Community is a word that tends to be stretched countless different ways without one overarching or even unifying definition. One very important point I got from Harold DeRienzo’s article is that communities are not just places, they are defined by the presence of interdependence and a commonality and these two factors give the community agency to act and develop. The two models he assigns for community development recognize the political framework of communities in two unique lights. The first, called the Static Enhancement Model, fully accepts the existing social, political, and economic situation surrounding a community and suggests ways that the community can enhance their standing within this situation. DeRienzo rejects this model, saying that realities are not static, they are constantly being created and changed. The Transformative Model better fits DeRienzo’s ideas, as well as the ideas of Tom Angotti, who focuses on policies and economies and how they can better work to serve communities. Both articles see communities and the political landscape as working together fluidly. Power is a critical aspect of these frameworks. DeRienzo says that power lasts for as long as people remain working together, and disappears as soon as they disperse.
Still, many communities are controlled by outside sources of power, especially those with low income residents. Tom Angotti looks at community planning, and its interaction with the large scale powerful real estate development of New York City. He cites Robert Fitch’s Assassination of New York as demonstrating how the FIRE sector dominates the city’s land use and fiscal policies. This sector has a huge impact on the political landscape as the biggest financial backer of political campaigns. So how has community planning stood up to such a huge power force in New York City? Angotti describes community planning movements as dynamic and sophisticated. It’s players are constantly working to create new strategies and ways to interact with the real estate stakeholders of the city. He says that urban planning can work to mediate the gap between real estate development and local community interests with this dynamic sophistication. Combined with DeRienzo’s power concept of the inherent capabilities of people working together, Angotti makes a strong case for the role of urban planning.
DQ: In each of our projects, where is the power held? In the community or outside of it? How do we give more power to unified communities?
