Will that Actually Work?

How DO you save a city? Is it by using gentrification and pushing the old out to make room for the new? Does it work when a big business comes in and puts money into a part of town that is financially struggling? Is money the answer or can enacting policy create social change? Or are all of these little pieces of the larger puzzle?

Image Credit: farm4

Cities everywhere are trying to figure out the best way to save their city and bring struggling parts of the city up to compete with the more affluent parts. I have never really thought about this issue until moving to Pittsburgh. I grew up in the suburbs of Florida. The city problems there were how to preserve the beaches and trouble with overpopulation. But, coming to Pittsburgh has opened my eyes to how different parts of this city make you think, feel, and believe. When arriving in Pittsburgh, I was told not to travel to certain parts of the area and to watch out when going to particular places at certain times of day. I took this advice and did not even think about contesting it. But, I got involved in mentoring middle schoolers in the area of Homewood. Yes, one of those areas I was “supposed to watch out in.” Entering Homewood, I automatically looked at the abandoned buildings and graffiti surrounding me. There were no grocery stores and corner stores that I could identify. It only seemed that this area had a library, community center, a school, and the rest of the area was houses. Other areas around Pittsburgh, the Hill District, Uptown, and parts of the Northside, all seemed to be areas in a similar situation. But, on exploration, I came to see the community projects emerging amongst these areas. All of these areas were working on growing community and urban gardens. These projects have been popular in helping a community become more invested and take pride in the area they live in. They also help fight food insecurity, eliminate food deserts, and help families save money on food. A program helping Pittsburgh with this project is called Grow Pittsburgh. There are many of these programs all over the country that are helping parts of cities rise above their hardships and trying to improve the area.

Another program that is helping communities with economic insecurity and being “put back on the map” is a program called KaBoom!. This is a program that goes to communities without a playground and asks volunteers to come help build this playground in the shortest amount of time possible. Their mission is to “create great playspaces through participation and leadership of communities.” They are trying to help kids become healthier by being able to play outside and to ultimately create stronger neighborhoods.

Both of these programs, Grow Pittsburgh and KaBoom!, are helping cities become invested in certain neighborhoods. And while these might help for a short time period, do they ultimately help the community get “saved”? In Richard Florida’s article, “How Not to ‘Save’ a City,” he comments that no city has been helped by a gentrification approach. This approach, “throwing people out of their homes, neighborhoods destroyed, historic structures leveled, and the community fabric…ripped to shreds,” has never worked. He believes that we are better off helping residents with the resources to build on their community strengths and connecting them with their own community-based organizations.

This helps residents turn their community into what they see is right for the future. They need to work with local government, local business owners, and other institutions to achieve the best for their community.

Image Credit: Globalenrichmentfoundation

So is this “empowering process” achieved with programs like Grow Pittsburgh and KaBoom!? Or is this just the first step towards getting people involved in their community and then going from there? Does there need to be an advocating and political aspect to this process? Do big businesses and institutions in the area need to become involved?

I agree with Richard Florida when we says, “the most successful efforts of renewing old urban neighborhoods don’t come from top-down reclamation schemes but from organic, bottom-up, community-based efforts to strengthen and build on neighborhood assets.” This is what projects like building neighborhood playgrounds and urban gardens are doing. However, can community-based organizations achieve complete renewal by themselves? I think that urban gardens and playgrounds can do wonders on community morale, but when does the community start boosting their economy and start competing with the more affluent neighborhoods around them?

External Links:

Grow Pittsburgh- The website for the urban garden project in the Pittsburgh area

KaBoom!- The website for the playground developing program

"How Not to 'Save' a City"- The article by Richard Florida mentioned above.