Suburban America Movie Analysis

For those only weakly committed to city living, particularly middle-class people who have serious difficulty with social diversity and who have clear housing alternatives, the "problem-free" suburbs become tempting. After an incident such as a car break-in or a bicycle theft, a "last straw" can make them leave. (249)

When a neighborhood is gentrified it will not only change the image of it, but also the services available there (Al-Kodmany 2011, 62-63). In other words, gentrification does not only have an impact on the physical aspect of the land, but also the resources that lie there. During the 90s, the Near West Side neighborhood located near Loop, an up-scale neighborhood, sought drastic changes within the area. The changes in racial demographics in the Near West Side indicated that the health risks that affected minorities dropped in the past decade (1992-2002) (Al-Kodmany 2011,

Movies that are based on a book are not always the same. In social studies class, we read a book called Our America. The book is about two boys named LeAlan jones and Lloyd Newman becoming reporters and interviewing people in their neighborhood to show people what it’s like in the ghetto life. The movie that went with the book was very different. In the movie and the book Our America, there were many differences such as Principal Williams momentarily becoming an antagonist, Davis Isay was more important, and Lloyd’s life was focused on more in the movie.

The gentrification process can be seen through the demographic and physical changes of the South Parkdale neighborhood. Gentrification is “the invasion of working-class areas by the upper- and middle-classes, who upgrade shabby, modest housing into elegant residences, resulting in the displacement of all, or most of the original working-class occupiers”. (Lyons, 1996) South Parkdale is a neighborhood in downtown Toronto that faces problems of gentrification. This problem has been ongoing since the nineteen fifty’s’.

There are many who suggest the solution to the decline of the suburbs is to urbanize the area by densifying and overall making the suburbs more similar to a city. Laura Vaughan argues that the development of a spatial layout similar to that of a city would help the suburbs to become more efficient socially and economically. However, this approach directly contrasts the purpose of the suburbs, which was originally meant to provide a private, quiet environment for single family homes away from loud and busy city life. In his book, “Sprawl: A Compact History,” Robert Bruegmann explains that suburbia is not a bad thing but possesses “benefits that urban planners fail to recognize” and is a natural process of the growth of urbanism. While the suburban landscape does possess much potential, those who support the continued existence of the suburbs as they exist are naive and fail to recognize the environmental, social, and economical impact that the suburbs impose. The suburbs possess many social and political issues that need to be addressed. There is no doubt that there is massive potential in the suburban

Another problem of suburbanization was that the rampant private development led to the overdevelopment of the landscape. This overdevelopment was due in large part to the fact that the private developers were manipulating the city council. The author states, “[a]t the end of the war, greenbelt zoning for the Valley was actually passed into law by the city council, but it lacked the broad political support to survive the relentless counterattack of developers and landowners.” (Davis, p. 76). Due to the fact that the city council was so small in size, developers were able to greatly gain influence in demanding for policies that would enhance their desire for even more private development. But, lost in this mix was the fact that overdevelopment led to a decreased amount of public space and the loss of natural beauty to the landscape. “By 1928 parks comprised a miserable 0.6 percent of the surface of the metropolis…No large city in the United States was so stingy with public space.” (Davis, p. 65). This statistic gives us clear indication of who the culprit was for the overdevelopment which occurred in Southern California in the 1920s and beyond: the developers.

The Articles of the “Boyd Defensive Development” and “Hwang & Sampson Gentrification” discuss the idea of Gentrification through analytics, examples, and deep research through the city of Chicago during a relative time. The Boyd Defensive Development uses historical and ethnographic research to strategically protect total control of their neighborhoods by white residents and developers. Hwang and Sampson Gentrification uses many social observations with examples from google maps, census data, etc. to reflect effects on Gentrification throughout communities.

The suburban life is a dream which people of all economic backgrounds sought. Although many families were not able to realize the ideal white picket fence suburb experience which one often imagines when speaking of the suburbs, they still created a suburb of their own. The desire for a suburban home to call their own was largely due to the notion that a home provided a sense of security; it was safety net (Nicolaides and Wiese 2006:213). This safety net could not be obtained in the central city because people were simply not able to buy an apartment or condominium and instead were simply forced to rent. Moving to the suburbs and purchasing a home was seen as a good investment, and people of all races wanted in on this investment.

In “Is Gentrification All Bad” Davidson tries to convince the reader that there is a positive side to gentrification. Throughout the article davidson provides evidence and a personal example of how gentrification is a positive change for many neighborhoods by giving an example of gentrification and credible statistics.

The term Gentrification was coined by a British Sociologist Ruth Glass to describe the movement of middle class families in urban areas causing the property value to increase and displacing the older settlers. Over the past decades, gentrification has been refined depending on the neighborhood 's economic, social and political context. According to Davidson and Less’ definition, a gentrified area should include investment in capital, social upgrading, displacement of older settlers and change in the landscape (Davidson and Lees, 2005).Gentrification was perceived to be a residential process, however in the recent years, it has become a broader topic, involving the restructuring of inner cities, commercial development and improvement of facilities in the inner city neighborhoods. Many urban cities like Chicago, Michigan and Boston have experienced gentrification, however, it is affecting the Harlem residents more profoundly, uprooting the people who have been living there for decades, thus destroying the cultural identity of the historic neighborhood.

Viewing the complex matter of gentrification succinctly, it helps to uncover how multifaceted it is; in that gentrification involves the oppression, marginalization, displacement of vulnerable populations, particularly, the poor, and the black who are often already negatively impacted by the effects of classism, and racism. Gentrification threatens to erode the communities and livelihood maintained by these set of people because their displacement becomes a precondition for the total transformation of the area.

Cate Thurston’s paper, “Bringing Back Broadway,” was a study of urban redevelopment in Los Angeles’ Broadway Corridor. Cate shared her research and analysis on why redevelopment was an important factor for various people, such as Ira Yellin, the Community Redevelopment Agency of Los Angeles, and Councilmember Jose Huizar. The reason why redevelopment was important for many people was because the city was changing and there was a need to drive tourists into the city. As more tourists visit Los Angeles, spending increases, thus, generating more prosperity and wealth. This paper also discussed why this particular neighborhood changed and why space changes over time in Los Angeles. Cate shared how the Broadway Corridor in the 19th and 20th

In 2000 the suburban area has been changed in United States. Most of the cities has been developed and growth widely. After the television and the movies attracted so many different people, the gays, the lesbian and straight population has been increasing every year. Which is created the weight on the shoulders of the city. According to the book Urban Politics (2010) “ Television and Hollywood’s” Schizophrenic view of suburbia”. The suburbia continue to prosper because of rapid population size. The population as homogeneous string more privileged from the white class and upper class bedroom or dormitory communities.

The modern suburb and all its attendant positives and negatives is rooted in the post World War II era the beginning of advertising as a multi-million dollar industry aimed at selling not just products, but lifestyles to Americans, emerged from this period, as did the concept of consumer credit.

Cities, which are currently plagued with several of the severe problems of dis-investment, crime, violence, lack of jobs and inequality, and more importantly, a lack of affordable and decent housing, quickly appeared in the forefront of the agenda. The dis-investment is present in many large cities, but especially in the largest, New York City. Historically, New York has been in the limelight of urban development, sometimes as a leader in the field.