Producing the Neighborhood: Discourses of Community, Poverty and Livability in San Francisco’s Neighborhood Associations

Tony Sparks, San Francisco State University

My current research investigates the role of non-state actors in the formation of state knowledge and urban governance. This work explores the growing role of San Francisco’s neighborhood associations in local revitalization and development efforts. Drawing on ethnographic engagement with neighborhood councils, residents, and non-profits, I investigate how neighborhood associations frame and grapple with questions of poverty, community, and ‘livability’ and, in doing so, constitute, negotiate and (sometimes) challenge the boundaries of race, class, community, and identity.

Contact: tsparks@sfsu.edu