Sidewalk Nation - The Life and Law of America''s Most Overlooked Resource

An illuminating ramble along the American sidewalk: routinely unnoticed, yet central to daily life, neighborhood vitality, and significant legal controversies.

Public infrastructure is as essential to our communities as it is easily overlooked. A case in point is the humble sidewalk: constantly taken for granted, yet linked to nearly every pressing issue of local governance in urban, suburban, and even rural areas. From commerce, taxes, and property rights to policing, homelessness, and surveillance; from free speech and socioeconomic equity to public health and climate resilience--sidewalks, surprisingly, are at the core of numerous major debates.

Sidewalk Nation offers a vivid travelogue spanning more than a dozen cities and towns across the United States to show how diverse communities are grappling with big challenges. Some are prosaic, if critical: How do we ensure that sidewalks facilitate mobility for disabled people? Whose job is it to clear snow from public space? And some touch on the most profound issues in law, including our rights under the First and Fourth Amendments. While traversing the country, Michael Pollack provides expert insight into the property, tax, and zoning laws that shape sidewalk management and land use more broadly. Offering a holistic vision for improving a vital resource, Pollack argues for reforms to ensure that local governments have both the obligation and the funding needed to give due attention to sidewalks and all that they offer.

Whether elected officials, civil servants, engineers, developers, or voters, everyone has a stake in the question of where sidewalks should be placed and how they should be used. Indeed, as Sidewalk Nation makes clear, what's under our feet should be at the front of our minds as we decide how to build, regulate, and protect our neighborhoods.

About the author

Michael Pollack is Professor of Law and Associate Dean for Faculty Development at the Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law.

Product details

• Authors: Michael Pollack, Michael Pollack
• Publisher: Harvard University Press
• Languages: English
• Product format: Hardback
• Release: 02.06.2026
• EAN: 9780674296411
• ISBN: 978-0-674-29641-1
• No. of pages: 320
• Subjects: Social sciences, law, business > Political science > Political science and political education; Law / Government / State, Provincial & Municipal, BUSINESS & ECONOMICS / Urban & Regional, ARCHITECTURE / Urban & Land Use Planning, LAW / Housing & Urban Development, LAW / Property, LAW / Transportation, LAW / Land Use, City & town planning - architectural aspects, Urban & municipal planning, urban economics, Urban and municipal planning and policy, Property law: general, Housing law, City and town planning: architectural aspects, Land & real estate law, Regional government law, Local government law, Offences against the government, Regional / urban economics, property law, Land and real estate law / Real property law, transport law