In this new volume, Michael A. Pagano curates essays focusing on the neighborhood's role in urban policy solutions. The papers emerged from dynamic discussions among policy makers, researchers, public intellectuals, and citizens at the 2014 UIC Urban Forum. As the writers show, the greater the city, the more important its neighborhoods and their distinctions.

The topics focus on sustainable capital and societal investments in people and firms at the neighborhood level. Proposed solutions cover a range of possibilities for enhancing the quality of life for individuals, households, and neighborhoods. These include everything from microenterprises to factories; from social spaces for collective and social action to private facilities; from affordable housing and safety to gated communities; and from neighborhood public education to cooperative, charter, and private schools.

Contributors: Andy Clarno, Teresa Córdova, Nilda Flores-González, Pedro A. Noguera, Alice O'Connor, Mary Pattillo, Janet Smith, Nik Theodore, Elizabeth S. Todd-Breland, Stephanie Truchan, and Rachel Weber.

| Cover Title Page Contents Preface and Acknowledgments Part One: Overview "Neighborhoods Matter . . . Neighborhood Matters" Janet L. Smith Part Two: White Papers "Opportunity without Moving: Building Strong Neighborhoods Where People Can Stay If They Want To" Mary Pattillo Discussant: "Restoring Neighborhoods to the Center: Alternative Mechanisms and Institutions" Teresa L. Córdova "People and Places: Neighborhood as a Strategy of Urban Development from the Progressive Era to Today" Alice O'Connor Discussant: "Varieties of Neighborhood Capitalism: Control, Risk, and Reward" Rachel Weber "Cities, Schools, and Social Progress: The Impact of School Reform Policies on Low-Income Communities of Color" Pedro A. Noguera Discussant: "The Janus-Faced Neighborhood School" Elizabeth S. Todd-Breland "Migrant Civil Society and the Metropolitics of Belonging" Nik Theodore Discussants: "Immigrant Civil Society and Incorporation in the Chicago Suburbs" Nilda Flores-González, Andy Clarno, and Vanessa Guridy-Cerritos Part Three: Synthesis and Recommendations "Not Your Parents' Neighborhood: Tradition, Innovation, and the Changing Face of Community Development" Stephanie Truchan "What's Next?" List of Contributors | "Connecting the history of urban renewal policy to the the present debates on immigration, school closings and economic mobility, The Return of the Neighborhood as an Urban Strategy>/i> provides compelling evidence on why neighborhoods are at the center of urban policy solutions."—Susana L. Vasquez, Executive Director, Local Initiatives Support Corporation Chicago
"Our neighborhoods are where the rubber meets the road in urban planning and economic growth. At a time when the federal government has never been more hyperpartisan and dysfunctional, our regions, cities, and neighborhoods have become the most critical engines of economic growth. More importantly, our neighborhoods have become the centers of hope for our future. The contributors to this book capture this new reality exceedingly well. It is a must read for those of us working daily to revitalize our cities and neighborhoods and to realize their full potential and promise."—Lee Fisher, President and CEO, CEOs for Cities
"Anyone involved in community and regional planning will treasure this collective exploration of neighborhoods and what makes them successful and vibrant. Mike Pagano offers out-of-the-box thinking to planners, decision makers and community and civic leaders who navigate a complex web of systems that converge at the neighborhood level."
—MarySue Barrett, President, Metropolitan Planning...