One word that popped into my mind while reading this week
and considering the question of whether community is dying, thriving, or just
bumbling along; I thought of the word reincarnation. I think that neighborhoods
and communities are doing all of those things, they are being born, bumbling
along, living, and dying; then remarkably they are being recycled and
reincarnated into something different than they once were. For example we
learned of the Cabrini-Green housing project, which once housed nearly 15,000
low income people, that became so violent and corrupt that the only solution
was to tear it down, to kill it. Cabrini-Green was born, lived, bumbled along,
then died, and now is reborn into something different. From a Chicago Sun Times
article by Maudlyne Ihejirika I found this of interest: “A 150,000-square-foot,
three-story Target bringing 200 jobs — 75 reserved for public housing residents
— would sprout on 3.6 acres at the corner of Division and Larrabee in July
2013, sharing with new condos and town homes the land on which once stood the
Cabrini-Green development’s William Green Homes” (Ihejirika, 2013).
What is a 21st century neighborhood? I think this
depends on the individual’s perspective based on many different factors. Much
of our discussions have been about Chicago’s problems with crime, racial
differences, and poverty. If you are born into an African American single
parent family living in Cabrini-Green; it is nothing short of survival of the
fittest, and at best a living hell. If you are born into a white family living
in Gold Coast on Chicago’s North side; you are living the American dream. Most
of us reside somewhere in the middle of these two extremes where we feel relatively
safe and have many things that make life good.
I think for me and my family the 22nd century
will look much like this one. Most of the time children inherit the attributes
of the families they grew up in and find a way to live a life that is equal to
or better than that of their parents and grand parents.
One last quote by Thomas Jefferson…
“When we get piled upon one another in large cities, as in
Europe, we shall become as corrupt as Europe.” Perhaps our third president knew
that crime, violence, and poverty are problems that stem out of large urban
areas, and that these issues are nothing new; just history repeating and
recycling itself.
References:
Ihejirika, M. (2013, November 10th). Chicago Sun
Time. Retrieved from suntime.com:
http://www.suntimes.com/business/5134480-420/vision-for-cabrini-target-unveiled.html
I agree with what you said in this blog post, and I really enjoyed the way that you put it along with the supporting quotes. It is too often the "inner-city" kids that experience the most crime and poverty, and most of these problems are the end result of the large urban areas. Luckily for those of us who have been blessed to receive an education (and hopefully for our children) the lives we desire to lead will be readily available as long as we continue to work hard and stay on track. Unfortunately, on the flip side, too many of the kids that are raised in crime and poverty will continue the cycle with their offspring for countless generations until someone comes along that decides that lifestyle is not for them.
ReplyDeleteGreat description of the community being "reincarnated". It really does do all of the adjectives mentioned. Great perspective.
ReplyDeleteGood post. I like your quote at the end. It is pretty evident that the whole history repeating itself thing isn't old news, so rather than focus on the past mistakes we should focus on present solutions and what we can implement from past mistakes.
ReplyDeleteScott, interesting thought process on reincarnation. I could see some truth to what you said. It has got me thinking about the cycle of a neighborhood. Sampson is proposing a way of possibly breaking the cycle and making the 22nd century neighborhood different.
ReplyDeleteScott, great blog. I really liked how you pointed out perspective. That is one thing that I think shapes us all. We all come from different backgrounds and experiences that shape us, they help us to become who we are. A lot of those experiences happen in the communities that we grow up in. I think that is one important thing that will shape the 22nd century community.
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