Author | Joshua Long |
---|---|
Language | English |
Subject | Geography, Urban Studies, Sociology, Anthropology |
Publisher | University of Texas Press |
Publication date | 2010 |
Pages | 221 |
ISBN | 978-0-292-72206-4 |
Weird City: Sense of Place and Creative Resistance in Austin, Texas is a non-fiction scholarly text by Joshua Long published in 2010 by University of Texas Press. The book uses the "Keep Austin Weird" movement as a central focus to discuss the social, cultural and economic changes occurring in Austin, Texas, at the beginning of the 21st century. [1] Largely written from a human geography perspective, Weird City is intended to show the relationship between sense of place and urban economies, the environment, and the urban cultural landscape. [2] [3] [4]
According to Long, Weird City is a scholarly text written for a mainstream audience including citizens of Austin and other "weird" cities, as well as students of geography, sociology, anthropology and urban studies. [5] [3]
Joshua Long is an assistant professor of environmental studies at Southwestern University.
Weird City has received a welcome reception from local Austin media, including articles featured in the Austin Chronicle and the Austin American Statesman. Scholarly critical reception has also been positive. In a review published in the American Journal of Sociology, Richard Lloyd writes:
Mentioned in an American Quarterly review of three 2010 UT Press publications on Austin, Andrew Busch notes the following:
However, Busch also criticizes Long both for an elitist form of "Austin Exceptionalism" and for not fully addressing social justice issues affecting minority populations in Austin:
Much of Long's other scholarship on Austin is heavily focused on social and environmental justice issues in the neighborhoods referenced by Busch. [8] [9]
Overall, Weird City has experienced a very positive reception. In 2010 the book was nominated for the National Council on Public History Book Award.
Austin is the capital city of the U.S. state of Texas, as well as the seat and most populous city of Travis County, with portions extending into Hays and Williamson counties. Incorporated on December 27, 1839, it is the 10th-most-populous city in the United States, the fourth-most-populous city in Texas, and the second-most-populous state capital city. It has been one of the fastest growing large cities in the United States since 2010. Downtown Austin and Downtown San Antonio are approximately 80 miles (129 km) apart, and both fall along the Interstate 35 corridor. Austin is the southernmost state capital in the contiguous United States and is considered a Beta-level global city as categorized by the Globalization and World Cities Research Network.
Gentrification is the process of changing the character of a neighborhood through the influx of more affluent residents and businesses. It is a common and controversial topic in urban politics and planning. Gentrification often increases the economic value of a neighborhood, but the resulting demographic displacement may itself become a major social issue. Gentrification often sees a shift in a neighborhood's racial or ethnic composition and average household income as housing and businesses become more expensive and resources that had not been previously accessible are extended and improved.
Richard L. Florida is an American urban studies theorist focusing on social and economic theory. He is a professor at the Rotman School of Management at the University of Toronto and a Distinguished Fellow at NYU's School of Professional Studies.
Albert Leslie Cochran was an American homeless man, peace activist, cross-dresser, urban outdoorsman, and outspoken critic of police treatment of the homeless. Cochran was known in Austin as Leslie.
Saint-Henri is a neighbourhood in southwestern Montreal, Quebec, Canada, in the borough of Le Sud-Ouest.
The creative class is the posit of American urban studies theorist Richard Florida for an ostensible socioeconomic class. Florida, a professor and head of the Martin Prosperity Institute at the Rotman School of Management at the University of Toronto, maintains that the creative class is a key driving force for economic development of post-industrial cities in the United States.
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Mack White is a comics writer and artist who lives in Texas.
Alejandro Portes is a Cuban-American sociologist. He is a member of the National Academy of Sciences, the American Philosophical Society, and of the Board of Trustees and the Scientific Council at the IMDEA Social Sciences Institute. He also served as the president of the American Sociological Association in 1999. His academic studies have focused on immigration to the United States and factors affecting the fates of immigrants and their children. He has also done work on shack settlements in Latin America. His work is highly cited in the sub-fields of economic sociology, cultural sociology and race and ethnicity.
Keep Austin Weird is the slogan adopted by the Austin Independent Business Alliance to promote small businesses in Austin, Texas. It is intended to promote local businesses and is inspired by comments made by Red Wassenich in 2000 while giving a pledge to an Austin radio station. He later began printing bumper stickers and operated the website keepaustinweird.com until his death in 2020 and published Keep Austin Weird: A Guide to the Odd Side of Town.
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Kirk Preston Watson is an American attorney and politician currently serving as the Mayor of Austin, Texas. A member of the Democratic Party, he served a previous term as Mayor of Austin from 1997 to 2001. He ran unsuccessfully for Texas Attorney General in the 2002 election, when he was defeated by Republican Greg Abbott, later governor of Texas. In 2006, Watson was elected to the Texas Senate from District 14.
Sharon L. Zukin is an American professor of sociology who specializes in modern urban life. She teaches at Brooklyn College and the Graduate Center, City University of New York. As of 2014, she was also a distinguished fellow in the Advanced Research Collaborative at the CUNY Graduate Center and chair of the Consumers and Consumption Section of the American Sociological Association. Zukin was a visiting professor at the University of Amsterdam in 2010–11.
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John Edward McCarthy was an American prelate of the Roman Catholic Church. He served as bishop of the Diocese of Austin in Texas from 1985 to 2001.
"Keep Portland Weird" is a popular slogan that appears on bumper stickers, signs, and public buildings throughout Portland, Oregon and its surrounding metro area. It originated from the "Keep Austin Weird" slogan and was originally intended to promote local businesses, though it has since evolved into an all-encompassing slogan that secondarily promotes individuality, expressionism, local art, as well as atypical lifestyle choices and leisure activities. The slogan frequently inspires articles and debate that attempt to quantify the exact level to which Portland is considered weird, unusual or eccentric.
The following is a timeline of the history of the city of Austin, Texas, USA.
Gregorio Eduardo Casar is an American politician who is the member for Texas's 35th congressional district in the United States Congress since 2023. He served as a member of the Austin City Council from the 4th district from 2015 to 2022. Casar is a member of the Democratic Party and was endorsed by the Working Families Party in his run for Congress. Casar is a member of the Democratic Socialists of America. He was first elected to the Austin City Council in 2014, and reelected in 2016 and 2020. He was elected to Congress in 2022.
The 2022 Austin mayoral election was held on November 8, 2022 to elect the next mayor of Austin, Texas. The election was nonpartisan; candidates' party affiliations did not appear on the ballot. Incumbent mayor Steve Adler was term-limited and could not run for re-election. In the general election, state representative Celia Israel and former mayor Kirk Watson took the first two spots, leading realtor Jennifer Virden and several other candidates. Because no candidate received more than 50% of the vote, the race proceeded to a runoff election between Israel and Watson on December 13, which Watson won with 886 votes—the narrowest margin in over two decades.