242 NATIONAL C M C REVIEW [April

Boobin Review . . . . Jewel Bellush, Editor

UWAN CONFRONTATION : City Vevsus Neighborhood in the Model Cities Plan- ning Process. By Stephen Mittenthal and Hans Spiegel. Institute of Urban Environ- ment, School of Architecture, Columbia University, 116th Street and Broadway, New York 10025, 1970. viii, 492 pp.

A very devoted and sensitive scholar who works closely with ghetto residents as a consultant-planner wrote recently of the American scene that a new wave of apathy was spreading over low-income areas, again accompanied by helplessness. Furthermore, he reported, at a recent meeting with a top federal official, com- munity representatives refrained from asking necessary, pertinent questions about projected urban programs. But, and this is terribly important, the writer of the letter warned that the present Washington administration may misjudge the outward calm (i.e., apathy) and quiet (i.e., help- lessness) for what he feels may indeed be a suppressed volcanic disruption-an ex- plosion perhaps-“more severe and wider in range” among the disinherited.

Paradoxically, we have had some suc- cess, albeit sporadically, in a number of cities toward the greater politicization of lower-income people. Those who have been absorbed by the system through plan- ning urban renewal projects, anti-poverty programs and the initid stages of model cities experimentation, have learned a good deal about how decisions are made, where budgets are prepared, and what points in the system are best to press for converting more of the output on behalf of the disinherited.

This story of limited but significant progress in building interest and involve- ment in the politics of planning is unfolded with a deep sense of dedication in Urban Confrontation. The book almost invites a sense of discouragement, however, if not outright anxiety, as one reviews the

implications of the letter described above. w h y 1

Have we begun something that can’t be followed through? Are we indeed to be held accountable for opening more broadly the hopes and aspirations of people by preparing them for political action? Have we only trained new actors to play games, games in which they do not have any chance to win? What will happen next should this administration continue to cut the funds, and further circumscribe the involvement of the newcomers in decisions affecting their lives?

Urban Confrontation constitutes a warm defense of the political development of ghetto people through citizen participation in various social, economic and physical planning processes of our cities. In tracing the history of expanding public involve- ment in decision making, Mittenthal and Spiegel see the movement as essentially a traditional part of the American scene. Three specific case studies of very differ- ent and complex experiences with citizen participation are presented : Oakland, California ; New Haven, Connecticut ; and the South Bronx in New York City. The writers press strongly for more and deeper resident involvement in decision making at the neighborhood level, sup- porting at times Milton Kotler’s defense of neighborhood government for certain decisions.

While this study will undoubtedly evoke fear among a good number of public offi- cials, irritate others at city hall and the state house, and certainly upset the bureaucrats handling the city’s problems, it should, however, be accepted by all as a challenge to traditional mores. Perhaps, if the community work advocated by Mittenthal and Spiegel had been effec- tively done, by now we would not have a nation still neglecting the obvious priori- ties. In other words, the disadvantaged

19711 BOOKS IN REVIEW 243

have not yet developed enough political power, nor have they been able to trans- late what little strength they do have into a planned and sustained delivery system of benefits for their neighborhoods.

This reviewer shares a good deal of interest and enthusiasm for citizen partic- ipation, but is in doubt about several points presented. There is, for example, at times a bit of romantic zealousness in the defense of citizen participation:

And, yet, “the sense of power” contains within itself a self-fulfilling prophesy. Once acquired by a formerly powerless group, the psychological sense of power, whether justified on “rational” grounds or not, can be propelled and escalated into a revolutionary posture. The dynamic of this process is : cyclical participation leads to the acquisition of psychological or material-political gains which enhances a sense of power which in turn justifies repetition of the cycle. (427)

Furthermore, between the urban neigh- borhoods of the deprived and the suburban sweetness of the affluent, are the gray areas, the places of “forgotten America,” the other silent people. These are people who feel squeezed by the spread of the ghetto on one side and restricted from joining the flight outside city limits by economic realities. While the authors’ focus is specially on the deprived, defined as poor and black, a book of this variety, obviously aimed at having an impact on public policy, must include others within the urban plan excluded from the system- if for no other reason than that they, in turn. affect the input of the poor.

One of the most provocative chapters of the book, the case for participation, should be placed in the hands of every city planner. The authors explore and explode the norms of planners-rational- ism, futurism, goal formation, land desig- nation, comprehensive planning-exposing each as myth and mask. The big question here is whether planners educated, social- ized, politicized. organized and set into a system in which “planning with people” was indeed a fable, can be transformed

into new men, more understanding and sensitive to the needs of the growing numbers of excluded citizens.

The book should be made available in a more compact form so that scholars can suggest it to their students, public officials can follow some of its strategies, and the neglected can study their bases for partic- ipation.

Additional Books and Pamphlets

(Sea also Reaeareher’r Digeat and other departments)

( h l E t i t I l ~ O I M

SOUTH DAKOTA CONSTITUTIONAL RE- VISION COMMISSION. Second Annual Re- port, December 31, 1970. The commission, State Capitol, Pierre 57501, 1971. 7 pp. Tables.

Federal Government CURRENT ABIERICAN GOVERNMENT. Con-

gressional Quarterly, 1735 K Street, N. W., Washington, D. C. 20006, Spring 1971. 156 pp. Illus. $3.00.

Hopsins NEW HOUSING CONCEPTS. Report on

NAACP Equal Opportunity Tour-Eu- ropean Industrialized Building Systems. National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, 1790 Broadway, New York 10019, 1970. 101 pp. Illus.

b e d Government LOCAL GOVERNMENT. How fo Get Into

It-How to Administer I f Effectively. By Byron S . Matthews. Nelson-Hall Com- pany, 325 West Jackson Boulevard, Chi- cago 60606, 1970. 256 pp. Illus. $9.95.

Manpower

CITY IN THE 70’s. By Henry Cohen and Blanche Bernstein. City Almanac, Center for New York City Affairs, New School

MANPOWER DIRECTIONS I N NEW YORK