Urban Alchemy Restoring Joy in America's Sorted-Out Cities

""Her [Mindy Fullilove's] baseline concern with the dignity and wisdom of individuals, as well as the absolute necessity of broad-based consensus building, puts her approach on a clear moral high ground to which every urban planner and builder ought to give greater commitment, because it's right and because it works. 'Urban Alchemy' emerges as a book because years of working to counteract the ills of urban destruction have yielded significant successes in the form of insights, relationships, spaces and even, with the help of collaborators, some buildings. Yet Dr. Fullilove's grounding in disciplines outside urban design results in a complex and multivalent work. To some degree, it is a handbook, with a nine-point instruction list for how to improve cities, starting with 'Keep the Whole City in Mind,' continuing through 'Unpuzzle the Fractured Space" and ending with "Celebrate Your Accomplishments.'"" - Charles Rosenblum (Pittsburgh Post-Gazette)