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Open Access Publications from the University of California

The Struggle of Memory against Forgetting: Insurgent Histories and the Development of a New Suburban Praxis

Abstract

In this paper, I revisit the popular history of race and class in the suburbs to show that poor communities and communities of color have played a pivotal role in shaping contemporary suburban landscapes, using eastern Contra Costa County as a revealing example. I then draw on Leonie Sandercock’s concept of “insurgent historiographies” to argue that this insurgent history of the suburbs can and should redefine urban planning praxis today.