Urban Social Geography

Question 1

Gentrification

Answer 1

A dynamic that emerges in poor urban areas when residential shifts, urban planning and other phenomenon affect the composition of the neighbourhood.

Question 2

Change is inevitable in cities because

Answer 2

people are always changing

socio-demographic change, different wealth, different occupation of space

Question 3

Gentrification consequences

Answer 3

1. Leads to economic reordering of property values, commercial opportunities for the construction industry and an expansion of private owner occupation.
2. This results in the displacement of low-income residents by those of a higher socio-economic status, until these new occupants outnumber the original inhabitants of the neighbourhood.
3. Leads to the transformation of the built environment and its identity
4. Changes in the social composition of neighbourhoods and an increase in property prices are often followed by changes in the retail and service landscape

Question 4

“Hipsturbia”

Answer 4

• people moved from the downtown core New York to Brooklyn, and people can’t even live there anymore.
• Often North American cities look up to New York (trends that hit other cities around the world)
• Priced out of downtown Vancouver, millennials are building ‘hipsturbia’
• People can’t afford Vancouver, so we go elsewhere, displacing people in the process.

Question 5

Jane Jacobs requirements

Answer 5

1. Clear demarcation between what is public space and what is private space.
2. Eyes upon the street, eyes belonging to those we might call the natural proprietors of the street.
3. Sidewalk must have users on it fairly continuously

Question 6

Jane Jacobs on private and public spaces:

Answer 6

Public and private spaces cannot ooze into each other as they do typically in suburban settings or in projects.

Question 7

Jane Jacobs on ‘eyes on the street’

Answer 7

The buildings on a street equipped to handle strangers and to insure the safety of both residents and strangers, must be oriented to the street.
They cannot turn their backs or blank sides on it and leave it blind.

Question 8

Jane Jacobs on sidewalk traffic

Answer 8

Continuous sidewalk use adds to the number of effective eyes on the street and induces the people in buildings along the street to watch the sidewalks in sufficient numbers.

(Also, nobody enjoys sitting on a stoop or looking out a window at an empty street.)

Question 9

Jane Jacobs

Answer 9

American-Canadian journalist, author, and activist who influenced urban studies, sociology, and economics.