Urban Social Justice: the Gentrification Debate
Question: “The contemporary city is being made into an unjust space”, discuss.
The contemporary city is a complex and ever developing organism that maintains a level of influence in the world that has never been seen before. Major cities such as New York, London and Tokyo are global command centers for the world’s economy and have direct and indirect influences on just about everyone engaged in the world society. However despite all the leaps and bounds that cities have made as far as growth and power, there are more micro-level social and economic issues that have been exacerbated by this progression. The essence of the city has and always will be the people that inhabit it; how they live, work and interact should be the primary focus of any urban environment. Gentrification, social and economic stratification and even unjust organization of space are some of the most pressing problems that many cities are facing. Interestingly enough, depending on whom you ask, you could get an extremely positive or negative view on the direction that the contemporary city is headed.
In the mid-twentieth century a number of different factors lead to large-scale migration of middle-class white people in America from the inner city to the suburbs. Some dubbed this the “white flight” and was caused by a combination of social, economic and spatial influences. Following WWII there was a surplus of housing demand and large-scale suburban development quickly ensued. When coupled with the creation of President Eisenhower’s Federal Interstate Highway and the introduction of GI loans, owning a house in the suburbs became both convenient and affordable. On top of this many middle-class whites were feeling pressured from the increasing minority and immigrant population and felt that the suburbs would be a “safer” place to raise children. Real-estate developers pushed the image of the “American Dream” as owning a house with a front lawn out in the safe and peaceful suburbs. On top of that
The contemporary city is a complex and ever developing organism that maintains a level of influence in the world that has never been seen before. Major cities such as New York, London and Tokyo are global command centers for the world’s economy and have direct and indirect influences on just about everyone engaged in the world society. However despite all the leaps and bounds that cities have made as far as growth and power, there are more micro-level social and economic issues that have been exacerbated by this progression. The essence of the city has and always will be the people that inhabit it; how they live, work and interact should be the primary focus of any urban environment. Gentrification, social and economic stratification and even unjust organization of space are some of the most pressing problems that many cities are facing. Interestingly enough, depending on whom you ask, you could get an extremely positive or negative view on the direction that the contemporary city is headed.
In the mid-twentieth century a number of different factors lead to large-scale migration of middle-class white people in America from the inner city to the suburbs. Some dubbed this the “white flight” and was caused by a combination of social, economic and spatial influences. Following WWII there was a surplus of housing demand and large-scale suburban development quickly ensued. When coupled with the creation of President Eisenhower’s Federal Interstate Highway and the introduction of GI loans, owning a house in the suburbs became both convenient and affordable. On top of this many middle-class whites were feeling pressured from the increasing minority and immigrant population and felt that the suburbs would be a “safer” place to raise children. Real-estate developers pushed the image of the “American Dream” as owning a house with a front lawn out in the safe and peaceful suburbs. On top of that
Cited: 1. Davidson, Mark, and Loretta Lees. "New-build ‘gentrification’ and London’s Riverside Renaissance." Environment and Planning A 37.7 (2005): 1165-190. Print. 2. Davidson, Mark. "Displacement, Space and Dwelling: Placing Gentrification Debate." Ethics, Place & Environment 12.2 (2009): 219-34. Print. 3. Jacobs, Jane. The Death and Life of Great American Cities. [New York]: Random House, 1961. Print. 4. Lemann, Nicholas. "Get Out of Town." The New Yorker (2011). Print. 5. Newman, Kathe, and Elvin K. Wyly. "The Right to Stay Put, Revisited: Gentrification and Resistance to Displacement in New York City." Urban Studies 43.1 (2006): 23-57. Print. 6. Room, G. J. "Social Exclusion, Solidarity and the Challenge of Globalization." International Journal of Social Welfare 8.3 (1999): 166-74. Print. 7. Smith, Neil. "Toward a Theory of Gentrification A Back to the City Movement by Capital, Not People." Journal of the American Planning Association 45.4 (1979): 538-48. Print. 8. Duany, Andres. "Three Cheers for Gentrification." The American Enterprise 12.3 (2001). Print. 9. Castel, Robert. Les Metamorhoses De La Question Sociale: Une Cronique Du Salariat. Paris: Gallimard, 1995. Print.