Changing Plans For America's Inner Cities: Cincinnati's Over-The-Rhine And Twentieth (Urban Life & Urban Landscape) [Paperback]

Zane L. Miller (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 1, 1998

In the nineteenth century Cincinnati's historic Over-the-Rhine neighborhood was a diverse suburb, but in the twentieth century it became on inner-city slum, burdened with a broad range of problems. As Zane L. Miller and Bruce Tucker point out, however, Over-the-Rhine's history is also the history of planning for both inner-city neighborhoods and big-city downtowns. Beginning in the 1920s, Cincinnati's government and civic leaders explored the entire repertoire of programs considered or implemented in cities throughout the country for such close-in neighborhoods. The first attempts included schemes for comprehensive planning, zoning, slum clearance, redevelopment, and neighborhood rehabilitation. Over-the-Rhine survived this first assault, but at mid-century a new understanding of the city generated different visions of Over-the-Rhine's future and bitter fights for control of that future. While factions fought, the neighborhood deteriorated, and by the 1990s it was one of the poorest and most violent parts of the city. The story ends with a double irony: the adoption of an Over-the-Rhine "urban renewal" plan that endorsed a ghettoish status quo; and the murder of Buddy Gray, the city's premier white community organizer, by a mentally troubled man whom Gray had rescued and befriended. Miller and Tucker look beyond the fight over slums to illuminate other issues in American civilization. They focus on changing conceptions of culture, neighborhood, and community and lay out the consequences of those conceptions for city planning and plan implementation. Changing Plans for America's Inner Cities is essential reading for anyone concerned with the future of urban neighborhoods.

Product Details

• Paperback: 224 pages
• Publisher: Ohio State University Press; 1 edition (January 1, 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0814207634
• ISBN-13: 978-0814207635
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6.1 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12.8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 2.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,555,430 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Of local historical interest, July 15, 2004

By 

Mike Citykin "CityKin" (Cincinnati, OH United States) - See all my reviews

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This review is from: Changing Plans For America's Inner Cities: Cincinnati's Over-The-Rhine And Twentieth (Urban Life & Urban Landscape) (Paperback)

This book is interesting to local people who want some history on the planning process for this one neighborhood in Cincinnati. Mr. Miller proposes that this history is similar to other cities across the country. Some of the over-arching themes may be similar city to city, but this really is a unique case.

The book is hard to follow, because of all the players involved, and is dry and incomplete. The emphasis is on the plannning process of 1983, and the fight against the historic designation.

For Cincinnati historians or planners only.

1.0 out of 5 stars Sleeping by page 10..., September 14, 2011

By 

Stewe - See all my reviews

This review is from: Changing Plans for America's inner cities: Cincinnati's Over-The-Rhine and twentieth-century urbanism (URBAN LIFE & URBAN LANDSCAPE) (Hardcover)

This book was assigned to my class by one of its contributors when I attended Macon College and State University. As students we were forced to purchase, read, and submit an opinion of this book. I found the book to be one of the most boring books ever written. It is dry, unfocussed, and absolutely boring until the twist where the community coordinator dies at the hands of a homeless person. The book appeared to be ending at this point and I was disappointed to find it didn't. I stated this in my opinion and received a "D" for my effort. Don't waste your time or money.