- Khare, Amy T. (x)
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Show moreWhile public housing reforms seek to address poverty among what is a predominantly African-American population, there has been little explicit attention given to the significance of race in the formation of new mixed-income communities. Indeed, the policy framing of these efforts has focused on economic integration and has been essentially silent about racial integration. In this article, we examine whether and how race remains relevant to the everyday life and experiences of residents in mixed-income developments. Drawing on a multiyear research study of three mixed-income developments in Chicago, we examine the nature of interracial and intraracial social dynamics within these (still) predominantly African-American neighborhoods. Consistent with critical race theory, we find that institutionalized notions of “ghetto culture” continue to inhere in the attitudes of many higher-income, nonblack homeowners and professionals in these contexts, and that the relative privilege and power these groups have to establish and enforce norms, policies, and rules generate and reproduce inequality fundamentally grounded in race. Consistent with secondary marginalization theory, we also find that the increasing economic diversity and widening cleavages among blacks living in these contexts generate complex intraracial social dynamics where relocated public housing residents and other low-income black renters experience marginalization from both black and nonblack neighbors. We argue that because the design of mixed-income development policy frames residents’ social identities primarily along the lines of income and housing tenure rather than race, it ignores what we find to be the enduring, if nuanced and complex, significance of race.
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Show moreThis paper explores the mechanisms, processes, and dynamics of participation and deliberation in three newly created, mixed-income communities being built on the footprint of former public housing developments in Chicago. Our findings reflect enduring dilemmas about the challenge of democratic participation and representation for low-income citizens in the context of urban revitalization efforts. In the current case, a fundamental tension exists between two orientations to organizing participation, one (dominant) orientation that privileges “mainstreaming” public housing resident participation into collaborative governance structures and existing market and civil society mechanisms, and another that suggests the continuing need for dedicated mechanisms that maximize public housing representation. In this paper, we frame the theoretical debates over the potential for establishing effective mechanisms to promote deliberative democracy at a neighborhood-level. We then provide an overview of the participatory landscape in these communities, explore how key stakeholders view participation, and examine how the organization of opportunities for deliberation and emerging patterns of participation shape dynamics of inclusion and exclusion in these contexts. Based on these findings, we suggest implications for policy and practice.
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