The Paradox of Urban Space Inequality and Transformation in Marginalized Communities

Sutton, Kemp, and their contributors demonstrate the importance of place as both a site of oppression and transformation, offering theoretically-grounded placemaking strategies that agents of change in a variety of disciplines can use in working with both youth and adults. Their essays lay out a theoretical terrain and case studies put theory into practice. This exciting new work documents the persistent intersection of race, place, and power; illustrates the placemaking strategies that enable grassroots resistance; and explores the novel professional roles that new technologies make possible. It concludes with a placemaking model for resisting and transforming the relentless march of global capitalism.

Sharon E. Sutton is a Professor of Architecture and Urban Design at the University of Washington with degrees in music, architecture, psychology, and philosophy. Author of Weaving a Tapestry of Resistance: The Places, Power, and Poetry of a Sustainable Society, she is a fellow in the American Institute of Architects, a distinguished professor of the Association of Collegiate Schools of Architecture, and an inductee in the Michigan Women's Hall of Fame. She previously practiced architecture in New York City and, as a musician, performed for the Bolshoi and other ballet companies, and in several Broadway hits. Susan P. Kemp is the Charles O. Cressey Endowed Associate Professor at the University of Washington School of Social Work. She specializes in environmental and community-based interventions, low-income children and families, public child welfare, and social work history and theory. Co-author of Person-Environment Practice: The Social Ecology of Interpersonal Helping and co-editor of Communities, Neighborhoods, and Health: Expanding the Boundaries of Place, she received a PhD with distinction from Columbia University School of Social Work.