Donovan Rypkema Case Study

The only part of this statement that actually describes the role of Downtown is that it is to “serve as a support and stimulus to business and industry.” There is not a clear direction for the role of Downtown in the “Big

In the constantly changing economy of cities, the growth of city housing is oftentimes neglected. In “Cities Mobilize to Help Those Threatened by Gentrification” Timothy Williams recounts how gentrification has evolved over the years. Mentioning how cities have changed in order to appease the younger professionals, Williams shows how the city itself is in jeopardy due to the tax increases. Slowly loosing their faithful residents as well as historic culture cities face a big deal. Williams gives quotes from faithful residents, “…long time homeowners are victims of the success story”, (Williams 346). In “Cities Mobilize to Help Those Threatened by Gentrification”, Williams uses his credible quotes and modern statistics to generate the reader’s emotions, with desire to change how city officials go about gentrification in culturally infused cities.

Detropia is a documentary directed by Heidi Ewing and Rachel Grady that explores the decline of Detroit, Michigan. The film is to raise awareness of the city that used to flourish but is now struggling to support its citizens with the downfall of its automobile industry. Detropia was made in 2012 and highlights important stories and viewpoints of citizens still living in Detroit who are filled with hope for its future. I chose to review Detropia because it really corresponds with what we have been discussing in Geography, such as urban geography and population growth. Urban geography is a subdiscipline of geography that deals with areas of the Earth’s surface that have a high concentration of buildings and architecture. The documentary Detropia goes into depth of why Detroit’s population is dissolving and what is being done about it.

for the first time in fifty years, which is a major problem Economic growth does not have to occur at the expense of the current population. Economic growth in D.C. does not have to be limited to preserve the character and lifestyle of the community, but only if it reached in another form beyond gentrification. There are various other ways to implement economic growth in cities such as building the workforce, entering in collaborations, and working through corporate controlled ownership. In my hometown of Memphis, Tennessee there have been several projects and initiatives taken over in the last 20 years, but gentrification is not something that my city has truly seen. There has not been the dreadful transition of a perished community to an upscale unaffordable neighborhood. Memphis is willing to use federal grant dollars and its ability to cap rents to ensure affordable housing in specified areas. The most recent development of the South Main Artspace Lofts in September came with a fifteen-year cap on rental rates ranging from $550 to $850 a month depending on income level and apartment specifications. Other new Downtown units average more than $1,200 a month. Memphis is growing economically in areas such as South City, Uptown, and Binghampton; areas which would have been targeted by Washington’s government. I believe Tennessee’s government is showing an example

According to Juliana Lee , since 1998 the prices of bay area homes have been increasing at a tremendous rate. In the 94022 zip code, up until the economic breakdowns of 2001 and 2008, prices had steadily grown from median-average prices of around $800,000 to over $2,000,000, then the recession happened and the market experienced a negative plummet in the prices to about $1,500,000 per home. (Lee) This left an opportunity open for investors who had survived through the recession as prices were then very deflated. The statistics show that people had realized this, and took full advantage of the situation, for during the years from 2008 to 2012, the average house was sold for 4% below the asking price. And from 2012 on, the average house was sold for 7%-11% over the asking price. What this simple fact demonstrates is that the suffering people go through during national economic downfalls is a prime opportunity for people who money and confidence to invest in housing and turn over a massive profit. This is the reason as to why people believe the saturated housing market in the bay area is actually beneficial. The second piece of evidence, which connects with the idea of density from a different perspective, comes from Gabriel Metcalf who speaks to the point of having an easier commute and access to housing in the urban areas, “Cities need to change their zoning and their planning processes to make it really easy

During the past few years, gentrification has been on an uprise.“Nearly 20 percent of neighborhoods with lower incomes and home values have experienced gentrification since 2000, compared to only 9 percent during the 1990s.” Gentrification is happening in areas that supposedly need a change, such as the low-income neighborhoods in New York City, Minneapolis, Seattle and Washington, D.C.Factors such as uniqueness, accessibility, the energy of the neighborhood and reasonably priced homes attract gentrifiers. It has altered many cities in the country. Gentrification can be defined as the procedure of reestablishment and remaking due to the flood of prosperous individuals into falling apart and low-income areas that frequently displaces poorer

Zukin, an avid advocate for authenticity, discussed in detail how cities are losing their authenticity. Zukin described authenticity as “a continuous process of living and working, a gradual buildup of everyday experience.” The issue is many cities are that people are now coming and going all the time to the point where everyone stays a stranger to one another, shops are always being closed and changed, and nothing is ever around long enough to create a culture that leads to authenticity. Gentrification is taking away many neighborhoods authenticity as many corporate leaders and politicians look to “clean up” areas which usually has to deal with people of color that are poor. Authenticity and racial diversity are traded for capital. This leads to segregation of less fortunate individuals and families of color. When governments or businesses try and gentrify different neighborhoods they rely on laws, pressure, and lie in order to remove the people who live in these areas.

New York City suffers from a disease I call "over population". New York City is running out of building space and the only way how to keep up to New York's expanding population is by constructing skyscrapers. According to New York's urban planners skyscrapers cannot be built where ever a person may want. The construction of skyscrapers are decided by zoning maps, in which it notifies the owner/builder how much space is available. Unfortunately, in specific areas buildings can only be constructed up to a specific height. The city's limited space is a reason why barely or no affordable housings are being constructed and the main cause of why the growing wealthy

Corporations are taking over the urban landscape. In previous years, many upper and middle class families fled to the suburbs to escape the everyday hustle of city life. However, in recent years, city living has become glamorized and thus the movement back into the city has increased. Once blighted inner-city neighborhoods are being taken over and revitalized by corporate leaders in hopes to redesign and yuppify these areas. As more money is put into the area, the higher the market value goes up and as a result, many local residents can no longer afford to live there. While these residents are pushed out, a more ‘desirable’ group of residents move in and thus, take over. This process, known as gentrification, is occurring in many cities all across the nation. In the past, displaced residents could possibly move to another area that was not undergoing this process. However, as we are seeing in Chicago, it is nearing impossibility to move to an area within the city that will not

Gentrification is a problem that is plaguing cities all over the United States. Within the past decade, there has been an influx of people moving to Washington D.C., causing gentrification to become a prominent issue in the nation’s capital. People who have lived in certain parts of the city for generations are now being pushed out because of “escalating rents and real estate taxes associated with rising property values” (Duggan). And while it may be a positive thing that some areas of the city are experiencing revitalization, it’s a problem that the people who have been there are unable to experience it. Furthermore, there are certain areas of the city such as Anacostia, where poverty remains prominent. Gentrification is an issue in Washington D.C. that doesn’t seem like it is going to go away any time soon.

Before taking this quiz personally I had little to none knowledge on density but when I finished the quiz I defiantly learned a few things. I now know that density is really an issue and it can be good and bad at the same time in my opinion. Some feel that density in cities is bad because people live very close to each other and they don't have their own space. Often builders will put houses as close together as they can and the same goes for apartment buildings. The closer the buildings are together the more people that are going to be in that area. The more people in that area is going to bring the issue of more transportation and supplies (grocery stores, gas stations) around the developments. Now planners and builders work together

Many downtowns first emerged as a distinctive place due to elite residents with homes in the area, which served as meeting places for important business transactions. By the late 19th century downtowns had typically been laid out with designated business blocks (Ford 2003). The growth of the business block as an economic center and booming downtown forced out any competition that were not appropriate with “high rents, social pressure and architectural change” (Ford 2003, pp 45). This was the origin of the spatial structure and land use patterns that are associated with contemporary downtowns. The origin of the town structure is most commonly affiliated with European cities as models of spatial layout. Specialty business and retail districts that characterized American downtowns and what we now image a good downtown to be are directly linked to it European counterpart. The key characteristic that defer from the European model was the tendency for American cities to be street-oriented rather then place-oriented. This contributed to the more linear structure of the city, business pursued locations on the “main street” rather then near major plazas or religious buildings (Robertson 1997).

Burgess’s concentric zone theory was presented in 1924. He presented a descriptive urban land use model that divided cities in a set of concentric circles expanding from downtown to the suburbs. His representation came from Burgess’ observations of various American cities, especially Chicago. Burgess model assumes a relationship between the socio-economic status of households and the distance from the Central Business District. The further from the district, the better the quality of housing, but the longer the commuting time. Making this Accessing better housing is done at the expense of longer commuting times and costs as well. According to Burgess, urban growth is a process of expansion and reconversion of land uses, with a tendency of each inner zone to expand in the outer zone. According to Burgess’ theory, a large city is divided in six concentric zones, Burgess’s model has its cons according to critics. It is said to be a product of its time. That is, it won’t work the same with present cities. The model was developed when American cities were growing very fast and when motorized transportation was still uncommon as most people used public transit. Thus the concept cannot be applied to those from the second half to the twentieth century where highways have enabled urban development to escape the reconversion process and to take place directly in the suburbs. The model in this case was developed for American cities and is limited elsewhere.

Paul Goldberger, an American architectural critic once quoted, “Urbanism works when it creates the journey as desirable as the destination.”

New Urbanism, a burgeoning genre of architecture and city planning, is a movement that has come about only in the past decade. This movement is a response to the proliferation of conventional suburban development (CSD), the most popular form of suburban expansion that has taken place since World War II. Wrote Robert Steuteville, "Lacking a town center or pedestrian scale, CSD spreads out to consume large areas of countryside even as population grows relatively slowly. Automobile use per capita has soared, because a motor vehicle is required for nearly all human transportation"1. New Urbanism, therefore, represents the converse of this planning ideology. It stresses traditional planning, including multi-purpose zoning,