Description:
In this book, Yue Zhang presents a cross-national comparative analysis of the politics of urban preservation. Based on comprehensive archival research and more than two hundred in-depth interviews in Beijing, Chicago, and Paris, Zhang finds that urban preservation provides a tool for diverse political and social actors to frame their propositions and advance their favored courses of action.
Review Quotes:
Yue Zhang vividly captures the inherently political nature of urban historic preservation by comparing the complex process by which political actors use government to transform and protect the urban landscape in Beijing, Chicago, and Paris. The Fragmented Politics of Urban Preservation is exceptionally well written, lively, and careful in its analysis. It highlights how the structure of urban governance powerfully influences the way cities change physically, and it raises profound questions about the obstacles to local democracy in deciding how and when this happens. It is a major contribution to the study of comparative urban politics.--Paul Kantor, Fordham University