FOOD/HEALTH/ MIGRATION
Throughout the 1970’s, the hammer was coming down on people struggling the most, pushing people out of the homes and neighborhoods they’ve known for decades. Some look back on this time and think of it as a shift in the American economy, but for far too many this decade brought injustice to life—bringing chaos and worry to peoples doorsteps. Gentrification and the demolition of affordable housing units are just a few out of many historical processes causing this worrying epidemic. The city became the epicenter of luxury and desire, causing a ripple effect in neighboring communities. You see it all over—buyers come into an old neighborhood, throw money at it so they can make a profit ten years down the line. And while gentrification is positive in theory, its implementation has people scrambling for a reasonably priced place to live. By 1990 America had seen a complete reversal of the past.
As affordable housing units became more and more scarce, we suddenly saw a record high of poor households. Matthew Desmond, in his extraordinary book, Evicted: Poverty and Profit in the American City www.evictedbook.com/books/evicted-tr/evicted-hc, sheds light on how these changes in our economy are having an impact on people day—showing us that if nothing else gives poverty will continue to beget poverty. these initiatives have overlooked a key problem trapping the poor in their poverty. Desmond argues that the lack of quality affordable housing and the boom of evictions results in the chronic displacement of those on the bottom tier of the economic ladder, and with that an increasingly transient attitude among those who now assume being tossed out on the street is not a matter of if but when.
Through his fieldwork and brilliant analysis of a far too stigmatizes subject, Desmond reminds us that eviction is most definitely not a personal trouble, but an everlasting social issue—a vicious cycle that deepens our country’s vast inequality. This is why I found his book to be so important—a book everyone urgently needs to read. Through years of dedicated fieldwork and thorough data, Evicted sets a precedent for a new understanding of extreme poverty and economic exploitation while also leaving room for hope to one day solve a ruinous, uniquely American problem.
As affordable housing units became more and more scarce, we suddenly saw a record high of poor households. Matthew Desmond, in his extraordinary book, Evicted: Poverty and Profit in the American City www.evictedbook.com/books/evicted-tr/evicted-hc, sheds light on how these changes in our economy are having an impact on people day—showing us that if nothing else gives poverty will continue to beget poverty. these initiatives have overlooked a key problem trapping the poor in their poverty. Desmond argues that the lack of quality affordable housing and the boom of evictions results in the chronic displacement of those on the bottom tier of the economic ladder, and with that an increasingly transient attitude among those who now assume being tossed out on the street is not a matter of if but when.
Through his fieldwork and brilliant analysis of a far too stigmatizes subject, Desmond reminds us that eviction is most definitely not a personal trouble, but an everlasting social issue—a vicious cycle that deepens our country’s vast inequality. This is why I found his book to be so important—a book everyone urgently needs to read. Through years of dedicated fieldwork and thorough data, Evicted sets a precedent for a new understanding of extreme poverty and economic exploitation while also leaving room for hope to one day solve a ruinous, uniquely American problem.
What ratio of green space to residential acreage was most conducive to individual liberty? Did tenement buildings or high-rise towers create better opportunities for experimentation?
In the early 1900s, sociologist Jane Jacobs revolutionized the way America would come to think of housing, and how it impacts overall wellness and health. Jacobs had strong housing theories, and argued that urban life oftentimes did not respect the needs of most city-dwellers. She said low income housing units and they way in which they were designed were systematically destroying communities and created isolated, unnatural urban spaces.
Jacobs advocated the abolition of zoning laws and restoration of free markets in land, which would result in dense, mixed-use neighborhoods and frequently cited New York City's Greenwich Village as an example of a vibrant urban community.
Through our research, we kept Jacob's methods in mind, because of the way in which she put the people's expertise at center stage. Jacobs contested the traditional planning approach of cities and urban life is contigent upon the knowledge and understanding of outside experts, proposing that local expertise is better suited to guiding community development. ( It's not.)
Alongside Jacobs, Diomelca and I feel that the people living in the South Bronx are the only ones that can contest to the quality of life there, and all it entails. And as we began asking community members about housing and security, we realized that housing and security was an ever thinning wire--upon which health and wellness sits--putting success and mobility far out of reach.
In the early 1900s, sociologist Jane Jacobs revolutionized the way America would come to think of housing, and how it impacts overall wellness and health. Jacobs had strong housing theories, and argued that urban life oftentimes did not respect the needs of most city-dwellers. She said low income housing units and they way in which they were designed were systematically destroying communities and created isolated, unnatural urban spaces.
Jacobs advocated the abolition of zoning laws and restoration of free markets in land, which would result in dense, mixed-use neighborhoods and frequently cited New York City's Greenwich Village as an example of a vibrant urban community.
Through our research, we kept Jacob's methods in mind, because of the way in which she put the people's expertise at center stage. Jacobs contested the traditional planning approach of cities and urban life is contigent upon the knowledge and understanding of outside experts, proposing that local expertise is better suited to guiding community development. ( It's not.)
Alongside Jacobs, Diomelca and I feel that the people living in the South Bronx are the only ones that can contest to the quality of life there, and all it entails. And as we began asking community members about housing and security, we realized that housing and security was an ever thinning wire--upon which health and wellness sits--putting success and mobility far out of reach.