Landscapes Of Despair: From Deinstitutionalization to Homelessness (Human Geography) - Hardcover

DEAR

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0745603769 ISBN 13: 9780745603766

Publisher: Polity Press, 1987

Synopsis

The starting point for this work is the massive explosion in the numbers of the homeless. The authors observe that these "service-dependent" people are increasingly concentrated in well-defined geographical areas of our cities. Such "ghettos" are host to the mentally disabled, retarded, physically disabled, ex-offenders and addicts. Why has this happened? How can we account for the magnitude of the problem at this time? And what can be done about the problem? This work provides the first comprehensive analysis of these ghettos, their structure and evolution, their benefits and costs and how they might change in the future. The authors situate thier research within the present context of economic uncertainty, where cutbacks are hitting the socially dependent most of all. This work is a contribution to the understanding of the marginalized populations in our cities and it will inform the debate on the development of a more humane welfare system. It is a truly interdisciplinary work, drawing upon geography, planning, social work, psychiatry and history, as well as upon the wider debates in social theory. It should be of interest to scholars and students in each of these fields, in addition to economists, sociologists and political scientists. It should also provide material for policy-makers in the health and welfare field.

About this title

Review:

"This is an easy book to praise and one that will repay close study.... A scrupulous and wise discussion, balancing equity and therapeutics, and one with immediate relevance to current problems."--Kim Hopper, Access

"This book could offer a whole new meaning to the concept of 'geography awareness' that has been so enthusiastically embraced in recent years."--Christopher J. Smith, Economic Geography

"A major contribution to the theoretical development of the literature on homelessness, especially as this literature explores the relationships of service dependency and the central city.... [It] pushes the current parameters of American planning for the service-dependent."--Robert W. Collin, Journal of the American Planning Association

About the Author:

Dear is Professor of Geography and Director of the Southern California Studies Center at the University of Southern California.

About this edition

• Publisher: Polity Press
• Publication date: 1987
• ISBN 10: 0745603769
• ISBN 13: 9780745603766
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 220