The Road to Resegregation - by Alex Schafran (Paperback)

About the Book

"How could Northern California, the wealthiest and most politically progressive region in the United States, become one of the earliest epicenters of the foreclosure crisis? How could this region continuously reproduce racial poverty and reinvent segregation in old farm towns one hundred miles from the urban core? This is the story of the suburbanization of poverty, the failures of regional planning, urban sprawl, NIMBYism, and political fragmentation between middle class white environmentalists and communities of color. As Alex Schafran shows, the responsibility for this newly segregated geography lies in institutions from across the region, state, and political spectrum, even as the Bay Area has never managed to build common purpose around the making and remaking of its communities, cities, and towns. Schafran closes the book by presenting paths toward a new politics of planning and development that weave scattered fragments into a more equitable and functional whole"--Provided by publisher.

Book Synopsis

How could Northern California, the wealthiest and most politically progressive region in the United States, become one of the earliest epicenters of the foreclosure crisis? How could this region continuously reproduce racial poverty and reinvent segregation in old farm towns one hundred miles from the urban core? This is the story of the suburbanization of poverty, the failures of regional planning, urban sprawl, NIMBYism, and political fragmentation between middle class white environmentalists and communities of color. As Alex Schafran shows, the responsibility for this newly segregated geography lies in institutions from across the region, state, and political spectrum, even as the Bay Area has never managed to build common purpose around the making and remaking of its communities, cities, and towns. Schafran closes the book by presenting paths toward a new politics of planning and development that weave scattered fragments into a more equitable and functional whole.

From the Back Cover

"The Road to Resegregation offers a vivid and compelling analysis of segregation, twenty-first century style. Spanning historical eras and local geographies, Schafran shows how communities of color became ground zero for the San Francisco Bay Area's foreclosure crisis. A fascinating account of the choices that produced spatial inequalities at the regional scale."--Margaret Weir, Wilson Professor of Political Science and Public and International Affairs, Brown University

"This is a model of interdisciplinary investigation that exposes processes of resegregation that are happening across the US today."--Richard Florida, author of The Rise of the Creative Class

"Alex Schafran's The Road to Resegregation clearly highlights what so many who work in housing, development, and planning have failed to grapple with: that without a cohesive vision of urban politics, our cities will become increasingly unequal, and all but walled off to everyone but the wealthiest. Schafran focuses on the San Francisco Bay Area but the book's lessons are applicable to essentially every American city going through gentrification and redevelopment. His deep dives into data help prove his points, and Schafran is able to translate that data into writing that is accessible to a general audience." Peter Moskowitz, author of How to Kill a City: Gentrification, Inequality, and the Fight for the Neighborhood

Review Quotes

"[A] deep and complex analysis of why the Bay Area of Northern California . . . remains deeply racially and class segregated and facing an affordable housing crisis."-- "Journal of Urban Affairs"

About the Author

Alex Schafran writes about urban and regional change. Born and raised in the Bay Area, he is currently Lecturer in Urban Geography at the University of Leeds.

Visit alexschafran.com for tour dates and speaking engagements.