The Decline and Fall of Inner Suburbia

Yesterday was a good day to get caught up on stuff. We went to the coffee shop in the morning for a few hours before coming in to studio, and then the day was mostly spent getting reading done.

Our new studio project we started Monday begins with an analysis of site in Central West End, approximately a half-mile by a half mile area that ranges from high density gentrification with cafes, bars, and retail to burned out abandoned properties and streets completely devoid of storefronts. The studio was broken into teams who were responsible for various aspects of understanding the site- physical, historical, socio-economic, landscape, etc. I got put into the physical group, the infantry, if you will, as we have the biggest job of not only measuring everything in the area but actually building 3D digital models and a real site model out of wood that will be approximately 5' by 3' in size. Oh, and its due next wednesday.

My reconsidering the margin class is facinating- we went from last week, broadly covering the rise of the suburbs/decline of the inner city, to this week, charting the current decline of the suburbs. Or more specifically, looking at which types of suburbs are declining, since suburbs were never really one homogenous type, and secondly, the urban-suburb designation has become pretty useless in defining areas anyway.

One of the readings this week was on the attitudes of the 'millennials', the gen-Yers towards housing. In general, we are disillusioned with home ownership and suburbia, and we say that we would prefer to live in cities and urban centers. We are much more socially networked than our predecessors, greener, and more welcoming of diversity. However, the realities of falling real wages mean that our generation will generally live a less wealthy life than our parents. Rising costs of urban housing that are accompanying the current shift back to cities (gentrification, not working class or poor) mean that while we gen-yers would like to live in the major cities, few will be able to. Additionally, as our generation become a generation of parents and households, we will want to send our children to good schools, which either means investing heavily in our community (advocacy, politics, organization, fundraising, etc) or moving out to the outer ring suburbs. The readings across the board paint a grim picture for the inner rings of suburbia, which for many places has already suffered the same kinds of problems generally associated with the inner cities.

In a vast oversimplification, the older model was basically the higher socioeconomic classes left the urban cores, leaving the poorer behind. Now, low paying jobs have moved out of the cities to the inner ring suburbs,  and the working poor have followed them at the same time as a there is a resurgence as the upper middle class move back to the cities, pushing the urban poor into the first rings suburbs. Since the suburban sprawl disperses people rather than concentrates them in one area, like the urban cores did, the old methods of providing social services are no longer effective since people who require the needs of these services will be much farther from them and with much reduced mobility. Apart from the issues of that group, I would say from both readings and personal experience that the vitality of any urban/suburban space is dependent on its diversity, primarily its economic diversity.

I'm realizing that I'm actually now writing my response paper for this class, so I will cut this off here before you fall out of your seats, although I would totally understand if you already quietly clicked out the back.