CITIES Why in Crisis?-What FUTURE for Cities?

"TO LOOK at our cities is to see into our future." So said Ismail Serageldin of the World Bank.  But from what we have seen thus far, that future does not look bright.

Commendably, serious efforts are being made to improve life in many urban areas.  New York City recently completed a refurbishment of Times Square in Manhattan.  Previously, it was notorious for its pornography establishments, drug culture, and crime.  New retail outlets and theaters now line the streets, luring visitors by the thousands.    Naples, Italy, "a brilliant, cultivated city that once ranked with London and Paris," according to National Geographic magazine, suffered devastation during World War II. Naples became a virtual symbol of crime and chaos.  However, when the city was selected as the cite for a 1994 political conference, it enjoyed  rebirth of sorts with a major renovation of the city's center. 

Of course, having safer, cleaner cities comes at a price.  Increased safety often means an increased police presence.  Another cost might be privacy.  Some public areas are under the constant surveillance of TV cameras and plainclothes officers.  As you walk through a park and pass by fountains, sculptures, or flower beds, you may unwittingly pass by security checkpoints.

Sometimes improvements also come at a high cost to the poor. Consider what some call gentrification-the process by which higher-income families take over formerly poor neighborhoods.  Gentrification results from a  changing economy-a "shift from manufacturing to services, from reliance on mid-level skills to automation."  (Gentrification of the City, edited by Neil Smith and Peter Williams) as blue-collar jobs become obsolete and the demand for professional and technical  workers grows, the demand for convenient middle-class housing also grows. Rather than commute to the suburbs, many highly  paid professionals prefer to refurbish homes in relatively run-down neighborhoods. 

Naturally, this results in substantial neighborhood improvement.  But as neighborhoods improve, prices go up.  The poor often find themselves unable to afford to live in the neighborhoods where they have worked and lived for years!  

Next time: CITIES Why in Crisis?-What FUTURE for Cities?/Death of the City?

From the Awake! magazine