Reinventing Los Angeles-Nature and Community in the Global City (Urban and Industrial Environments

Reinventing Los Angeles-Nature and Community in the Global City (Urban and Industrial EnvironmentsReinventing Los Angeles-Nature and Community in the Global City (Urban and Industrial Environments

Reinventing Los Angeles-Nature and Community in the Global City (Urban and Industrial Environments

Publication Date: October 19, 2007

Los Angeles--the place without a sense of place, famous for sprawl and
overdevelopment and defined by its car-clogged freeways--might seem inhospitable to ideas about
connecting with nature and community. But in Reinventing Los Angeles, educator and activist Robert
Gottlieb describes how imaginative and innovative social movements have coalesced around the issues
of water development, cars and freeways, and land use, to create a more livable and sustainable
city. Gottlieb traces the emergence of Los Angeles as a global city in the twentieth century and
describes its continuing evolution today. He examines the powerful influences of immigration and
economic globalization as they intersect with changes in the politics of water, transportation, and
land use, and illustrates each of these core concerns with an account of grass roots and activist
responses: efforts to reenvision the concrete-bound, fenced-off Los Angeles River as a natural
resource; "Arroyofest," the closing of the Pasadena Freeway for a Sunday of walking and
bike riding; and immigrants' initiatives to create urban gardens and connect with their countries of
origin. Reinventing Los Angeles is a unique blend of personal narrative (Gottlieb himself
participated in several of the grass roots actions described in the book) and historical and
theoretical discussion. It provides a road map for a new environmentalism of everyday life,
demonstrating the opportunities for renewal in a global city.Robert Gottlieb is Henry R. Luce
Professor of Urban and Environmental Policy and Director of the Urban and Environmental Policy
Institute at Occidental College in Los Angeles. He is the author of Environmentalism Unbound:
Exploring New Pathways for Change (MIT Press), Forcing the Spring: The Transformation of the
American Environmental Movement, and other books.