Mariana Valverde is professor in and director of the Centre for Criminology and Sociolegal Studies at the University of Toronto. She is the author of several books, including Law's Dream of a Common Knowledge.
"[Everyday Law on the Streets] is best understood as the foundation
for a new path at the intersection of urban and political
sociology. . . . Scholars and students alike will find much to
learn in this book, as it is the first (and hopefully not the last)
to shine a light on the layered sociolegal infrastructure of urban
America--which plays a significant and too often invisible role in
frustrating and facilitating urban living and change. . . . While
'seeing like a state' has proven a useful window into the
entanglement of citizenship, power, and space, Valverde develops
and provides a provocative and innovative sociological and legal
framework to view this nexus by 'seeing like a city.'"--
"Contemporary Sociology" (5/6/2014 12:00:00 AM)
"For readers interested in examinations of how law operates in the
midst of social anxiety about demographic diversity, . . .Valverde
deliver[s] in-depth analyses rich with ethnographic and historical
detail. . . . In Valverde's contemporary urban context, diverse
cities are urged to implement large scale city-wide planning that
directly engages concerns with diversity in a race conscious
fashion. [Everyday Law on the Streets] provides the sort of nuanced
and substantive discussions of diversity that are sorely needed in
public discourse today."-- "Journal of Legal Education" (5/6/2014
12:00:00 AM)
"Valverde draws attention to a crucial but often overlooked
foundation of cities: the administrative legal structures that make
them run. In her focus on the everyday law of the city, she joins
powerful intellectuals across many disciplines, including law
professors Gerald Frug and David Barron; sociologists John Logan,
Harvey Molotch, and Mitch Duneier; geographer Nick Blomley;
historian Hendrik Hartog; and anthropologist Sally Engle Merry.
Until Valverde, however, none had crafted such a comprehensive
picture. . . . Every reader will find something to identify with.
Because of the ease and expertise with which it introduces readers
to an understudied and valuable meeting of law and the city,
Everyday Law on the Street would be a terrific book to assign in
undergraduate and graduate classes."-- "City & Community"
Mariana Valverde has a remarkable gift for revealing the unexpected
amidst the taken-for-granted. Here, she takes us deep into the
little-understood--yet crucially important--world of Toronto's
everyday urban law, governing taxi licenses, hot dog stands, garden
weeds, and rooming houses. In so doing, she reveals the systematic
ways in which urban law works against the social and cultural
diversity that cities profess to embrace. A wonderfully and clearly
written book, with a refreshing humor and wit, Everyday Law on the
Street invites us to reimagine the city.
--Nicholas Blomley, Simon Fraser University
Studies of urban communities rarely recognize the role of law, but
here eminent sociolegal theorist Mariana Valverde turns her
attention to the way laws from the local to the international shape
urban life. This book challenges Jane Jacobs's idea that cities
should be organized as small, self-governing villages, arguing
instead that law is critical in dealing with the inequalities and
exclusions of highly diverse cities. Ethnographically rich,
readable, and engaging, this book is essential for understanding
the contemporary city.
--Sally Engle Merry, New York University
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