ook Review: The Great Inversion and the Future of the American City

Book Review: The Great Inversion and the Future of the American City
In the book The Great Inversion, author Alan Ehrenhalt reveals the changes that are happing in urban and suburban areas. Alan Ehrenhalt the former editor of Governing Magazine leads us to acknowledge that there is a shift in urban and suburban areas. This revelation comes as the poorer, diverse, city dwellers opt for the cookie cutter, shanty towns at the periphery of American cities known as the suburbs. In similar fashion the suburbanites, whom are socioeconomic advantaged, are looking to migrate into the concrete jungles, of America, to live an urban lifestyle. Also, there is a comparison drawn that recognizes the similarities of cities and their newer, more affluent, residents, and those cities of Europe a century ago and their residents. In essence this book is about the demographic shifts in Urban and Suburban areas and how these changes are occurring. Something that sticks with the reader is found in the prologue of The Great Inversion. That something is Ehrenhalt’s writing about Chicago and the events of the winter of 1979. What is written is the account of a 22inch snow fall that hit Chicago in 1979 that has a profound effect on government. The snow fall of that was of disastrous quantity and in turn the city’s transportation system failed many of the residents of Chicago’s urban area, and succeeded the rich suburban population. The urban population of mostly black and Hispanics placed blame on the mayor and he lost the democratic primary. Today Chicago is different; the rich majority is living in the city while the poor minority is living outside of the city limits. We are given the 1979 picture of Chicago and its inhabitants and the stark con...

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...or present day cities Canada. Repeatedly there have been works of research that supports the idea that people are beginning to have the want and the need to live an area where there is walkability and convenience. From the perspective of a Millennial as society likes to call my generation, having the option to walk instead of drive is something to heavily consider when choosing a place to call home. The evidence as why people are moving is in a way demographically self-explanatory, a poor person would want to move from a city where crime is high, there is little to no property to invest in, and the schools seems are bad , to a place that boasts the opposite attributes. However, H

Works Cited

Ehrenhalt, Alan (2012-04-24). The Great Inversion and the Future of the American City (Kindle Location 283). Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group. Kindle Edition.