Category Archives: Class #2

E.B White

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E.B Whites version of New York City is practically poetic in writing, and he does make a handful of great points. White breaks down New Yorkers into commuters, residents and settlers from a different place. His breakdown of what each group offers and gives is rather subjective in my opinion, because unless you have actually been all three it is difficult to pinpoint what one gains out of it. Nevertheless his argument of how nearly impossible it is for New York City to exist is one that should be taken.

Every New Yorker will fall into the category of a commuter, resident or a settler and that’s why Whites piece hits home for everyone. I am both a commuter and a resident of a New York City, and while I agree very much with Whites opinion of a resident, but I believe he was a bit too harsh on a commuter. Before I moved into the city, I used to commute to go to work and while it is true that as a commuter I didn’t experience roaming the city, it was a lot more then “entrances and exits.” Commuting to the city becomes a lifestyle and in that process a commuter learns how to navigate the city in the most efficient way as possible, while still getting as much out of it.

 

One interesting point that White makes is that people often say “it’s a wonderful place, but I’d hate to live there,” but actually New York City is consists of neighborhoods within neighborhoods. I currently live in Peter Cooper Village and just like White said everything I need is within a three-block radius at the max. Wandering away from my Gramercy, Union Square area makes me feel like I am in a whole different part of the city. Of course there is that loneliness and lack of sense of belonging here, just as there would be in any city, but I agree with White that outsiders often underestimate the community you do have by living here.

 

Another concept that White brings out, which to be honest I have not pondered is the concept that its almost impossible that this city exists and has continued on to be the capital of the world for decades. We have faced the Great Depression, plenty of terrorists attacks including 9/11, the economic recession, natural disasters including the most recent Hurricane Sandy, yet as a city we have grown and moved on.  As White says, “mass hysteria is a terrible force, yet New Yorkers always seem to escape it by a tiny margin,” and I believe that is because unlike any other city new York City is simply a mesh of all the craziest people who will do anything to maintain the reputation of this city as unparalleled to any other. New Yorkers have a sense of pride that don’t enjoy being brought down.

 

Overall reading Whites piece was rather enjoyable, because as a New Yorker as I mentioned above, his piece brings out a sense of pride. This city exists despites all of the dysfunctional parts of it, and I loved the passion that White put into writing this. I would want to further look into E.B White and the background on him to see where his perspective is coming from, because this was a subjective piece of writing on his opinion.

 

Reaction to Jacobs and the safety of sidewalks

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In Jane Jacobs’ text about sidewalks, I agreed with many of her points regarding perceived safety. People tend to be afraid of empty neighborhoods since many consider there to be safety in numbers and will prefer to walk down a well used street. I like the point she brought up about how in cities one must feel secure and safe with strangers. I never thought about living in the city this was, how one is always surrounded by strangers yet can still feel safe.

I also agree with some of Jacobs’ discussion about how streets are able to handle strangers. The people who reside on the street must be able to watch the street and police the neighborhood themselves so if an incident is about to occur, there can be intervention from the residents. Jacobs brings up several examples illustrating when this occurred but i disagree that this is always the case. Even in an area where a lot of people are watching crime may still occur and go unreported. In the book ” Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion, Robert Cialdini talks about the concept of social proof. when people don’t know how to react to something they tend to look to others to see how to act and model their behavior according to the reactions they see. Cialdini provides an example of a murder case that occurred. The victim ran about the neighborhood yelling for help but none of the residents who could hear the victim did anything to help nor called the police. The residents didn’t know how to react so they took note of each other and and without thinking assumed since no one was taking any action, there was no reason to do anything themselves. This is merely a psychological hypothesis, but there are still many instances where people unthinkingly act on social proof so thus Jacobs’ depiction of residents providing safety might not always be the case.
Another interesting point Jacobs discusses is how the sight of people attracts others. She mentions how benches in a busy area are always full yet benches in an empty area with few passerby’s are empty because it is boring to sit without watching people. I agree that it is an interesting way to spend time by watching people walking by but in her example, correlation doesn’t necessarily imply causation. Perhaps the busy areas have people sitting down just because there are more people there overall and it is more likely for them require a rest while the empty neighborhood has few people and thus few on the benches.

Jacobs mentions that people don’t want silence since it is boring without people. Again, I partially agree. People are interesting but after sometime, many embrace silence and want to spend some time alone. For example, i enjoy spending time in the crowded city, yet i also enjoy walking home in the evening in my quiet, mostly empty, residential neighborhood in brooklyn. I still feel safe even though it may be dark and there aren’t many people around.

Jacobs brings up several interesting points about safety and sidewalks though some of her points do not seem to be true for all instances.
A question I would have liked to ask her is how she thinks city planners should construct to go along with her ideas and how she thinks they can best be implemented.