This article was downloaded by: [83.55.210.

243]
On: 12 October 2014, At: 14:35
Publisher: Routledge
Informa Ltd Registered in England and Wales Registered Number: 1072954 Registered
office: Mortimer House, 37-41 Mortimer Street, London W1T 3JH, UK
Urban Geography
Publication details, including instructions for authors and
subscription information:
http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/rurb20
The Just City, Susan S. Fainstein
Lynn A. Staeheli
a
a
Durham University
Published online: 16 May 2013.
To cite this article: Lynn A. Staeheli (2011) The Just City, Susan S. Fainstein, Urban Geography,
32:5, 756-757, DOI: 10.2747/0272-3638.32.5.756
To link to this article: http://dx.doi.org/10.2747/0272-3638.32.5.756
PLEASE SCROLL DOWN FOR ARTICLE
Taylor & Francis makes every effort to ensure the accuracy of all the information (the
Content) contained in the publications on our platform. However, Taylor & Francis,
our agents, and our licensors make no representations or warranties whatsoever as to
the accuracy, completeness, or suitability for any purpose of the Content. Any opinions
and views expressed in this publication are the opinions and views of the authors,
and are not the views of or endorsed by Taylor & Francis. The accuracy of the Content
should not be relied upon and should be independently verified with primary sources
of information. Taylor and Francis shall not be liable for any losses, actions, claims,
proceedings, demands, costs, expenses, damages, and other liabilities whatsoever or
howsoever caused arising directly or indirectly in connection with, in relation to or arising
out of the use of the Content.
This article may be used for research, teaching, and private study purposes. Any
substantial or systematic reproduction, redistribution, reselling, loan, sub-licensing,
systematic supply, or distribution in any form to anyone is expressly forbidden. Terms &
Conditions of access and use can be found at http://www.tandfonline.com/page/terms-
and-conditions
756
Urban Geography, 2011, 32, 5, pp. 756757. DOI: 10.2747/0272-3638.32.5.756
Copyright 2011 by Bellwether Publishing, Ltd. All rights reserved.
BOOK REVIEW
The Just City. Susan S. Fainstein. Cornell University Press, Ithaca, NY, 2010.
212 pp., maps, illustrations, index. $29.95 paperback (ISBN 978-0-8014-
7690-7), $29.95 cloth (ISBN 978-0-8014-4655-9).
Reviewed by Lynn A. Staeheli, Durham University, UK
The Just City is a wonderful book. It takes a comprehensive, balanced approach to
the question: how do we make and sustain democratic cities in which the diverse needs,
capabilities, and aspirations of urban residents are recognized and in which those residents
can live fulfilling lives free from marginalization and repression? Fainstein is quick to
dispel the idea that we really can create cities in which justice is possible for everyone and
in which contentious issues can be fully and finally resolved to everyones satisfaction.
Her analysis, instead, is a considered and sustained call for a reformist approach in which
moves toward a more just city can be made. Her analysis is thoroughly researched and
is grounded in deep engagement with the histories of cities and with a range of debates
within urban studies.
The book offers an empirically and politically informed theory of urban justice and
how it can be advanced, even if not necessarily achieved. It begins with an outline of the
theoretical argument to be developed in the book. In this argument, justice is conceptualized
as emerging throughand being challenged bythe interplay of democratic practices,
recognition of diversity, and equity. These three aspects of justice are in tension, she
argues, meaning that justice is something to be worked toward, but never fully realized.
This argument is developed in the introduction and first two chapters through an extensive
and balanced review of various theoretical approaches and debates within urban politics,
geography, and planning. In these chapters, Fainstein provides an example of how to
present contentious debates in a way that fairly portrays them, but in which her own
position is explained and the limitations recognized. For example, she takes on directly
the charge that her stance is reformist and eschews epic struggles for justice. After reading
her critiques of the forces creating and sustaining inequality and injustice, I found it hard
to understand why anyone would think planning is a worthwhile occupation, a point to
which I return below.
Fainstein is, however, completely realistic about the role of planning and the forces that
operate on it. The second portion of the book presents empirical analyses of planning and
its implications for advancing justice in New York, London, and Amsterdam. The three
chapters that comprise this portion of the book are based on her research over several
years. Examples of planning controversies in each city are evaluated in terms of the ways
that public opinion is solicited and incorporated in decisions, the ways that the varied
needs of different groups are incorporated, and whether the outcomes are attentive to
the redistributive effects of development such that equity is advanced. The picture that
emerges is necessarily complex, with some groups being advantaged in particular ways, but
disadvantaged in other ways. Fainstein argues that such complexity is inherent in assessing
development outcomes due to the tensions that exist between values of democracy,
recognition, and equity in a context of unequal power relationships and capabilities for
effecting change.
D
o
w
n
l
o
a
d
e
d

b
y

[
8
3
.
5
5
.
2
1
0
.
2
4
3
]

a
t

1
4
:
3
5

1
2

O
c
t
o
b
e
r

2
0
1
4

REVIEW 757
Several aspects of the book are particularly effective. It concisely and clearly draws
together a range of theoretical debates that have unfolded over the years. The range of
sources drawn upon and the historical grounding is impressive, and so is useful to those
who are looking for a good overview of the terrain. It is also a model of how to present a
clear position or theoretical stance, explaining the reasons without resort to polemics; it
demonstrates a respect for the differing stances that will be taken by others, even as clearly
making a principled argument. Students and instructors alike will find the book useful for
its theoretical overview and empirical grounding.
Yet two nagging questions or concerns run through the book that make it challenging
and somewhat unsettling. First, given the changing relationships and interests that shape
cities, it often seemed that there is no particular point to planning. Fainsteins analysis of
the three case study cities offers little to cheer or to be hopeful about, with even Amsterdam
seeming to move away from commitments to justice and equity. Fainstein, however, insists
on being in this world, not the world we might like, and thereby being open to actually
existing possibilities and opportunities. She remains in intellectual conversation with more
radical scholars, but relies on a politics of the pragmatic and the possible in a struggle
against oppression. Non-reformist reforms, she argues, can be the basis of progressive, if
not perhaps revolutionary, change. She makes it clear how incremental changeschanges
that are situated in particular times and places and so are not necessarily enduringcan
nevertheless make life better for those who are marginalized and can provide the political
and social resources for further struggles.
Second, I wondered about the very titles of the book and of the concluding chapter,
both of which invoke the just city. While there is a certain snap and directness to that
phrase, it implies a singularity and indisputable quality that is contradicted in the text
itself. The title denies the indeterminate outcomes, the ongoing tensions, and the diverse
views embedded in the notion of justice. What Fainstein demonstrates so ably throughout
the book is that tensions between democratic practices, equity, and recognition are the only
constants as cities undergo redevelopment and transformation. Universality, she argues,
stands in a relationship with particularity, such that the content or form of justice will
depend on social and historical positions. As such, it would seem important to be attuned
to the varied and complex ways that cities may be differently just. It may seem a minor
point; titles, after all, are designed to draw readers into a book, rather than to convey the
entire content of it. Yet Fainsteins otherwise careful, nuanced, and grounded argument is
belied by those titles.
I began this review with the comment that The Just City is a wonderful book. And it
is. This is a book that reflects a sustained and deep engagement with both the theoretical
arguments and the politics that imagine fairer places. As such, it is an important intervention
in urban studies, politics, and geography.
D
o
w
n
l
o
a
d
e
d

b
y

[
8
3
.
5
5
.
2
1
0
.
2
4
3
]

a
t

1
4
:
3
5

1
2

O
c
t
o
b
e
r

2
0
1
4