At the time Jane Jacobs was writing The Death and Life of Great American Cities, city planning was not a process done by or for the people who lived in them. Residents were rarely consulted or involved in decision making, rather it be left to few elites who dictated their vision of the city for everybody else to conform to. This is clearly illustrated in her conflicts with Robert Moses, an outspoken Yale educated city planner operating in New York, where Jacobs was living at the time. Moses had a clear and unshifting vision for the city and used his persuasive manner and connections to push forward his proposals at alarming rates. Urban renewal was the key process in his plans, this is the demolition of buildings and relocation of people …show more content…
Flint, 2009) [43]
From the 1930’s onwards Robert used these powers to have almost free reign over New York City, building highways, bridges and parks sprawling through the urban environment destroying thousands of homes in the process. It was not until his proposal to extend Fifth Avenue through the centre of Washington Square Park that Jane Jacobs became alerted to his actions, she was concerned that the park would become derelict if it was in such close proximity to a
…show more content…
There were four key components in Jacobs’ plan to stimulate diversity; areas should have multiple functions, blocks must be short, buildings of varying age and condition should be present and there should be a sufficient population density to allow for such diversity within it.
For Jacobs these four keys started just outside the front door, she recognised the importance the street had in cultivating diversity as well as how a lack of safety on the streets could impact it negatively, “The problem of sidewalk and doorstep insecurity is as serious in cities which have made conscientious efforts at rebuilding as those in cities that have lagged” (J. Jacobs …). Although efforts were often made by planners to make the streets safer she felt they missed the mark and that in some ways districts were even tailor made for easy crime. The orthodox approach was that if green space such as a park was provided nearby then it would provide an area for safe play and recreation within the city, however it was often the case that the issues of insecurity on the streets spilled over into the parkland as well. “It is futile to try to evade the issue of unsafe cities by attempting to make
Elijah Anderson’s Code of the Street book depicts two opposite communities within Philadelphia, the poor inner city black community and the residential middle class community. The majority of the book revolves around describing how the inner city functions on a ‘code of the street’ mentality, respect and toughness. Crime, violence and poverty run high in the inner city and following the code is a way to survive. Having a decent family or a street family greatly influences the path an adolescent will take involving delinquency. Anderson divides the book up into different themes and explores each one my not only giving factual information, but he also incorporates real life stories of various people who survived the inner city life style. Some of the themes include territory, survival by any means necessary, toughness, separate set of norms, campaign of respect and the mating game. Some criminological theories are also noticeable that take place in the inner city community.
One of the many obstacles which women had to cope with during slavery was losing their children. One night a black woman’s child will be with her and the other morning he/she could be sold off to another Master. In the story, “Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl”, Harriet Jacobs had to face a similar dilemma. She had to escape, risk leaving her children back on the plantation, in order for them to be kept in one place. If she had stayed, her children would have been sold to another slave master and she probably would have never seen them again. One of the hardest things for a mother to do is leave their children behind in a dangerous place and Harriet had to do this. If she was a man, she wouldn’t be taking care of her kids, but she would just be working. No children to worry about or nothing. Therefore, a woman’s fear of losing her children was a major obstacle during slavery.
Jacobs’ story does much to highlight these similarities and differences. Ultimately, Jacobs’ identity as a Black American determined how she was treated by others, but her identity as a slave affected the very way she thought. When she was alone or with family, the color of her skin did not matter. However, no matter where she was, her and her children 's’ enslavement would have a factor in the way she thought, from hoping for her and her children’s freedom, to praying that they did not have to suffer much more. The similarities of enslavement and skin color are just how much they affect Jacobs’ other identities. As an enslaved black woman, Jacobs knew that her beauty was a curse, and that she was unprotected in the eyes of the law. This significant lack of any protection is what leads to Jacobs being the victim of so much abuse, and indeed, what led to so many others just like her becoming the victims of their abusers. As a slave, she was born almost completely devoid of rights, and as a black person, southern society found it hard to put much effort towards caring for her. Overall, being a slave and Black American did not have the same implications for one’s life, but they did in equal parts affect how society viewed the
Furthermore, he attempts to dispel the negative aspects of gentrification by pointing out how some of them are nonexistent. To accomplish this, Turman exemplifies how gentrification could positively impact neighborhoods like Third Ward (a ‘dangerous’ neighborhood in Houston, Texas). Throughout the article, Turman provides copious examples of how gentrification can positively change urban communities, expressing that “gentrification can produce desirable effects upon a community such as a reduced crime rate, investment in the infrastructure of an area and increased economic activity in neighborhoods which gentrify”. Furthermore, he opportunistically uses the Third Ward as an example, which he describes as “the 15th most dangerous neighborhood in the country” and “synonymous with crime”, as an example of an area that could “need the change that gentrification provides”.
While the definition of what a city is up to the idea one’s mind, Anthropologist Jane Jacobs, philosopher Marshall Berman and Urban planner Robert Moses had polar opposite ideas of how a city should be portrayed. Jane Jacobs’s rather utopian ideal of sidewalk New York City was the true sense of a city but bulldozed by the modernization of Robert Moses.
