Selected by Choice magazine as an Outstanding Academic Title
It has been called one of the nation's most livable regions, ranked
among the best managed cities in America, hailed as a top spot to work,
and favored as a great place to do business, enjoy the arts, pursue
outdoor recreation, and make one's home. Indeed, years of cooperative
urban planning between developers and those interested in ecology and
habitability have transformed Portland from a provincial western city
into an exemplary American metropolis. Its thriving downtown, its strong
neighborhoods, and its pioneering efforts at local management have
brought a steady procession of journalists, scholars, and civic leaders
to investigate the Portland style that values dialogue and consensus,
treats politics as a civic duty, and assumes that it is possible to work
toward public good.
Probing behind the press clippings, acclaimed urban historian Carl
Abbott examines the character of contemporary Portland--its people,
politics, and public life--and the region's history and geography in
order to discover how Portland has achieved its reputation as one of the
most progressive and livable cities in the United States and to
determine whether typical pressures of urban growth are pushing Portland
back toward the national norm.
In Greater Portland, Abbott argues that the city cannot be understood
without reference to its place. Its rivers, hills, and broader regional
setting have shaped the economy and the cityscape. Portlanders are
Oregonians, Northwesteners, Cascadians; they value their city as much
for where it is as for what it is, and this powerful sense of place
nurtures a distinctive civic culture. Tracing the ways in which
Portlanders have talked and thought about their city, Abbott reveals the
tensions between their diverse visions of the future and plans for
development.
Most citizens of Portland desire a balance between continuity and
change, one that supports urban progress but actively monitors its
effects on the region's expansive green space and on the community's
culture. This strong civic participation in city planning and politics
is what gives greater Portland its unique character, a positive setting
for class integration, neighborhood revitalization, and civic values.
The result, Abbott confirms, is a region whose unique initiatives remain
a model of American urban planning.
