Naked City: The Death and Life of Authentic Urban Places
Mon., February 22, 2010, 6:30p.m. Elebash Recital Hall

As cities have gentrified, educated urbanites have come to prize what they regard as "authentic" urban life: aging buildings, art galleries, small boutiques, upscale food markets, neighborhood old-timers, funky ethnic restaurants, and old, family-owned shops. These signify a place's authenticity, in contrast to the bland standardization of the suburbs and exurbs. But as CUNY-Graduate Center sociologist Sharon Zukin shows in Naked City, published by Oxford University Press, the rapid and pervasive demand for authenticity—evident in escalating real estate prices, expensive stores, and closely monitored urban streetscapes—has helped drive out the very people who first lent a neighborhood its authentic aura: immigrants, the working class, and artists. Please join the author and panelists Samuel Zipp of Brown University, Thomas Angotti of CUNY-Hunter College, and Clara Irazábal of Columbia University as we examine how the idea of “authenticity” has become a central force in making cities more exclusive.

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