Although cities during the Modern Era were sometimes thought of as prosperous parts of the “American Dream,” that appearance was only superficial. When one actually took a step into the heart of a large city during this time, one realized how unpleasant some cities were. For example, Manhattan, albeit it held magnificently “shining towers,”
Imagine walking through a park and your eye catches something bright, and your turn to look and its steel gates wrapping through a park. If you decide to walk through Central Park you will pass under vibrant orange steel gates with matching fabrics draping in the wind.The beautiful oranges screamed out against the soft white snow creating a beautiful piece. Some people felt like this brought life back into New York since 9/11, giving the city a feeling of warmth and security, while others felt it was a nuisance and a disruption to the natural beauty of the park, even though the park is anything but natural. It is infact all man
Sally Engle Merry’s “Urban Danger: Life in a Neighborhood of Strangers” explores the urban danger associated with living in a neighborhood with “strangers.” The ethnographic study centralizes around a multiethnic housing project in a neighborhood with high crime; Dover Square Project. She emphasizes the relevance of social groups and the impact it maintains in promoting the idea of danger in urbanities. Merry focuses her attention on the impression the residents’ have, which is “that they live in a world of dangerous and unpredictable strangers” and the contrasting reality. Throughout the article, she clarifies this misconception and explores how the boundaries between the ethnic groups promote anonymity, which then in response fosters opportunities for
For this assignment I decided to read the book Code of the Street: decency, violence, and the moral life of the inner city by Elijah Anderson. This book is about how inner city people live and try and survive by living with the code of the streets. The code of the streets is basically morals and values that these people have. Most of the time it is the way they need to act to survive. Continuing on within this book review I am going to discuss the main points and arguments that Anderson portrays within the book. The main points that the book has, goes along with the chapters. These points consist of Street and decent families, respect, drugs violence, street crime, decent daddy, the mating game, black inner city grandmother. Now within these points there are a few main arguments that I would like to point out. The first argument is the belief that you will need to accept the street code to get through life. The other one is the belief that people on the street need “juice”. For the rest of this paper we will be looking at each one of main points and arguments by going through each chapter and discussing it.
...ner-city areas (Carter and Davey Smith, 2008, p.172). The city as a built material form highlighted that bricks, mortar, houses and walls are thoroughly implicated in the shaping of the security of cities. The inner city is often subjected to strategies of different kinds of segregation and defence against individuals who are different from us and that this is prompted by a battle of individual insecurity (The Open University, 2013b)
Ever wonder how urban design affects our daily lives and the way we build? Rural, urban, and suburb areas have many positives and negatives that impact us and determines how we accomplish our tasks and manage our time daily. Some of the areas might be difficult for people to live in or might be easy for others. The areas manage the money and time we spend in doing activities or accomplishing our needs such as transportation, education, health care, and more. Urban areas regulate the type of architecture and urban design that is being built around us with their features and the urban ecology.
...en redevelopment occurs in an area, areas of open space should be left and create parks between roads.
Frank Lloyd Wright was perhaps the most influential American architect of the 20th century and one of the greatest to ever live. What was well known about Wright was that he was deeply ambivalent about cities and metropolis centers. His key criticism of large cities was that the advancing technologies had rendered the cities, which were created industry and immigration in the late 19th and early 20th Century, completely obsolete. He famously quoted that, “ The present city…has nothing to give the citizen…because centralization have no forces of regeneration”. Instead, Wright envisioned decentralized settlements (otherwise known as suburban neighborhoods) that would take advantage of the mobility offered by the automobile, telephones, and telegraphic communication. Because of the rise of the suburban complexes in the post WW2 era, this is where Wright first got the reputation has being a prophet for the architecture world.
To understand Urban Planning, one must first look into the history of planning in America. Planning has the characteristic of being centered within the conditions of the environment and the needs of society in the time periods in which it takes place. During the early history of Urban Planning, planning occurred around the gathering of people into groups. Planning history goes back to the beginning of time and labeling planning was a slow but steady process over many centuries.
‘Public space is what in many ways makes cities more livable’, said Richard Rogers (2014). Rogers stated (2014) that public space between buildings influences both the built form and the civic quality of the city, be streets, public squares or parks. The balance between public and private realm is needed to apply practice’s design approach. City is beyond than bright of street light, shops, crowds, and weather. The city should be dense, vibrant and socially diverse where buildings and the surrounding should connect and interpret one another, with outdoor open air spaces functioning. However, the city also contains neglected public spaces that are underused and need more attention. These open spaces contribute to local economies and property values, they help people save on everything from heath care to recreation, and perform valuable ecosystem services that naturally improve the air they breathe and the water for drink. In my opinion, people who live in the city think that they like nature, but actually they need the nature as their necessity. In Singapore context, one of the identity of being garden city is need the understanding of Local urban culture and life, not just about physical attributes that typical public spaces are designed only by greeneries element. The relationship among buildings, people and public spaces demonstrate how the architect's responsibility can successfully extend beyond the aesthetic element to include the public realm. The relationship the square or street and surrounding buildings helps to stimulate public activities and create friendly environment that have social emotional, cognitive, and even psychological needs are met. Yet, large areas of neglected, poverty and empty quarters, could demolish th...