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The Right To The City, Ngai Pindell

Scholarly Works

The identity and character of cities in America have been profoundly influenced by race. In the past, laws mandating the segregation of African American and white urban residents through racially discriminatory housing and lending policies created racial geographic boundaries within cities and between cities and suburbs. The impact of this racial segregation in cities can be seen in the creation and persistence of an urban African American underclass in some cities as well as many urban neighborhoods marked by racial homogeneity and economic underinvestment.

The racial climate in the United States in more recent years has been decidedly different. Overt …

Finding A Right To The City: Exploring Property And Community In Brazil And In The United States, Ngai Pindell

Scholarly Works

Increasing poor people's access to property and shelter in urban settings raises difficult questions over how to define property and, likewise, how to communicate who is entitled to legal property protections. An international movement - the right to the city - suggests one approach to resolving these questions. This Article primarily explores two principles of the right to the city - the social function of property and the social function of the city - to consider how to better achieve social and economic justice for poor people in urban areas. Using Brazil as one example of a country incorporating these …