The New Gentrification
The Friday Times took another look at the work of Jane Jacobs, who “waged heroic war against planners who dreamed of paving the Village’s cobblestone streets, demolishing its tenements and creating sterile superblocks.” According to Sharon Zukin, a Brooklyn College sociology professor and author of Naked City: The Death and Life of Authentic Urban Places,…
The Friday Times took another look at the work of Jane Jacobs, who “waged heroic war against planners who dreamed of paving the Village’s cobblestone streets, demolishing its tenements and creating sterile superblocks.” According to Sharon Zukin, a Brooklyn College sociology professor and author of Naked City: The Death and Life of Authentic Urban Places, saving the cobblestone streets and old architecture may retain a neighborhood’s character superficially, but is doesn’t do much for the community who gave the neighborhood its soul. Zukin paid a visit to Williamsburg (“the East River gold coast”), where she pointed out “a low-slung old granary with a MacBook-speckled coffee bar” and said, We’ve gone from Jacobs’s vision to the McDonald’s of the educated classes. Are you buying what Zukin’s selling?
A Contrarian’s Lament in a Blitz of Gentrification [NYT]
“Yay – another article about gentrification written by a hypocrite gentrifier.
Posted by: dirty_hipster at February 22, 2010 9:05 AM”
DH;
Well-said. Why is there self-loathing among the urban middle-class? Accept who you are. Why do they need a “dockworkers bar” to feel authentic?
Mopar;
I see that you say that I would agree to something. I can’t quite figure it out because your statement rambles all over the place. In any case, speak for yourself, and not for me.
I do give Ms. Zukin points for at least questioning Jane Jacobs. While Ms. Jacobs wrote a great book, especially given the time, it has morphed into a stifling orthodoxy.
Bob,
I wasn’t referring to DIBS only restating a point made in the article. However, there is a vocal majority (?) on this site which seems oblivious to the effect on neighborhoods of historic run-ups in house prices. They cheer it on. In the end all of Brooklyn could look like the Upper West Side: just another Connecticut suburb.
I’ve got a room she can rent.
oh. i thought it stood for old geezer
*rob*
Gentrification is a product of capitalism. And you can’t stop either unless without going against some fundamental American value – money talks.
While ‘preservation’ is nice, that does nothing except preserve the aesthetics of the neighborhood but ironically also increases the cost of living. If you need to ‘preserve’ a cobblestone road, an old library, etc – it is already too late. The old immigrants of that neighborhood an already NOT afford to live there and probably have moved out 4-7 years ago.
orignial gangsta
what is an OG?
*rob*
ecoux,
I don’t think DIBS poses as an OG and I’m sure no one could mistake him for one 🙂
That was the real estate equivalent of “gee, I look so beautiful everyone want to be my friend! Bummer!”, crossed with “this place used to be cool when I moved her.”