The Adapted City: Institutional Dynamics and Structural Change Book

Updated to say: my daughter picked this book for me to read.

A succinct presentation of a large amount of data related to the structural and political dynamics of American cities. Mostly descriptive, the authors also end up creating a new classification of city that blends two opposite logical theories of democracy. The two theories in question, which the book spends a large amount of time describing, are the mayor-council structure, which involves separation of powers and quick political maneuverability, and council-manager, which emphasizes administrative efficiency and transparency. The authors do a good job of presenting their data and new classification, the conciliated city, in a simple and straightforward manner.

Reading this did open up a lot of questions related to the development of these types of institutional structures, and how they were implemented by the voters of the cities. There seem to be some truly sordid histories that this book could only make short allusions to that seemed really interesting. It also led me to question just how much reform in American cities propped up white supremacy and the disenfranchisement of minority communities. Obviously, the answer to those questions were not in the scope of this book, but they were part of my reading experience.