Perhaps the most important concept I learned from the two texts was the distinction between what constitutes a neighborhood versus a community. Having read “Communities Develop: The Question is How?” first, I was actually surprised by the emphasis that the author placed on the importance of communities in building not only relationships between people, but in also developing aspects of individual personalities. Growing up in a semi-suburban, semi-urban neighborhood in Queens, I had never really experienced the concept of a tight-knit community and was somewhat skeptical of this viewpoint. However, upon reading DiRienzo’s piece, I realized that there is in fact a great difference in the definitions of communities and neighborhoods. While neighborhoods basically describe the infrastructure and organization of housing plans, communities focus more on the social interactions that occur within these neighborhoods. Having realized that I was not so familiar with the concept of a community as I was with the concept of a neighborhood, I pondered upon the recent experiences I have has with communities-although not my own-while working on the project for this seminar.

Many concepts highlighted by the authors of these two pieces were incredibly relevant to my group’s project on the future of environmental justice. For instance, DeRienzo places emphasis upon the importance of public space within communities. DeRienzo compares the seizure of public space by a private company to land being overtaken by a totalitarian regime. He argues that the maintenance of public space is a sign of a community’s self-sufficiency. In our project, we are researching a community in the South Bronx that has become taken over by private industry and is striving to gain back public land. Although the concern of pollution is an important one, the community is also driven by the desire to improve their quality of life. Being overtaken by private companies has taken a mental toll on the residents of Mott Haven because they feel as if they have no influence in the future of their own community. I believe that the residents of this particular area of the South Bronx truly exemplify the meaning of community because they have all come together with similar interests in mind, in hopes of regaining their land for the best interest of all South Bronx residents.