Global Cities, Local Streets – Christian Butron

The recent wave of gentrification that has been impacting Brooklyn is not something new to New York or any city. Cities always change. Prosperous cities draw in many immigrants. Immigrants begin making up larger portions of neighborhoods. Current residents feel that their culture and livelihood is being displaced, resulting in them leaving and also causing property values to plummet. Immigrants dominate their respective neighborhoods. Eventually, new immigrants chasing opportunity come in and begin displacing the now entrenched immigrant populations. Decades pass and then eventually, property values plummet so much that it begins attracting hipsters, students, and artists. Hipsters, students, and artists start gentrifying their places of residence. This attracts higher-income residents, raising property values and threatening to displace the immigrants. Though seemingly local in nature, the cycle is part of a much larger global economic cycle that pushes immigrants to certain parts of the world in search of stability and that drives investors to coalesce around certain parts of the world for financial opportunity. Currently, New York City is attracting both large immigration and large gentrification. These conflicting movements are distinguishing themselves in interesting ways.

What is interesting is how differently the movements of the immigrants and the wealthy propagate themselves in cities. As the article Global Cities, Local Streets: Everyday Diversity from New York to Shanghai, puts it: immigrants who come from the Global South populate lower-income neighborhoods while immigrants who come from the Global North populate higher-income neighborhoods. The Global South tends to open businesses built on low-prices and a distinctly ethnic feel, which changes depending on the ethnic makeup of the neighborhood. The Global North tends to open businesses built on high prices and a more homogenized, which is shown in the fact that upscale neighborhoods tend to be similar all around the world. As the article points out, ABCs, or art galleries, boutiques, and cafes, tend to be widespread in Global North neighborhoods.

One can say the Global North is a natural result of globalization and is a representation of multiple cultures, which is why the style is so similar across many borders. However, there is an argument that the Global South better represents globalization in that shops tend to reflect the ethnic character of not only the owner, but the neighborhood and the area around it. For example: the article points out the sandwiches at Ali’s roti shop, which are halal meat wrapped in Indian flat bread, brought to the Caribbean by East Indian migrants. Global South’s shopping streets are unique in each neighborhood, but have their own twists in that they are heavily influenced by their environments. The Global North, on the other hand, tends to force its culture upon places, replacing environments rather than embracing them.

What is also interesting is the somewhat differing and somewhat similar views that both the Global North and the Global South have for the rise of national chain stores. The Global North tends to see these stores as signs of decline since they tend to cater to all income classes, including those with lower income. The rise of these stores in neighborhoods of the Global South tend to be seen as signs of improvement yet at the same time they threaten the livelihood of small businesses who cannot compete with the pricing of the chain stores. The labor practices of these stores tend to be questionable. As a result of these many factors, there is fierce opposition to the proliferation of chain stores in New York from both sides of the aisle. Online stores face similar scrutiny from both sides. Online stores are similar to chain stores in that they typically cater to all incomes for their low prices. Thus, they are looked down upon by the North and are feared by the South. Though the North are generally more accepting of online stores. Online stores are even worse in that they have practically the same negative effects that physical chain stores do just without any possible social interaction.

Overall, I believe change to our shopping streets is inevitable as change to our cities is inevitable. The rise of online stores and more homogenized shopping districts is both unifying the world and isolating those who are not in tune with change.