{"product_id":"a-good-place-to-do-business-the-politics-of-downtown-renewal-since-1945-9781439920824","title":"A Good Place to Do Business: The Politics of Downtown Renewal Since 1945","description":"\u003cp\u003eThe \"Pittsburgh Renaissance,\" an urban renewal effort launched in the late 1940s, transformed the smoky rust belt city's downtown. Working-class residents and people of color saw their neighborhoods cleared and replaced with upscale, white residents and with large corporations housed in massive skyscrapers. Pittsburgh's Renaissance's apparent success quickly became a model for several struggling industrial cities, including St. Louis, Cleveland, Detroit, Chicago, and Philadelphia. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eIn \u003ci\u003eA Good Place to Do Business, \u003c\/i\u003eRoger Biles and Mark Rose\u003ci\u003e \u003c\/i\u003echronicle these urban \"makeovers\" which promised increased tourism and fashionable shopping as well as the development of sports stadiums, convention centers, downtown parks, and more. They examine the politics of these government-funded redevelopment programs and show how city politics (and policymakers) often dictated the level of success. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eAs city officials and business elites determined to reorganize their downtowns, a deeply racialized politics sacrificed neighborhoods and the livelihoods of those pushed out. Yet, as \u003ci\u003eA Good Place to Do Business \u003c\/i\u003edemonstrates\u003ci\u003e, \u003c\/i\u003emore often than not, costly efforts to bring about the hoped-for improvements failed to revitalize those cities, or even their downtowns.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAbout the Author\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eRoger Biles\u003c\/b\u003e is Professor Emeritus of History at Illinois State University and the author, coauthor or editor of several books, most recently \u003ci\u003eMayor Harold Washington: Champion of Race and Reform in Chicago\u003c\/i\u003e. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eMark H. Rose\u003c\/b\u003e is Professor of History at Florida Atlantic University, and the author, coauthor, or coeditor of seven books including \u003ci\u003eInterstate: Highway Politics and Policy since 1939\u003c\/i\u003e; and \u003ci\u003eMarket Rules: Bankers, Presidents, and the Origins of the Great Recession\u003c\/i\u003e.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003e","brand":"Temple University Press","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":50486345466130,"sku":"9781439920824","price":36.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0831\/4771\/8930\/files\/img_16ee9536-6092-4fcf-8193-715ad28b7b92.jpg?v=1730426027","url":"https:\/\/surprise-castle.myshopify.com\/products\/a-good-place-to-do-business-the-politics-of-downtown-renewal-since-1945-9781439920824","provider":"Surprise Castle","version":"1.0","type":"link"}