The great inversion and the future of the American city

"Alan Ehrenhalt, one of our leading urbanologists, takes us to cities across the country to reveal how the roles of America's cities and suburbs are changing places--young adults and affluent retirees moving in, while immigrants and the less affluent are moving out--and the implications for the future of our society. How will our nation be changed by the populations shifting in and out of the cities? Why are these shifts taking place? Ehrenhalt answers these and other questions in this illuminating study. He shows us how mass transit has revitalized inner-city communities in Chicago and Brooklyn, New York, while inner suburbs like Cleveland Heights struggle to replace the earlier generation of affluent tax-paying residents who left for more distant suburbs; how the sprawl of Phoenix has frustrated attempts to create downtown retail spaces that can attract large crowds; and how numerous suburban communities have created downtown areas to appeal to the increasing demand for walkable commercial zones. Finally, he explains what cities need to do to keep the affluent and educated attracted to and satisfied with downtown life. An eye-opening and thoroughly engaging look at American urban/suburban society and its future"--

Beyond its central premise, the book can be read through the connected lenses of Nonfiction. Those themes offer useful points of attention as the characters, ideas, or world develop, especially where the book complicates the expectations of its primary category.