Urban emergency (mis)management and the crisis of neoliberalism : : Flint, MI in context / / edited by Terressa A. Benz and Graham Cassano.

• Superior document: Studies in critical social sciences ; Volume 184
• TeilnehmendeR: Benz, Terressa A.,; Cassano, Graham,
• Place / Publishing House: Leiden, The Netherlands ;, Boston : : Brill,, [2021]; ©2021
• Year of Publication: 2021
• Language: English
• Series: Studies in critical social sciences ; Volume 184.
• Physical Description: 1 online resource.

This volume places the Flint, Michigan, water contamination disaster in the context of a broader crisis of neoliberal governance in the United States. Authors from a range of disciplines (including sociology, criminal justice, anthropology, history, communications, and jurisprudence) examine the failures in Flint, but with an emphasis upon comparison, calling attention to similar trajectories for cities like Detroit and Pontiac, in Michigan, and Stockton, in California. While the studies collected here emphasize policy failures, class conflict, and racial oppression, they also attend to the resistance undertaken by Flint residents, Michiganders, and U.S. activists, as they fought for environmental and social justice.

Table of Contents

LIST OF FIGURES AND TABLES -- NOTES ON CONTRIBUTORS -- INTRODUCTION : The Flint Sacrifice Zone -- Terressa A. Benz and Graham Cassano -- Where We Are Today -- Stigmatizing Michigan's (post-industrial) Sacrifice Zones -- Prospectus of the Work -- CHAPTERS -- PART I STRUCTURE IN CONTEXT -- 1. Neoliberalism, Urban Policy and Environmental Degradation -- David Fasenfest -- Introduction -- Racial Politics and Subjectivities of Michigan's EM Process -- Roots of Neoliberalism -- Michigan's Municipal Financial Emergency Laws -- A Tale of Two Frameworks -- What Did EMs Do? -- Short Term Fixes, Long Term Viability and Local Austerity -- The Environmental Impact of Strategic and Structural Racism -- Conclusion -- 2. Colorblind Michigan: The Legal Impossibility of Environmental Justice in Flint and Southwest Detroit -- Terressa A. Benz -- Introduction -- Environmental Caste Systems -- Neoliberalism -- Equal Protection in Practice -- Environmental (lack of) Regulation -- The "state" of Michigan -- Conclusion -- 3. Stockton Isn't Flint, or Is It? Race and Space in Comparative Crisis Driven Urbanization -- Raoul S. Lievanos and Julie Sze -- Introduction -- Recasting Crisis Driven Urbanization: Race and Space -- Racialized Crisis Driven Urbanization -- Conclusion -- 4. Too Close to Home: The Incidence and Health Effects of Neighborhood Neglect in Flint, Michigan -- Katrinell M. Davis -- Introduction -- The Impact of Dwelling Characteristics and Socioeconomic Status on Lead Exposure -- Data and Method -- The Significance of Independent Variables -- Hypotheses -- Results -- Discussion and Conclusion -- 5. Housing Waste: The Lakeside Public Housing Complex, Pontiac, Michigan -- Graham Cassano, Jon Carroll, and Daniel J. Clark -- Introduction -- The Lakeside Housing Complex, 1950-2002 -- Contexts: Demographic Change and Deindustrialization -- After Demolition: Bankruptcy and Emergency Management in Pontiac.

PART II: REACTION AND RESISTANCE -- 6. Technocracy and Populism: Remaking Urban Governance in Post-Democratic Flint -- Jacob Lederman -- Introduction -- Populism and Neoliberal Politics -- Democracy's Unwanted Other -- Neoliberalism, Politics, and Populism -- "Rightsizing" as Dispossession -- Overview of a Master Planning Process -- Greenlining the Periphery -- Conflict-Free Zones: Collaboration and Cooptation -- Planning Utopias -- The Centrality of Markets -- Conclusion -- 7. Waging Love from Detroit to Flint -- Michael Doan, Shea Howell, Ami Harbin -- Resisting Emergency Management in Michigan -- Emergency Management and Mass Water Shutoffs -- Stop the Shutoffs! -- International Connections and United Nations Visit -- Conflicting Values, Visions, and Narratives -- Water Affordability vs. Assistance -- Free the Water! -- Flint Healing Stories -- International Social Movements Gathering -- Detroit to Flint Water Justice Journey -- Grassroots Journalism and Filmmaking -- Press Conference, Teach-in, People's Tribunal -- Epilogue: Five Years & Counting -- 8. Bottling public thirst: Scarcity, Abundance, and the Exploitation of "Need" in Mid-Michigan -- A.E. Garrison -- 9. Lead Does (Not) Discriminate: Environmental Racism in Expert and Popular Discourse -- Benjamin J. Pauli -- A (Relatively) Brief Conceptual History of "Environmental Racism" -- Racism in the Water?: Expert and Popular Perspectives on Race and the Flint Water Crisis -- Conclusion -- AFTERWORD: The Flint Water Crisis, KWA and Strategic-Structural Racism: Written Testimony Submitted to the Michigan Civil Rights Commission Hearings on the Flint Water Crisis -- Peter J. Hammer -- I. Flint, Municipal Distress, Emergency Management and Strategic-Structural Racism -- II. KWA, DEQ, Treasury, Emergency Managers, and Strategic Racism -- III. The Perfect Storm of Strategic and Structural Racism: Conflicts, Complicity, Indifference and the Lack of an Appropriate Political Response -- IV. Conclusion -- INDEX.