DO WE REALLY WISH TO LIVE IN A COMMUNITARIAN CITY - COMMUNITARIAN THINKING AND THE REDEVELOPMENT OF CHICAGO CABRINI-GREEN PUBLIC-HOUSING COMPLEX

Communitarianism is a movement of academic intellectuals, policy exper ts, and public figures seeking to redefine the relations among individ uals, communities, and governments. This article examines two importan t communitarian texts, Amitai Etzioni's The Spirit of Community and Al an Ehrenhalt's The Lost City, and further links communitarian principl es to particular features of William Julius Wilson's ''ghetto undercla ss'' analysis. The article concludes with a discussion of current prop osals to redevelop the Cabrini-Green complex, a large public housing s ite on Chicago's Near North Side-noting the communitarian rationales t hat have animated the redevelopment proposals and questioning whether or not a truly ''communitarian city'' will result from the public-priv ate partnership seeking to rebuild Cabrini-Green.