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Introduces the rise of neighborhood activism in Northeast Los Angeles in the 1980s against the backdrop of “slow growth” preservation and local control movements in California and around the nation. Case study of Eagle Rock, where The Eagle Rock Association (TERA) led a series of protests against mini-malls, condominiums, mansions and “big box” chain stores, in favor of better coordinated land-use planning preservation of natural and architectural landmarks, and “Take Back the Boulevard” for bikers and pedestrians. The case of Highland Park, where citizen activists and preservationists worked to create a Historic Preservation Overlay Zone (HPOZ) to save historic buildings and better regulate land-use planning. It chronicles the rise of the Friends of the Southwest Museum Coalition to oppose the veritable warehousing of the Southwest Museum and storage of the collection in Burbank by its new owner, the Autry National Center of the West. Examines the internal politics of neighborhood activism, the significant participation of women leaders, and the question of minority participation. The chapter finishes with the political legacy of the slow growth movements of Northeast Angeles, which are expressed through a progressive coalition of neighborhood activist organizations with Democratic Latino city councilmen.

The land use planning system in Britain is frequently seen as a key constraint on increasing housing supply and this is the topic for Chapter 9 in conjunction with an analysis of the development and use of household projections in determining housing requirements. Household projections had, and continue to have, very real impacts on how land supply and prices are determined and therefore on how many new homes are provided. The chapter discusses the development of the regulatory system starting from the 1947 Town and Country Planning Act and the role of the public sector in overcoming post-war shortages. The chapter then moves on to examine the development of concerns about the negative impacts of planning from the 1970s. The question arises whether this approach remains relevant in a market-led economy. The chapter also considers alternatives to the English land use planning model, notably the use of zoning systems in many countries with comparable pressures.

Chapter 9 discusses the politics of public space and neighborhood self-determination in the historically Black, working class neighborhood of Lincoln Park. The work describes a thirty-year history of neighborhood-level community building and planning, including the present struggles of the Coalition to Save Lincoln Park, an advocacy group that emerged in 2013 after the city announced its plans to extend Central Avenue through the historic park space and neighborhood.

Chapter 14 highlights the key themes of the book and their implications for policy. Although there is considerable agreement among economists with regard to the range of required policy reforms - including changes to land use planning, taxation, social housing provision, rents and subsidies, and to financial markets - there are external constraints, both political and economic, that impose limitations on even the most positive reforming governments. But the absence of positive policy change in the UK would imply that the worsening affordability and volatility that have often typified housing markets are likely to continue. The book shows the need to extend housing policy beyond a concentration on expanding supply and points to the need for a more balanced approach that incorporates policies addressing demand as well as the supply sides of housing. Given the policy constraints, the chapter also points to possible new directions.