Sub-themes
Community: The American Way of Living
Observers of American urbanization have long expressed regret about how American communities are segregated along race, class, and lifestyle lines, describing how, as Bill Bishop recently put it, “the Clustering of Like-Minded America is Tearing us Apart.” For people like Bishop, for whom urbanism is synonymous with heterogeneity, the late twentieth century undermined the open city ideal. What has replaced it, they argue, are homogenous communities “organized in terms of a multitude of ‘we’ feelings, each of which defines itself in opposition to outsiders.”
While it’s true that when given the choice, most Americans choose homogeneity over heterogeneity, closer readings of American communities reveal three things. First, it is oversimplistic to say that fear is what motivates people to segregate themselves, since people sort themselves for all sorts of reasons. Second, homogeneity is sometimes more perceived than real. Third, heterogeneity is often overlooked. For example, the American foreclosure crisis is unexpectedly engendering diversity, as people who normally wouldn’t be able to afford suburban, single-family homes move into foreclosed homes. This “crack in the picture window” introduced new classes, races, and lifestyles into areas that looked as if they would remain stable, homogeneous, and exclusionary, thereby opening the city.
These “cracks in the picture window” are specifically studied. Interboro is looking for actual mistakes (like the one mentioned above), but also at the ways in which architects and planners intentionally try to open up “cracks” through progressive professional practices.
Sub-curators: Interboro [read more]
Cities: various cities/sites in the USA