Throughout the book, Fullilove includes anecdotes about how urban renewal happened in places that were thought to have nothing in the first place, but yet there was so much lost. The neighborhoods were poor and dirty. Outsiders thought that there was no way for these places to get worse, so anything they did to them could only be an improvement. However, in all of these neighborhoods, lives were lost. I don’t mean it in the sense that people died, but the way the people were used to living was lost. People went from generally supportive and kind neighborhoods to ones where people were mean and purposely distanced themselves from others. While the people who left their neighborhoods due to urban renewal were still kind, the areas that they moved to did not let them practice that kindness. That is why the kindness disappeared. So far, I keep hearing about how people have moved from poor but loving neighborhoods to wealthier but more isolated neighborhoods. My question is: does a neighborhood have to be poor for the people to feel a sense of community?
Shaping the Future of New York City
Professor Braine, Spring 2013: Thursday 12:50-3:30pm in 4305 Boylan Hall (B)
Jessina you pose an interesting question in asking whether a community needs to be poor in order for a sense of community to be shared. In my opinion, many communities that are poor, do have a sense of community but I have also seen communities that aren’t poor to have that sense of community. I believe it may have to do with the different events and activities that the community does in order to bring the people together. The size of the community is also a factor as well as the dominant race and age group.
A neighborhood doesn’t have to be poor to feel a sense of community but I believe we see that very often in society because when people are not as well off, they need much more support from others like them to make things come together as much as possible. The poor knows first-hand of the hardships they face due to their economic status and they are able to empathize with other struggling people. People living in poor neighborhoods do not have much, but the one thing for sure they have is their community. In the wealthier neighborhoods, there could still be a sense of community but I think it takes much more to form that community than it would be in a poorer neighborhood. It is not so much about that extra moral and financial support from each other, but the deciding factors of having that community in wealthy neighborhood would be based on race, religious beliefs, ethnicity, age, and etcetera. No matter what neighborhood you are in, communities are created when there is a need for that sense of unity.