LOVE YOUR BOOKSHOP DAY: PROMOTIONS
Anne Power is Professor of Social Policy at the London School of Economics and Political Science; Sustainable Development Commissioner responsible for regeneration and sustainable communities; member of the Government's Urban Task Force; author of books on cities, communities and marginal housing areas in the UK and abroad.
..the real strength of this book is its capacity to allow the words of the residents of deprived neighbourhoods to shine through. Urban Geography Research Group, urban-geography.org.uk 2008 Anne Power's illuminating and important book bears witness to the lives of urban families, without whose presence all cities would wither and decline. The parents she interviews describe in detail how noisy, messy, often unsafe environments inform every decision they make about their lives and those of their children. If Power's recommendations, based on interviews with 200 'city survivors', are heeded, families may no longer have to 'survive' the city, but instead will thrive in it. Lynsey Hanley, author of 'Estates: An Intimate History' Anne Power has built up a formidable reputation for grasping the daily dilemmas of Britain's poor neighbourhoods and this book is one of her best. It's a vivid portrait of the struggles so many people face, and brilliantly uses its ethnographic material to show how much people's quality of life depends on others - in the family, the neighbourhood and the wider society. Geoff Mulgan, Director, The Young Foundation HANLEY'S TESTIMONIAL IN REVIEWS
