Intro -- CONTENTS -- FIGURES AND ILLUSTRATIONS -- FOREWORD -- PREFACE -- ACKNOWLEDGMENTS -- 1 FACING THE 'HOMELESS PROBLEM': Subsistence, Survival, and Skid Row -- 2 URBAN ECOLOGY AND PUBLIC SPACE: Disney, Development, and Dystopia -- 3 PATTERNS OF EXCLUSION: The Perversity of Homelessness Criminalization -- 4 MAPPING THE TERRITORY: Meanings, Methodologies, Means and Ends -- 5 CASE IN POINT: A Brief History of the Tempe Sidewalk Ordinance -- 6 THE ECOLOGY OF RESISTANCE: Human Rights Struggles and the Contested Realms of Public Space -- 7 CITIES OF THE FUTURE: Localizing the Global, Globalizing the Local -- REFERENCES -- INDEX.

Amster explores the historical and contemporary implications of homelessness both as a social and spatial problem, drawing upon academic disciplines and policy concerns ranging from urban geography to legal advocacy. Homeless people often find themselves on the front lines of a struggle to preserve places that are theoretically open to everyone regardless of status. Urban spaces in particular manifest a complex and dynamic ecology comprised of people, culture, architecture, technology, and the natural environment, often expressed through concrete processes such as gentrification, redevelopment, and privatization. In light of these processes, homeless people are criminalized for performing basic life-sustaining activities such as sitting or sleeping. These trends are evident in cities across the U.S. and internationally, indicating the necessity of linking local issues with wider forces of globalization.

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Electronic reproduction. Ann Arbor, Michigan : ProQuest Ebook Central, 2018. Available via World Wide Web. Access may be limited to ProQuest Ebook Central affiliated libraries.