Changes

How does Davis envision a brighter future? Vigorous trade union activity such as that of the SEIU's "Justice for Janitors" and activities serve as Davis' hope. Unions have traditionally not adequately reached out to Latino workers. Still, a unified multi-ethnic/racial alliance might reinvigorate trade unionism. Davis' point seems somewhat dubious because union membership has been consistently shrinking for decades. Perhaps David is successful at highlighting the greater potential for cities such as LA, Chicago, NY, S.F. rather than other less union oriented cities.

One problem with Magical Urbanism stems from its occasional dip into essentialism or something akin to essentialism. For example, Davis posits the following, "Latin American immigrants and their children, perhaps more than any other element in the population, exult in playgrounds, parks, squares, libraries and other endangered species of U.S. public space, and thus form one of the most important constituencies for the preservation of urban culture." (55) Does one wonder how this is proved?