2014 Shaping the Future of New York Fridays: 11:00-1:45 Boylan Hall, 2231

Going through the reading, one idea was stressed continually that I found to be quite interesting: the human aspect of the projects.

The developers of these various areas were quite good at building major centers and organizing large projects. Big highways, huge buildings – it makes sense that these projects would, at first glance, improve surrounding communities. Obviously, buying out residents and leaving them with little place to go is horrible, but the idea that these new communities would be nicer, with newly created low-income living areas for displaced people, is a very appealing one. So, where did it all go wrong?

Even more than failed promises to build new living places for most of the displaced persons, I think that the main problem was a failure to relate to these communities as people. People have relationships, sentiments and emotions that go beyond how wide their streets are. Community structure can be infinitely more important then civil engineering structure, and the failure to realize this is, I believe, the worst aspect of theses renewal projects. These project treated people like x’s and o’s on paper, are therein lies the biggest flaw of them.

Josh

I was taken aback by the in depth research done by the author of the Urban Renewal article. I found their data to be shocking yet completely representative of the ways in which white imperialism has its way with our country and beyond. I especially found the anecdote with the indian and alien to be especially hilarious. Although I will admit I was slightly ashamed when I laughed. For this is the harsh reality of our woven history and our ‘ancestors’ of America. They used financial gain and land development as a ridiculous excuse to drive many people off their lands and then import other populations of people to do their work for them. It is difficult to maintain an even public health standard when our country’s socioeconomic differences were so stark at the beginning. Especially in modern times with all our talk about public health care and subsidized health care. Where will this fit in to our especially marginalized areas?

Annaliisa

Though it has essentially become a fundamental and characteristic staple of urban living, urban renewal is still accompanied by conflict each and every step of the way. The conflict so inherent to urban renewal is most often propagated by two groups intrinsically at odds with one another: local community residents and big businesses.  Their clash often seems to stem from a basic difference in perspective. Urban renewal projects are generally embarked upon with the intention of both personal and communal enrichment, yet, simultaneously, the politicians and businessman usually driving the project tend to ignore the thoughts and needs of the community already in place.

Interestingly enough, this struggle was more or less exemplified in recent years by the uproar over Forest City Ratner’s Atlantic Yards Project in Downtown Brooklyn.  The project began with a brief promise by Frank Gehry, the architect-in-chief, to “build a neighborhood from scratch,” apparently brushing off the existence of the well-rooted community already there. Community activists soon got up in arms and implored Forest City Ratner to develop the neighborhood, not destroy it. Aided and subsidized by the New York City government, the developers eventually, and inevitably, prevailed.

The circumstances in Downtown Brooklyn typified the general conditions of many urban renewal projects. Forest City Ratner poured obscene amounts of money into developing the neighborhood, and they paid displaced residents nearly 2.5 times the market value for their homes. But the subsequent gentrification forced out many other community members as well, including those not accounted for by the city politicians and developers. The neighborhood development drove rent through the roof and tore apart many tight-knit, decades-old communities.

At its core, urban renewal has become a trade-off between money and prestige, and the fostering of protective, united communities that can prove instrumental in the development of our children’s minds and ideals. It is a sad, unfortunate truth, but, as we have all come to learn, money talks. And everyone else remains silent.