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The death and life of the urban commonwealth, by Margaret Kohn

goals such as entrepreneurship and economic growth. Holzmarkt evolved from Bar25, a world-famous nightclub that operated between 2004 and 2010. Bar25 bid and won the tender for the purchase and development of the Holzmarket site from which they had been evicted a few years earlier. “Having [staff] well-versed in the economic benefits of the creative economy within new urban developments was key to the temporary and alternative Bar25 professionalizing and being taken seriously as contenders in Berlin’s development” (p. 185). In contrast, Schwarzel Kanel, a queer political and cultural community also in Berlin, was founded before Bar25 but was evicted 20 years after its founding—the fact that it was a politically motivated anarchist group prevented it from being included in the urban regeneration process. I agree with Weber-Newth that urban regeneration discourse benefits from incorporating the views of dissenting groups. She offers two examples of dissenting groups that were able to participate in the regeneration discussions without being coopted: Mediaspree Versenken (Berlin) and Games Monitor (London). But these groups have “not fundamentally changed the logic of the neoliberal rules” (p. 216, italics added). In other words, both organizations accept capitalism and the importance of the for-profit motive. Weber-Newth’s main suggestion for improving the game of regeneration, involving the more radical and disruptive groups such as Schwarzer Kanal, seems politically naïve and unrealistic. How can planners involve groups that are intent on upending the democraticcapitalist system? Despite the absence of useable policy recommendations, academics and practitioners involved in urban regeneration should read this book. Weber-Newth’s bottom-line message is extremely important; neoliberalism, as it is practiced in large cities, is not inherently good or bad. Whether neoliberal projects like the 2012 London Olympics or Berlin’s Mediaspree help or hurt the poor depends on characteristics of the local political, economic, and social environment. Additional studies like this one are urgently needed to make urban regeneration more equitable.