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2 books match the query 'Nickels, Ashley E.'
Developing the City
Community Development, Power, and Urban Democracy in U.S. CitiesEdited by Ashley E. Nickels and Zachary D. Wood
Temple University Press, 2027
Developing the City investigates the forms, levels, and spaces of power (visible, hidden, and invisible) involved in community development ecosystems. The editors and contributors, a mix of embedded activists, academics, and community leaders, provide a series of diverse case studies that evaluate the local dynamics that shape urban policy.
Chapters address racialized power dynamics in Cleveland, OH, community development funding in Memphis, TN, economic growth and inclusion in Newark, NJ, housing policies in Denver and Colorado Springs, CO, and participatory governance in Reno, NV among other topics. They reflect the unique manifestations of power within each local context, shaped by distinctive histories and sociopolitical dynamics.
In addition to exploring how various dimensions of power influence decision-making, resource allocation, democratic engagement, and civic participation, Developing the City provides a systematic framework for understanding and questioning these power dynamics, and advocates for a power-conscious approach to foster more equitable and democratic urban futures with respect to economic, racial, social, and environmental justice.
Contributors: Nakeefa Cilicia Bernard, Prentiss A. Dantzler, Caraline Feairheller, Austin Harrison, Brad A. M. Johnson, Katherine Lambert-Pennington, Eric Stokan, Robert Stoker, Jill Yordy, and the editors
Power, Participation, and Protest in Flint, Michigan
Unpacking the Policy Paradox of Municipal TakeoversAshley E. Nickels
Temple University Press, 2019
When the 2011 municipal takeover in Flint, Michigan placed the city under state control, some supported the intervention while others saw it as an affront to democracy. Still others were ambivalent about what was supposed to be a temporary disruption. However, the city’s fiscal emergency soon became a public health emergency—the Flint Water Crisis—that captured international attention.
But how did Flint’s municipal takeovers, which suspended local representational government, alter the local political system? In Power, Participation, and Protest in Flint, Michigan, Ashley Nickels addresses the ways residents, groups, and organizations were able to participate politically—or not—during the city’s municipal takeovers in 2002 and 2011. She explains how new politics were created as organizations developed, new coalitions emerged and evolved, and people’s understanding of municipal takeovers changed.
Inwalking readers through the policy history of, implementation of, and reaction to Flint’s two municipal takeovers, Nickels highlights how the ostensibly apolitical policy is, in fact, highly political.