveniles who preyed on the unsuspecting city.

Cities and the Creative Class gathers in one place for the first time the research leading up to Richard Florida's theory on how the growth of the creative economy shapes the development of cities and regions. In a new introduction, Florida updates this theory and responds to the critics of his 2002 best seller, The Rise of the Creative Class.

J.C. is excited to go to the Spring Flower Festival with Nana and Pop-Pop! But then his best friends, Amir and Vicky, invite J.C. to go to the zoo at the same time. Can J.C. figure out a way to make it to both events?

Baseball is J.C.’s favorite sport, so he’s excited to see it on the activity list at the local community center. He can't wait to show off what a great pitcher he is. But then J.C.'s friend Vicky gets to be the pitcher instead. Can J.C. learn to share the mound?

Our reliance on industrial agriculture has resulted in a food supply riddled with hidden environmental, economic, and health care costs and beset by rising food prices. With only a handful of corporations responsible for the lion’s share of the food on our supermarket shelves, we are incredibly vulnerable to supply chain disruption.

The Agile City engages the fundamental question: what to do about it? Journalist and urban analyst James S. Russell argues that we'll more quickly slow global warming - and blunt its effects - by retrofitting cities, suburbs, and towns. The Agile City shows that change undertaken at the building and community level can reach carbon-reduction goals rapidly. Adapting buildings (39 percent of greenhouse-gas emission) and communities (slashing the 33 percent of transportation related emissions) offers numerous other benefits that tax gimmicks and massive alternative-energy investments can't match.

Welcome to the world of the Manhattan Men. The handsome alpha males that run the family that founded the big city. The family law firm needs a public facelift and I'm the guy for the job. The sexy minx they hire to help me act better is a social media influencer. She's also the one that got away. It's a bit of a Cinderella story, but it isn't her shoe she left for me. She's not getting away this time. I'm claiming her for good. NYC’s most eligible bachelor just turned in his claim to fame. This New Years' kiss is my last.

It’s laundry day, and J.C. is excited to help his mom. But when J.C. adds too much detergent to the machine, suds are everywhere! Laundry day turns into a mess for everyone in the apartment building. Can J.C. fix his mistake and save laundry day?

Based on nearly a decade of reporting, Invisible Child follows eight dramatic years in the life of Dasani Coates, a child with an imagination as soaring as the skyscrapers near her Brooklyn homeless shelter. Born at the turn of a new century, Dasani is named for the bottled water that comes to symbolise Brooklyn's gentrification and the shared aspirations of a divided city. As Dasani moves with her family from shelter to shelter, this story traces the passage of Dasani's ancestors from slavery to the Great Migration north.

In this book, Nom Wah’s owner, Wilson Tang, takes us into the hardworking kitchen of Nom Wah and emerges with 75 easy-to-make recipes: from bao to vegetables, noodles to desserts, cakes, rice rolls, chef’s specials, dumplings, and more.

In the lively town of Spin City, John has everything—except the ability to be on time! When his best friend, Ben, starts feeling hurt by John's lateness, an important lesson unfolds.

Embark on a transformative journey through the poetic heart of New Orleans with "67 Days of NOLA Poetic Exploration Between Here And There." This captivating collection, featuring poetry, short stories, and journal prompts, delves deep into the essence of one of America's most enchanting cities. It offers a unique blend of poetic inquiry and introspective exploration, inviting readers to traverse both the physical and metaphysical realms of experience. In the concluding volume, "Week 10 - The Experimental Certainty of Exploration Through Social Distance," readers are encouraged to reflect ...

In The Diaspora of Belonging, author Jay Sharma explores the history of systemic racism, structural oppression, and state-sanctioned discrimination and injustice as it relates to urban settings. Drawing on 12 unique cities across the country, Sharma demonstrates how calculated decisions regarding our cities are, and how those in power have weaponized the built environment for decades. Explore the connections between justice and design, economics and identity, and segregation and community. Let it challenge and inspire you to make our cities better places for us all.

Never Ran, Never Will tells the story of the working-class, mostly black neighborhood of Brownsville, Brooklyn; its proud youth football team, the Mo Better Jaguars; and the young boys who are often at the center of both. Oomz, Gio, Hart, and their charismatic, vulnerable friends come together on a dusty football field. All around them, their community is threatened by violence, poverty, and the specter of losing their homes to gentrification. Their passionate, unpaid coaches teach hard lessons about surviving American life with little help from the outside world.

Told with equal parts raw honesty and unbridled compassion, All Day recounts a year in Liza Jessie Peterson's classroom at Island Academy, the high school for inmates detained at New York City's Rikers Island. A poet and an actress who had done occasional workshops at the correctional facility, Peterson was ill prepared for a full-time stint teaching in the GED program for the incarcerated youths.