Samuel Stein’s (2019) book uses New York City as a case study for gentrification and urban development. Kathyrn Loeb (John Jay MA) reviews it in the Review of Radical Political Economics:
“In Capital City, Samuel Stein looks to instill hope in a profession and practice that overthe past eighty or so years has led to some of the worst entrenchments of global capital—urban planning. He focuses on the urban planner as a nice person trying to do good while operating in a system where they literally cannot win. The stranglehold of financialized real estate on urban planning, federal policy, and the incentive structure for local government cannot be untangled by a nice person trying to do good. This has placed urban planners at the center of a series of contradictory directives, navigating thorny political issues, and ultimately working to uphold the regime of capital while displacing the working class through gentrification. By confronting the politicalforces underlying these economic structures, Stein hopes to show a way forward for planners that
can undo these destructive dynamics and build a better future.”