ABSTRACT

This introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book sheds light on the linkages between spatial alienation in downtown central city redevelopment and the grassroots in defense of space. It addresses the role of race on the City Council in shaping spatial alienation in Santa Ana. The book bears out the statement through its policy analysis of the new urbanist Renaissance Specific Plan (RP), exposing the alienating nature of new urbanism as communicated in the plan. The Foucauldian analysis of the RP reveals that disciplinary mechanisms are embedded extensively, from zoning to permitting, and that they manifest what Foucault termed "governmentality”. It includes one in-depth case study and the extent to which some findings may apply to multiple contexts may vary. The book provides what Geertz call a "thick description" and suitably allow readers to make associations between elements and findings of the research and their own situations.