SO306

Robert Park and the Chicago School:  - The city as a living breathing thing; city from ecological standpoint: we can look at cities and humans in the same way that we look at plants and animals (detached bird's eye view)  - 2 facets of the city  economic: yearning for supremacy, incredible competition Most profitable use of space wins (Planning City/ History of Parks) people move  into neighborhoods based on economy (competiton, quest for status)  cultural: “states of mind”, neighborhood based (neighborhood created thru economic conditions)  Division of labor: organizes the city because people are utterly dependent on one another like never before— spirit of cooperation, tells you where to live and live w/ others who also works in similar situation w/ similar situation w/ similar capital Wanted us to think of cities as highly organized through natural order (equilibrium) resting on division of labor(NATURAL AREAS)  - Neighborhood succession: replacement of one group by another within a bounded area  (ex. North End/West End) lots of turnover— comes out of competition; happens as there are changes in status of group as well as economic  - significant caveat: treatment of this as natural and inevitable Concentric Zone Model: Burgess  - central business center—> wholesale/light manufacturing—> lower class housing —> medium class residences —> higher class residences Boston’s History - Boston= unlikely place for a city swamp and marshland small areas, lots of hills, narrow twisty roads - Advantages of Boston as a City by water, easy for imports and exports  intellectual industry/ culture  culture (history/ sports/ ehtnic) hills- helpful strategy for defense - Inequalities evident in Boston no representation during planning  access to city: poorest neighborhoods have least access to transportation system (mattapan) - Boston gains Greater Land Mass annexation: bosotn lures suburbs to become part of city by bribing them w/ water, sewage, transportation because most of them couldn't afford to provide public services on own - Emerald Necklace Fenway, thru arboretum and to Franklin park zoo; goal= giving leisure time  city= dangerous morally, so expansion of green space included in order to allow for proper citizenry                      

Gans: Urban Villagers  Big ideas: Urban Renewal and Peer group society A. Peer Group Society Combination of family and peer relationships; elaborate membership rules Individual not central -since West Enders have been taught to “function soley within the group” since childhood, “being alone bring discomfort and ultimately fear’”  Ability to “limit deviant behavior” because West Enders are so obsessed with how they appear to the group, and of what the peer group might think of his/her actions, they are therefore left with “highly exaggerated…expectations of what others think of him. This in turn is an effective device for limiting deviant behavior Functions: gets news thru the group, instead of turning to local gov’t— satisfies needs thru peer group rather than a neighborhood institution  - PGS LIMITS: group’s inability to work together due to its fear that doing so would put one person in the group ahead of the rest, caused a weakness in community organization,  unable to work together even when their survival depends on it, as can be seen in the redevelopment of the West End , AND no individual identity (does not give participants an ability to develop their own self image apart from the group— they only have developed a sort of group image) B. Urban Renewal government sees area as a slum, and sees area as potential for property redevelopment to jump-start static economy; they work to name it a slum and completely bulldoze the entire neighborhood thru eminent domain justification for UR was that social organization= weak, but Gans shows us that social organization occurs thru gossip, rather than social institutions; many people look at effectiveness of community organization (formal inst.) to determine neighborhood organization, or disorganization ( Gans refutes this, informal organization maintains social order, too) C. Racial and Ethnic Diversity  no meshing, not interacting; live as neighbors, but not harmoniously D. West End and Chicago School  Chicago school says Capitalism drives decision of city  West End: not just mitigated/ driven by capitalism BUT Urban Renewal’s drive= capitalistic Capitalist interests= driving force, but would not account for entire picture

Jane Jacobs: The Life and Death of Great American Cities  - Urban Redevelopments fail because they fail to understand what urban neighborhoods really are  problem with suburbanizaiton-focused redevelopment is that urban vitality does not have same needs as suburban vitality  a successful neighborhood:  one in which a community can keep on top of its problems so it is not overwhelmed by them; must be able to deal with problems emerging from within must be able to rise to challenge of dealing with threats from much more powerful outside interests Purposefully planned areas are dull, monotonous neighborhoods that are more like streets put together by a set boundary view of city neighborhoods as self-sufficient, cozy, inward looking communities This only makes sense: smaller communities can be self-governing because people know each other. In a  town of 7,000 you almost could not help but bump into people you know Lively neighborhoods are able to come together better during redevelopment threats since the people within a lively neighborhood are more connected with their community and are therefore more likely to come together and work as one against a common evil, in their case redevelopment Case of Greenwich Village: ability of the neighborhood to come together at a local level, with strong self-governing principles was what allowed for such a small and seemingly insignificant force to become one of the strongest forces against redevelopment, and ultimately allowed Greenwich Village to keep its neighborhood in tact - Admiration of the North End  small streets: short blocks and narrow streets (H increases human interaction)  mixed use neighborhood  likes strangers— strangers keep area safe, because people’s eyes are on the streets, more attentive to our surroundings - Vision of the BEST kind of neighborhood  best kind of street: clear demarcation of public and private space ( we cant see everything, but we can work together to monitor what happens in public  eyes on the street: primarily belong to residents, wants them to be on toes visually  continuous/ mixed use: every street should have a bar on it— bars stay open late at night, bartenders and employees, take a sort of “night shift”  Ideal street: coffee shop/ bakery, bar, apartments, lunch spot, school; Neighborhoods should be demographically diverse, similarity not good, age/ economic heterogeneity is beneficial because it keeps eyes on the street at all times  “sidewalk ballet” — when a street/ sidewalk functioning well, everyone will know their role and perform a dance to keep the neighborhood alive: a sort of harmony, many people all with own role, work together to make noise  Smajda and Gerteis, "A Sauce-Scented Neighborhood" - explain the different forces affecting the authenticity of the North End through gentrification - unifying forces in the North End as gentrification pushes further during the “Big Dig” BIG DIG:  able to ensure no buildings would be destroyed, and that businesses could maintain foot traffic even during construction “the committee organized and became one of the most successful examples of neighborhood activism in recent history, winning many protections and concessions from the Big Dig project and gaining a significant amount of input into the decision-making process for the project”(635)   community’s liveliness before the Big Dig and its large local political efficacy is what allowed the North End to survive and be its own force against the forces of redevelopment. - turnover: strong tourist economy/ no stability: young people move out (no strong ties to community), has become a transient place-- TOO transient     

