Place Matters,but Maybe Not in the Ways They Think It Does . . .

Abstract

This article discusses the new edition of Place Matters, and uses it to discuss two primary problems in the accepted liberal narrative of segregation and spatial inequalities in metropolitan areas. The first is the over-emphasis on public policies as the cause of segregation and injustices. Such a narrative of causality lets the private market off the hook, and thereby makes transforming the market in ways that make it more equitable and just much more difficult. The second problem is that the book conceives of space and place in ways that are too simple, and therefore its analyses and policy proposals are not up to the tasks of understanding or addressing the complex relationships between space and justice.