Jacobs, Gerteis and North End

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 

1. 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 
2. eyes on the street: primarily belong to residents, wants them to be on toes visually 
3. 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” 
4. 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 
5. “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