Building on a long-term university/community research partnership, this article examines how different ways of conceptualizing, interpreting, and producing murals impacted how an urban community saw itself. Using a participatory action research design, university researchers worked alongside community researchers to ethnographically document the…

This case study focuses on the way a neighborhood association connects schools to broad change in an urban neighborhood of a large Midwestern city. The first section provides a review of the literature on community involvement in school and neighborhood reform. It reviews the historical origins of the current school-community relationship, the…

NIMBYism, the popular and short form for "Not In My Back Yard", describes the resistance and outright opposition by residents, either within a distinct place such as a neighbourhood, or, more broadly, in a larger civic area right up to a town or city level, against some planned nearby facility, service, or changed land use. NIMBYism is also about…

Distressed urban neighborhoods face challenges on multiple fronts, but most efforts to confront these problems work in isolation of one another. The New Communities Program (NCP) is an exception, helping selected Chicago neighborhoods develop partnerships to address challenges involving employment, education, housing, and safety in a…

University faculty and outreach program directors have been called to deliver more effective, equitable, and sustainable ways in which neighborhood and university communities may creatively interact. The authors report on the case of the Pittsburgh Studio, an initiative that matches students and resident stakeholders in researching local issues…

At first glance, the seemingly impenetrable fence surrounding the urban campus of Rhodes College seems to represent the academic and social isolation of the liberal arts college. Inside the fence are manicured lawns, beautiful buildings of stone and stained glass and a student body comprised mostly of affluent White young men and women. Outside…

Discusses the functions that residential areas fulfill for their inhabitants, particularly the issues of school integration and rehabilitation of distressed neighborhoods. (JOW)

The Making Connections initiative, which works to build strong families and strong neighborhoods in 22 cities, promotes an explicit communication policy to get the kind of support and involvement that can make a difference. This guide defines the principles and components of effective communication and shows how communicating can be a critical…

The effects of such demographic variables as the baby boom and childless marriages on the demand for urban housing are discussed. (RLV)

Summarizes the comprehensive approach to tackling problems of poor neighborhoods developed by the British government's Social Exclusion Unit (SEU), analyzing neighborhood decline and describing the SEU's National Strategy for Neighborhood Renewal, which emphasizes improving public services in England, building inclusive partnerships locally that…

Healthy and successful cities are built out of blocks and neighborhoods. Cities are too large and varied to be regarded or run as uniform entities. Block associations are proposed to be one of the major tools that are available for stabilizing and maintaining urban neighborhoods in a fashion that is both inexpensive and responsive to the needs of…

Explores competing constructions and understandings of the gentrifying neighborhoods on Chicago's near northwest side, noting how Puerto Rican youth are implicated in these changes. Explores contradictory images of neighborhoods, residents' responses to these changes, and various linguistic attempts to refashion new ethno-racial designations in…

Describes psychological consequences of life in urban neighborhoods. Offers three conceptual models that relate neighborhood physical, structural, and social characteristics to mental health outcomes. Contains 66 references. (MMU)

Urban universities are often characterized as economic engines--directly and indirectly serving the needs of the communities within which they are situated. However, the relationship between urban universities and their neighbors is often strained. Reflecting on the University of Illinois at Chicago's Neighborhoods Initiative (UICNI) and its…

This volume of hearings relates to (1) a bill to establish a national commission on neighborhoods; (2) a bill to establish a commission to investigate the factors contributing to the decline of urban neighborhoods and the factors necessary to neighborhood survival and revitalization, and for other purposes; and (3) a bill to establish the national…