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Ground Control: Fear and Happiness in the Twenty-First-Century City (Paperback)

by Anna Minton (Author)
4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
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Product details

  • Paperback: 256 pages
  • Publisher: Penguin (25 Jun 2009)
  • ISBN-10: 0141033916
  • ISBN-13: 978-0141033914
  • Product Dimensions: 19.2 x 12.8 x 1.8 cm
  • Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
  • Amazon.co.uk Sales Rank: 7,897 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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    #1 in  Books > Society, Politics & Philosophy > Social Sciences > Sociology > Family & Social Groups > Urban Communities

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Product Description

Review

Anna Minton has done us a service with this book . . . compelling (The Sunday Times )

A sharp and urgent anaylsis of our changing towns and cities (Metro )

A timely and powerful study . . . revelatory (Guardian )

Compelling . . . raises important questions about the meaning of liberty in contemporary society and what we are prepared to defend today (Times )


Review

'A sharp and urgent anaylsis of our changing towns and cities.'
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Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Index | Back Cover
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16 of 17 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars A New Civic Space, 20 Jul 2009
The importance of this book cannot be overlooked. It is about how growing security, from CCTV to gated developments, is a manifestation of a paranoia that has arisen in society over the past generation. This fear, the author points out, does not correspond to a steady rise in crime, which has in fact gone down. Instead, it can be traced to factors such as the deregulation of the finance markets in the eighties, soaring property prices and boom and bust, as well as policies on crime and anti-social behaviour. Written in an accessible but compelling style it draws together changes in policy with the emotional effects these can have on our lives. By making use of the opinions of experts as well as testimonies of the communities most affected by the changes, the book, which is based on a journey around Britain, clarifies just how these changes happened. For those of us who wonder why all our high streets look the same, or pass a shop or housing that has been empty for some time, when there is a housing crisis, the answers point to the unregulated property economy adopted by the Labour government. The book is important because it also focusses on alternative European models of civic space that could be adopted in the UK. In short it addresses issues of personal well-being that affect society as a whole.
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6 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars Let's have a heated debate...., 6 Sep 2009
By J. Coulton "Julia Coulton" (Manchester, UK) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   
This is an interesting and well argued book about how changes in property ownership and control, badged as regeneration, coupled with Government policy on anti social behaviour, have fundamentally affected British society, and not for the better. Well argued - but nevertheless some of the arguments used are unfortunately flawed.

Minton starts off by taking up through the development of faceless privately owned shopping malls in our city centres, and the increase in gated communities and demise of social housing for our homes. She describes how the increase in emphasis on us all having some defensible space around our properties has left us all feeling paranoid and fearful of crime, even when official statistics show this is not matched by reality.

She takes us through the official answer to the blight of low demand in some, mainly northern, cities was answered by the creation of Housing Market Renewal Pathfinders. These HMRPs, she feels, were imposed on local communities, many of whom have battled to stop their terraced homes being demolished on a wholesale basis. Sounds convincing - but the problem with her argument as a general theory here is that many of the areas affected were truly deserted with no one wanting to live there, with only those who had no choice still remaining. Communities had already voted with their feet, rather than being cynically manipulated out of their neighbourhoods by manipulative housing associations and local councils. So rather than being sinister attempts at `social cleaning' as Minton argues, this was the market failing. And it is also too easy just to concentrate on housing policy as this book seems to do - there were other deep seated social and economic factors at play here such as unemployment, crime and changes in the social fabric of our world from when these areas where thriving, healthy communities. Whilst it is a very welcome addition to the debate on our changing world, it is far too simplistic to say that poverty has largely been caused by housing policy as Minton does here.

She goes on to examine the New Labour focus on Respect and anti social behaviour. Whilst I have a lot of sympathy with the argument that the current Government has chopped and changed its direction here, paid lip service to the real issues, and used crime figures for its own ends, again the arguments used are not thorough enough. It is not true to say that anti social behaviour is mainly targeted at the activities of young people. It does not help to achieve clarity by trivialising the serious and necessary work that has been ongoing in Manchester and other places to stop behaviour that amounts to harassment and terrorising from blighting some people's lives. Yes the Government use all this for their own ends, but that is nothing new. It is also not helpful to ignore the positive work that has been used to incentivise, encourage and reward more positive behaviour that is going on in so many parts of the communities she talks about, by so many different agencies.

Minton feels that we would all be happier if we adopted continental European attitudes to space, planning and control of behaviour. Maybe we would. But it needs to be about more than just housing, planning and the privatisation of our cities. Property developers are evil figures lurking at every corner for Minton, but she is wrong, for example, to blame them for the redevelopment of the Hacienda, the famous iconic Manchester nightclub, on them. Its demise had more to do with gang related drug crime. So yes let's by all means have a healthy debate, but let's look at all the angles. Cities like Manchester are fabulous places to live in. The real problems we need to tackle are about all forms of inequality, which have widened so much under New Labour, and not just about who controls the city centres we work and shop in, and the homes we live in.

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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars very interesting read, 4 Sep 2009
By SJ (UK) - See all my reviews
The author deals with a wealth of issues in one slender volume - it's a fascinating up to date description + explanation of the rise of certain popularist (planning) policies in the UK, copied mostly from the US, which have or are having a negative effect on the towns and cities we live in. And the fact that these decisions are so unpublicised, we are sleep walking into a "clean + safe" yet extremely paranoid and unhappy world. This book made me angry and frustrated - a must read for anyone wondering where the "public" spaces are and who and what "public" bodies control these spaces. Clearly written and concise, and not at all boring or text booky (a book about planning policies??) it explains the links between and consequences of market lead planning decisions, and makes all the issues extremely relevant to every one of us. I now actually want to read alot more about the subject...
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4.0 out of 5 stars Excellent expose of housing policy and the privatisation of public space
This is an insightful book that illustrates many of the failings of public policy in the UK with regards to housing and urban regeneration. Read more
Published 3 days ago by Mr. L. M. Mcivor

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