A City in a " Nut-Shell"

In Urban Sociology, I have learned to not look but observe a city and it all of the qualities that exist within a city. I have learned that a city is not just a place with a dense amount people, a city is a miniature world that varies

from place to place. For some places, a city is a place that a person from a rural area goes for work and to live a faster pace. I now wonder when I walk pass an abandon building, what was its purpose, product, and its downfall? We are in a time where there isn't a lost but a shift in power that has taken place. Also, I think about the pre-existing vital industries that used to run that city.

Looking at the set-up the building, residential and business, and their contribution of the individuals and their individual past. The idea of the melting-pot has come be a part of every one's lives. The effects of population growth and industry contributing to the birth of the suburbs and the highways. Also, for places such as New York going from agricultural to industrial to financial and still being a vitalizing city is incredible. Capitalism and the need for supply and demand has taken control of every consumer.

Overall, the transition and the dependence that many have on technology that has come about and how it has caused many to be negatively be affected. Cities that their major source of profit was their natural resources are victims to it. Paterson being the first industrialized city in New Jersey and it is being looked down upon by those that do not understand its value and potential.

Here is what we have become! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=USipXJkMdt4

Technology is a Crutch!

In class, there was a discussion about technology and how dependent everyone have become on it. Thinking back when I was younger, I did not have a cellular phone or any portable electronic. I did not care to have one because I was satisfied with my life without them. As I got older, I wanted a beeper, then a cell phone, then a laptop. The effect the media's supply and demand had convinced my friend that then influenced me. Now that I have all of them electronic devices that I craved for before, I can not imagine my life without them. I can not think of a portion of my life that does not involve a electronic device. A comment was made to me about that American take the education system for granted. I agree, I was born and raised in a environment that going to school is just another practice that everyone is expected to do. A student in my class said that we are not really doing hard work. He said that we do not have to actually do research because all we have to do is go to "google" and type in the topic and an abundance of results appear. That triggered a question that I used to ask myself when I was in middle and high school. How come the all of the top students are usually foreigners? My theory is that because the countries that these indiviudals come from are poor countries and they are deprived of the technological advancement that would make them lazy. Instead of just placing a topic into a search engine and get a variety of results, they have to refer to a reference book. I think that is why a lot of older people say that we have it so easy because a lot of things that they had to memorize when they were younger is just given to us. Overall, technology is a crutch and it is only to get worst.

Gentrification

Gentrification appears to be a good thing but there is one thing but there are other factors to consider. For instance, what is going to happen to the residence can not afford to move elsewhere? I watch a video on YouTube about gentrification of the pier in the village in New York and how the individuals that go there are being affected. The majority of the people that goes there are of homosexual or lesbian orientation and they do not understand why there being ran away from the popular hangout spot. Again, boundaries were showing it ugly head.

I watch another video where individuals that are trying to assist those that are in the neighborhoods that going through the process of gentrification. The worker was speaking about what is happening to the residence of the area. There were a couple of comments made on the video and it was from individuals that clearly did not understand what those what was happening to people because they made ignorant comments. One comment said " Yuppie killa" and another said that the people should stop doing crack, get a job, and other disturbing things that almost made me want to respond to his or her comment. No one wants to live in poverty and that person said it like it was a life choice.

Overall, gentrification can be a good thing if there are opportunities are provided for the residence that resides there.

Louis Wirth “The Ghetto”

Louis Wirth’s “The Ghetto”, he talks about the difference between “ghettos” and “enclaves”. He describes the ghetto as tend to expand, dulysegragated, negative, enforced, slums, and dangerous. In contrast, he describes enclaves as diluted, residual w/leftovers, positive, voluntary, and touristic. Wirth also talks about there are three stages before one is totally assimilated. The first stage is the immigrants that come to America that was born elsewhere. The second stage is the immigrants that are born here but has only somewhat integrated. The final stage is when the next generation born is entirely integrated. Wirth states that the “melting-pot” is being replaced by the “pluralist model”. The “pluralist model” is that the groups that are migrating to the U. S are not assimilating as fast as they used to in the past. Instead of the groups going through the assimilation steps, they are holding onto their cultural traditions longer. It was believed that African American was going to assimilate soon or later but it has been numerous years and it has not happened.

Capital

Daniel Gross states that New York time as the Capital of Capitals is over. He said that places in Manhattan like JP Morgan & Company and other businesses are beginning to be replaced by condominiums. Gross points out that in 2001, New York Stock Exchange used to account for over half of the world’s stock capitalization and that has dropped to 37%. He goes on to talk about the development of other countries like China. Because China is developing capital, NY assets manager have to go elsewhere to raise capital and that is causing the U. S to lose its leading competitive position. Times are changing and the U. S is still one of the superpowers but the power is shifting. Gross mentions positions of power being multi-polar. New York has gone from agricultural to industrial to financial. In my opinion, Gross is stating that New York’s luck is beginning to run out. The emigration of people from farther areas is not necessary because the trust attorneys, accounting bankers are growing up in this environment. However, I believe that there has to be something about New York that cities like Paterson, the Bronx and other dead cities lacked that New York managed to hold onto for so long.

Post-Modernism

We talked about Edward W. Soja in class today and his six discourses of the postmetropolis. The six are flexcity, cosmopolis, exopolis, metropolarities, carceral archipelagos, and simcites. Soja goes on describe each in depth but he states a few things in his introduction that caught my eye. Soja said that one can not mix the old with the new because they would be incompatible. And he goes on to say that instead of doing so we should deconstruct and reconstitute the forms of urban analysis. I thought about Jane Jacobs' Life and death of Great American Cities, when she said that it would be nice to start a city all over again but it would cost entirely too much. However, I believe it is more of a mental than physical approach. We have talked about buildings that has authority or silent authorities and in the following video, Edward W. Soja describes the Westin Bonaventure Hotel and its structure that has invisible authority, boundaries, and the overall post-modernism. One example, he describes a lounge-like spaces that welcomes people to sit but has concrete chairs that makes it impossible to get comfortable in.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hhyQ0HES8mM

Soja also describes the complexity of the building and how everything is sort of hidden from plain sight. In comparison to the various buildings that resembles Roman architecture, there are beginning to be less and less like it.

Profit

When an individual begins a business, he or she wants to maximize profit. I highly doubt that those individuals are thinking about the benefit of the workers. The United States finacial situation is because other the overwhelming of greed. I understand that there are the few that cares about their employees. However, the employers that is considerate of his or her employees owns small businesses. I was told on numerous occasions that business is cut-throat. I also believe that the larger one business becomes, the more distal the employer becomes. Everyone wants to get off cheap. Factory workers are treated horribly because they have been pushed into a corner.

Boundaries

In class, Mike Davis’ “Planet of the Slums” was being discussed and he writes about boundaries that are not said straight out but sort of put into place to keep certain individuals out. He said that there are several laws or rules that put into place to keep those individuals that do not belong out. That makes me think of something that happened that makes a lot of sense now. For instance, Newark Beth Israel Medical and Saint Barnabas hospital in Newark, New Jersey was remodeled when it merged with Saint Barnabas. At first it was one large building. The renovation cause it expands into several areas in the area around the major building. Those separate building were even had different addresses. However, there major building has these bridges that connect one building to another. I thought that was a cool idea because if a person has to go to the other building for some reason they would not have to walk down the stairs and cross the street. The parking lot is even connected to one of the buildings. I was then told that the bridges were put into place so that the employees did not have to come in contact with the local residents. It makes a lot of sense because the majority of the people that work there are doctors and Newark is not a neighborhood that your local doctor would reside in. This brings about the topic about obstacles that are put into place to separate the classes. Even when walking through the hallways of the hospital, there individuals that are looking at you as if you do not belong and some even ask you if you need assistance if you are walking too slowly.