South End  - ordered segmentation - continues to grow symbolically  - a lot of green space: largely due to UR projects Small, Villa Victoria  -  South End: people attempted to eliminate Parcel 19, a predominately Puerto Rican neighborhood, under the guise of “Urban Renewal” Parcel 19’s efficacy allowed them to not be uprooted in the face of upcoming neighborhood succession neighborhood’s ability to continue on even as there are various changes going on within the area; continue through neighborhood succession and redevelopment forces Villa Victoria and the surrounding neighborhood has been able to maintain its vitality because of its residents’ ability to stay active in the community - "To many, seems to be most diverse mile in America"  (This is not typical high poverty neighborhood)  Background state manipulation of land, fill and develop catered to upper class, when falls through, state offers encouragement of middle/ lower class to move in collective celebration of heterogeneity at least three public housing in neighborhood (makes neighborhood racially, economically heterogeneous) big community victories: Urban renewal and highway  ordered segmentation: you can live in diverse neighborhood and not experience heterogeneity diversity segmentation (David Hyra):  neighborhood can be demographically diverse, and still be racially, economically, and socially segregated (most of needs can be be met within designated area) parks, dog runs, school yards: public spaces being defined= informal way of maintaining diversity segmentation Small: symbolic barriers define segregated areas (literally spaces permitted to enter depending on who you are) Ordered segmentation, expanded  Jared Suttle: Territorial marking turf of ethnic groups perpetuate mutual exclusiveness and maintain order by minimizing conflict between groups  “soft boundaries”  instinctual response to go find people like you  maintained in South End: state placed groups, rent prices, etc. ppl who are oppressed recognize the risk if they do not obey soft boundaries so they are inclined to stay in same position (micro-aggressions) Small and Social Participation  joining a club, involvement in local politics, community meetings, church  people who participate largely determine what neighborhood should look like  thought of as key mode of maintaining social organization social organization: neighborhood’s ability to realize its goal and maintain its norms and values  social participation at time of VV: high participation, but drops in 1980s— most sociologists assume decrease in part due to increase in poverty, crime, etc. BUT THESE= ABSENT VV  small argues that neighborhood narrative frames  small suggests that because the neighborhood= poor, that they will act the same as all other poor neighborhoods original VV— we won,did this incredibly powerful moment, and increased participations for some time, but slowly dies down; cohorts not a generational story, but active participation is those who are exposed to the narrative  Sylvie Tissot, Of Dogs and Men  - people and groups are left excluded from a place they were once able to be a part of - dog parks, being defined as such and having a defined use purely for usage of dogs and their owners, caused its own sort of “neighborhood succession” of the homeless population who would use the parks as a resting place              

Macleod, Ain't No Makin' It  - goals of study:  explore social reproduction theory: people tend to replicate parents’ social status— seeks to offer explanation of how that happens  understand the difference of both groups’  aspirations and expectations bridge gap between american dream and reality - methods lives in area, ethnographer  -  achievement theory:  if you work hard and put forth enough effort, you will succeed ( individual responsible for ALL)  -  brothers v. hallway hangers Brothers: black, school-oriented, stay away from alcohol and drugs, achievement ideology, parenting technique is strict Hallway Hangers (HH): white, drugs/ alcohol, unstable, negative role models, reject achievement ideology, parenting= loose, do as they please - Racial tensions  affirmative action: reduce opportunity and barrier to success says HH, source of hope for B  HH blame failure on reverse racism and fail to see class system as the actual responsible member  B believe world is changing and racial barriers have been lifted and think will be better off than parents  HH family has stayed and maintain life in Cambridge; see failure as generational, has always been this way, don't see it changing - Outcomes  brothers much less well-off than they had thought/ imagined HH& B not at equal place, but both not great explanation: racial divide and racism and social reproduction theory  deduction: structural location will determine much more than american dream - Habitus  Pierre Bordieu, seeks to explain why people of similar backgrounds _______ social position also dependent on social, cultural, economic capital: set of dispositions deeply ingrained and very hard to change in any of us  relation to story: schools, people are sorted by the time they get to high school; despite having aspirations, B’s Habitus limits them and there is little work that could be done to change this