While those that love cities often claim to love their authenticity, we still want them to have the latest trendy cafe, boutiques, and galleries that are often at odds with the very authenticity we claim to want. How do we reconcile this desire for convenience and modernity with diversity, quirkiness and and a genuine urban landscape? This is what
Sharon Zukin shows us in
Naked City: The Death and Life of Authentic Urban Places. She looks at what gives neighborhoods a sense of place, but also why that very sense often prices them out of the market for all but the elite. How does authenticity become exclusivity?
My conversation with Sharon Zukin:
