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]
Her arguments are not relevant outside the city. And they’re pretty irrelevant here.
jessibaby – I dont get it – so she is writing for unwise (i.e. stupid) suburbanites???
Either what you write (or say) is intellectually accurate or it isnt – truth doesnt depend on the audience….. (well it shouldnt)
Based on this article (granted not a wide swath of research) the women writes drivel
I’m gonna repeat myself because it’s fun — you very wise Brownstoner readers aren’t necessarily Zukin’s target audience here. This article is part of the publicity for her new book and without her writing about gentrification (as a sociologist), it’s possible that those outside of the city would never learn about the issues.
“middle-class professor” – with a loft in the west village? I think not
A Comedic Illustration:
New York 1600 AD:
Delaware Tribe Member: “what’s up with these guys in funny hats and boats? I’m having a hard enough time keeping up with my tribal duties without these folks trying to push trinkets!”
New York 1700 AD:
Dutch Settler: “Jesus Christ, I just got a letter from the governor and he’s telling me to expect these pushy English people to keep coming!”
New York 1800 AD:
English Settler: “I’m telling you now, if they keep sending over these Germans and Irish, this will never stay
an English Colony!”
New York 1900 AD:
American Farmer: “This place is one big factory, nobody farms anymore and all these newcomers are changing the landscape with their locomotives and electrical gadgets!”
New York 2000 AD:
Brownstoner : “This gentrification is getting out of hand!”
and where’s my latest copy of Dwell magazine!
Rob you’re too much. In a good way. Mostly. Except when you piss me off.
But came here to say that this and hope no one else has said it since I’m a very very very busy person and cannot possibly read 126 comments! This encapsulates the ridiculousness of her argument:
“Look, there is an element of irony in a middle-class professor writing about displacement of Dunkin’ Donuts by latte bars.â€
You think?
Cobblestones are an ancient technology — they are certainly durable but they aren’t good for cars or people (especially people who wear high heels). Maybe they were ok for horses, with large horseshoes on their hooves. I just think that architecture should work for people in the present tense.
omg cobblestone streets are evil!!! i cant tell you how many times ive fallen down on cobblestones!!
*rob*
MM, but on that point I totally agree, in fact, I’d be even more strict about the possibility of a tear-down, or even a major redo of the facade. However, I stand by my statements that LPC should have little or no say when you want to change your windows. Or doors. I live on a very well-maintained non-LPC block but there’s a variety of window/door/trim styles and I don’t think that detracts at all from the overall aesthetic. Does having a one-over-one window next to a four-over-four really make any difference except to the archi-terrorists (not the one who posts, generically).
For that matter, as you may well know, I’m a big fan of COLORS…I wish we had a SF aesthetic here with painted houses. But I digress.
donatella, right on. The interiors of many of these brownstones so praised here are like museums. I had brunch at that restaurant attached to ABC yesterday and was wishing all those frou-frou chandeliers (with price tags from ABC) would crash down.