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PA R K S F O R P R O F I T SELLING NATURE IN THE CITY KEVIN LOUGHRAN PARKS FOR PROFIT PARKS FOR PROFIT SELLING NATURE IN THE CITY KEVIN LOUGHRAN Columbia University Press New York Columbia University Press Publishers Since 1893 New York Chichester, West Sussex cup.columbia.edu Copyright © 2022 Columbia University Press All rights reserved Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Names: Loughran, Kevin, author. Title: Parks for profit : selling nature in the city / Kevin Loughran. Description: New York : Columbia University Press, 2021. | Includes index. Identifiers: LCCN 2021017227 (print) | LCCN 2021017228 (ebook) | ISBN 9780231194044 (hardback) | ISBN 9780231194051 (trade paperback) | ISBN 9780231550628 (ebook) Subjects: LCSH: Gentrification—United States— Case studies. | Social stratification—United States—Case studies. | United States—Economic conditions—20th century. | Parks—United States—Case studies. Classification: LCC HT175 .L68 2021 (print) | LCC HT175 (ebook) | DDC 307.3/4160973—dc23 LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2021017227 LC ebook record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2021017228 Columbia University Press books are printed on permanent and durable acid-free paper. Printed in the United States of America Cover design: Lisa Hamm For Caroline, of course • CONTENTS Acknowledgments ix I. INTRODUCTION 1. Sometime in 2009 3 2. Varieties of Urban Crisis: New York, Chicago, Houston 7 II. GROWTH MACHINES IN THE GARDEN 3. “The Yuppie Express” 31 4. “No More Bake Sales, Man” 50 5. “A Piece of Crud” 72 6. Parks for Profit or for People? 92 III. GARDENS IN THE MACHINE 7. Defective Landscapes 99 8. Imbricated Spaces 104 viii Contents 9. Constructing Environmental Authenticity 115 10. Spatial Practices and Social Control 147 IV. CONCLUSION 11. After the High Line 171 12. Abolish, Decolonize, Rot: Three Proposals for Parks Equity 178 Notes 185 References 237 Index 267 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS F IRST, I want to thank Eric Schwartz, editorial director of Columbia University Press, for believing in my vision for this book. From our first meeting in 2017, Eric has shown great enthusiasm and a judicious editorial eye—true gifts to a first-time author. Columbia is the perfect home for this book, and I could not imagine a better person to guide it from start to finish. All authors should be fortunate enough to have some- one like Eric in their corner. Many thanks as well to the kind, organized, and highly professional Lowell Frye, associate editor at Columbia University Press, who offered great support for this book and has been an absolute pleasure to work with. This book literally would not exist without Jim Elliott, who graciously invited me to join the Department of Sociology at Rice University as a postdoctoral fellow in 2017. From there, Jim provided a stream of resources and goodwill that enabled me to investigate Houston’s Buffalo Bayou Park and become immersed in the city’s history and culture. My three years spent in Hous- ton were a time of considerable creative and intellectual ferment, thanks in large part to my collaboration with Jim. Thanks, Jim, for giving me the opportunity to write this book, and for everything else, too.