Jacobs vs. Fishman

As I read Jane Jacobs' "The Death and Life of Great American Cities", there were many thoughts that came to mind about how did she go about picking a city to use for heranalysis. There are some portions that I agree with such as automobiles are detrimental to cities but is neccessary to getting around. Jacobs states that city planners were unable to incorporate automobile into their plan because they are too busy thinking about the appearance rather than the content or quality of the city. However, there are various factors that can alter her ideas and reason for such place as North End to go from a slum to a prosperious city.
In contrast, Robert Fisher critiques Jane Jacobs for her weak anaylsis and lack of mentioning the "great black migration". He states that the other 1960s theorist had not realized that due to migration that their ideas would not work. The great black migration caused the whites to expand out into the suburbs because of the "restrictive covenant", there was a segregation of the two. At this point, the blacks are in the city and the whites are in the suburbs. It was asked in class what was the point of putting up a fence? Many said that it was for privacy and/or protection. According to Jane Jacobs, fences are to isolate people to allow deviance. The anomie strain theory comes to mind when I think about deviance and the reason for deviance. Society pressures one to succeed but does not provide the opportunity. The lack of opportunity cause deviance.
Here is a link talking more about the great black migration
http://www.digitalhistory.uh.edu/database/article_display.cfm?HHID=443

Moving Business!

There was a discussion in class about why are areas such as Paterson, Camden, and Newark have several factories that are abandoned. Just recently, an old abandoned factory in Newark was recently torn down. I asked several people about what type of factory it was and how long has it been closed. There was the production of electric switchboards, lamps, and other electric devices in the Westinghouse Factory. What happened to cause such factories like the Westinghouse in Newark to close? The building was sold with little to no expectations to rehabilitate it and later abandoned.

Here is a link to the Daily Newarker where there is more information on the formal building known as the Westinghouse Factory.

http://dailynewarker.com/westinghouse-exhibition-requesting-submissions/
Outsourcing can be defined as migration of a company out of a particular area to another whereas that owner can pay another company for a specific function. The link below goes into a little more depth about outsourcing.
http://www.sourcingmag.com/content/what_is_outsourcing.asp
There is a link to an article written by a teacher that was asked questions about the abandoned factories in their school's neighborhood and how he was unable to answer them. The author goes on to find out the answers to the students' questions and writes a article about his findings. His purpose was to educate his students about the history of the city and the reason why the factories are abandoned. The city is Philadelphia and he goes on to give information about Philadelphia and it being an industrial powerhouse.
“Why Are There Abandoned Factories in My Neighborhood?”
http://www.tip.sas.upenn.edu/curriculum/units/2007/01/07.01.07.pdf

Cities Density

In the Engels reading he comments on the capact environment in London. Due to the dense population and the lifestyle on the individuals in London there were various diseases and illness that manifested and made everyone life unsanitary. In today society, the cities are seen as unsanitary because every litter and drop everything. pollution has a lot to do with uncleaniness of cities and everyone lack of care for everything and everyone. Disassociation!

Here is a link to a document of population density in the 100 largest urban cities in the United States
http://www.census.gov/population/www/documentation/twps0027/twps0027.html#urban/

The article explains in detail the growth of urban places into urban cities and the tools that makes up an urban city. The information on this website gives one incite on the statistical figures in regards to the society we live in. We all can say that our society is changing but we do not know the extent until we look at the numbers in how the cities have expanded and how diverse they have become.

UrbanSociology

A city is a place of where individuals are angry, hostile, and restless. That is the perspective of individuals from rural areas. I disagree! I am a person that was born and raised in a city and loves nothing but the city. Cities are places where there are individuals that may present themselves as a little indifferent.


Here is ;ink to an article that talks about the growth of cities
http://query.nytimes.com/mem/archive-free/pdf?_r=1&res=9403E2DC1E3AE733A25754C0A9669D94689ED7CF