When one thinks about “East Harlem” their own safety may be one of the first things that come to mind. Growing up in the city, I was always told to be cautious of neighborhoods in Uptown Manhattan, such as East Harlem. I’ve constantly heard about shootings and robberies in the area, thus labeling the neighborhood in my mind as an unsafe area. Although East Harlem had a history of violence and high crime rates even after the crime rates decreased East Harlem is still stigmatized as a violence prone neighborhood. The observations my group conducted last Thursday changed my perspectives of the notorious neighborhood.

We waited for all the group members at the Silberman Building, our first stop. While waiting, some of us went across the street to the corner bodega to get breakfast. One of the first things I noticed were the relatively cheaper prices compared to the delis around Hunter. I also noticed that the cashier, a middle-aged Hispanic man, was really friendly with all of the customers. He was joking around with one customer, an African American, who seemed like a regular. This interaction showed me that there was definitely a deep sense of community amongst the residents in the neighborhood.

A lot of people also refer to the area as “Spanish Harlem” due to it being one of the largest Latino communities in New York. Once everyone arrived, we headed towards the public housing buildings behind the Silberman Building. We passed by an elementary school that had murals on the side of the building and stopped to take pictures. We saw a sign on the building that said that it was an “asthma free school zone”, which was pretty interesting because I read online about how children are three times more likely to suffer from a serious asthma attack in East Harlem (Konkel). What we also found taped next to one of the entrances was a notice from the school, but it was fully written in Spanish. This clearly showed us that there was abundance of Spanish speaking families attending the school and living in the neighborhood. The few people we talked to were Hispanic. One was an old Puerto Rican man who was sitting in front of his house just enjoying the weather. He had a painting of winter and the Puerto Rican flag as decorations on the front of his house. We asked him if he knew the woman in one of the murals we saw, and he said yes but we couldn’t understand him further. The others we spoke to were the cashiers in a restaurant we stopped by for lunch. What I thought was interesting was that most of the interactions we observed occurred in crowded areas, such as in front of stores and on Lexington Ave in general. We passed by a lot of Hispanic restaurants and it definitely made sense to me as to why the area was previously named “Spanish Harlem”.

After walking around for a while, we took a little break in one of the parks we passed by. There wasn’t anyone in the park at that time, which was a bit surprising. I guess the placement of the park wasn’t very effective. It was a very open area with a lot of seating. There were also a lot of plants and trees, giving it a very nice and calm atmosphere. We actually passed by a lot of gardens and parks and many had or were near murals, which are famous in East Harlem. I recommend the parks to be created near crowded areas and near restaurants so that people can find seating area outdoors as well because the “spaces shape the social relations that take place in them”(Shepard). I also feel that since we observed East Harlem in the morning, not many people were outdoors so it wouldn’t be effective to base recommendations after only one day of walking around. Another recommendation would be to develop housing in buildings and lots that have been abandoned (we passed by quite a few). By walking around and observing the neighborhood, I got insight on how people study public life. “Observation is the key, and the means are simple and cheap. Tweaking observations into a system provides interesting information about the interaction of public life and public space” (Gehl). Studying public life and public space is beneficial when it comes to urban planning and improving the urban space.

Gehl, Jan and Birgitte Svarre (2013), How to Study Public Life, Washington, DC: Island Press.

Konkel, Lindsey. Kids Struggle to Breathe in This Neighborhood on Pope’s Tour. National Geographic. 15 Sept. 2015. Web.

Shepard, Benjamin and Heim Smithsimon (2011), Beach Beneath the Streets: Contesting New York City’s Public Space (SUNY Press).