Bill de Blasio's campaign rhetoric centered on a tale of two cities: rich and poor New York. He promised to value the needs of poor and working-class New Yorkers alongside the elite, making government work better for all denizens of New York, not just those-the elite-who thrived during Bloomberg's tenure as mayor. But well into de Blasio's administration, many critics see the city finding myriad new ways to create profit for land owners and developers through a constant process of destruction and rebuilding. Many lauded his goals of creating more affordable housing, but, in 2015, Brooklyn was deemed the most unaffordable housing market in the United States, when viewed as a median income-to-median home cost ratio. Manhattan even with its higher median income, was the third least affordable market. Its notable new buildings include the much-maligned 432 Park Avenue, which is usually uninhabited due to the fact that most of its units are fourth residences. The old adage is becoming truer: New York is a place only for the very rich and the very poor. In The Creative Destruction of New York City, urban scholar Alessandro Busa tells the story of fifteen years of shocking transformations in the city, and an updated tale of two New Yorks, circa 2017. There is a gilded city of sky-high glass towers where Wall Street managers, Hollywood celebrities and Middle-Eastern billionaires live their glamorous lives or stash their offshore cash. And there is another New York, a city where even the professional middle class is one rent hike away from eviction. Despite de Blasio's rhetoric, the trajectory since Bloomberg has been remarkably consistent. A brand new global class of super-wealthy city consumers has been born, and, Busa argues, New York's urban development is changing to suit their ostentatious consumption demands. Meanwhile, the power of city producers, those who hold all the cards in the city building game, has never been greater. Power players in real estate, banking and finance have managed to ensure that, regardless of changes in leadership, their interests are safeguarded at City Hall. By aggressively re-zoning and re-branding neighborhoods across the board, they are producing a brand new city, a repackaged wonderland of lavish real estate targeting the elite market. The Creative Destruction of New York City is an important chronicle of both the success of the city's elite and of efforts to counter the city's march toward a glossy and exclusionary urban landscape. It is essential reading for everyone who cares about affordable housing access and, indeed, the soul of New York City.

About the Author
A critical urban scholar with a cross-disciplinary background and a passion for thought-provoking research, Alessandro Busa seeks to demystify established knowledge around the issues that matter the most to the life of ordinary urban residents. Busa has carried out research in New York City at Columbia University, and has published extensively on the social, cultural and economic impact of urban development in New York's most iconic neighbourhoods. Busa holds a Ph.D. from the Technical University of Berlin.

Reviews
"A searching look at how New York changed from a place of affordable (if tiny) walk-ups to a playground for the ultrawealthy." - KIRKUS "An important contribution to the growing literature on hyper-gentrification and its destructive effect on urban life in the twenty-first century, this detailed and lucid analysis reveals how power players in the Bloomberg administration commodified and corporatized the city, reshaping it into a luxury product for the global elite, and how Mayor de Blasio has followed suit. New York didn't become a city for the 1% by accident, and this book is essential reading for understanding how it all happened." - Jeremiah Moss, author of Vanishing New York "In this lively account of New York City's recent history, Alessandro Busa shows how massive changes in New York's built environment result in the same dismal outcomes for the less advantaged. This is an essential read for anyone concerned with how great cities are becoming increasingly exclusionary even while fostering creativity." - Susan S. Fainstein, Senior Research Fellow, Harvard Graduate School of Design "Alessandro Busa combines his rich personal encounters with daily life in New York City's neighborhoods with meticulous research and deep historical analysis. The chapters on Harlem and Coney Island are deep and insightful, drawing out the ways that race and class intersect with gentrification and displacement. This is an engaging tale of the ways that capital and its growth machine, driven by real estate and finance, have shaped the city, resulting in a continual cycle of creative destruction that has consequences obscured by the city's branded image." - Tom Angotti, Professor Emeritus, Hunter College and the Graduate Center, City University of New York "A superb account of the frenzied state of what can best be described as 'hyper-gentrification' in New York City. A state and elite led process of repackaging, rebranding and re-engineering that the author argues has heralded the most visceral urban development agenda ever adopted in New York City. The book balances academic rigour with storytelling-the result is a rich, readable and energizing book that makes its arguments persuasively." - Loretta Lees, co-author of Gentrification and Planetary Gentrification



Book Information
ISBN 9780190610098
Author Alessandro Busa
Format Hardback
Page Count 360
Imprint Oxford University Press Inc
Publisher Oxford University Press Inc
Weight(grams) 635g
Dimensions(mm) 163mm * 239mm * 25mm