When it comes to any construction, redevelopment, or rezoning, one is sure to meet much resistance. In the case of Robert Moses, he wielded such great power that he was able to move all those in his way and build his grand projects. These projects sometimes mirrored the idea of the green city. Stuyvesant Town, for instance, is a residential development of medium-sized buildings surrounded by green trees and grassy areas. The development is conspicuously missing something, business. If someone needs food or wants to do much else besides look at trees they need to leave the development and seek what they are looking for elsewhere. This prevents the development of a local community because one does not end up shopping at the same stores as their neighbors. The segmentation of life created by developments such as this foster sterile living conditions devoid of character and convenience.
Then we have the “competing” ideology of Jacobs who advocated for smaller blocks, varied building age, and a mix of residential and commercial facilities. These areas foster a much stronger economic engine because they are in some ways self contained. The lack of central planning enables these areas to develop specialized neighborhood architecture and allow the community to shape itself. By means of gentrification the area is able to redefine and grow in a gradual manner. This allows the area to find out what is needed rather that necessitate an omnipotent planner who knows how everything needs to be from the beginning. It is likely, however, that this gradual growth without central planning is not good for the growth of a city because it doesn’t address the need for highways or large apartment buildings – resulting in areas that have lower population densities thus limiting the ultimate growth of a city.
Somehow a balance must be struck where the redevelopment of a city can be undertaken on grander scales while taking into account the inability to plan everything ahead. Planners perhaps should focus on designing areas that could take on many functions as they are needed. Mixing commercial and residential and even allowing for easy conversion between the two as needs change. This way communities are enable by large projects to make decisions on their own. Thus harnessing the power of government to build large projects while allowing communities to grow into the space strengthening the development with a robust economy and society, much like roots fortify an otherwise weak soil.
Discussion question: Public development and gentrification are often demonized as pushing out the underprivileged but are they a necessary “evil” in the growth of a city and its shifting infrastructure?
