James DeFilippis and Alice O’Connor both make compelling arguments about the current state of communities versus urban cities. Capitalist urbanization allows privately owned businesses and owners to control the movement and growth of the population. They focus on having a high density for a larger profit, thus forcing poorer communities and people out of their houses, which are replaced by unaffordable replacements. Forcing these people out destroys the communities themselves, the values they held, and the history behind them. The people who are forced out also lose their livelihood.  Having a community that you belong to gives you a sense of self, it provides shelter, safety, and nurturance.

Communities mean so much to the people living in them, but they don’t to developers and current public policy. Large-scale policies “undermine” the small sections and their ability to survive. So what can be done? Alice proposes a few ideas that can be key to seeing communities not only survive, but grow. If the government is more involved in the policies surrounding housing, building, zoning, etc. then there will be protection for the lower income, minority communities that are often overlooked and neglected. The only problem is that privately owned buildings/ land cannot be easily controlled by the government.

In order to protect these communities the government must balance their budget with “antipoverty” policies that promote smaller living spaces and the people that call their community home.