Urban Planning and the Creation of an Inclusive Community Board
Urban planning refers to a political and technological process involving the use and development of property, public health, the use and conservation of the environment, planning approvals, the design of the urban environment, including the transition of facilities to and from urban areas, water, as well as air. In his post, Roger Sanjek talks about an Elmhurst-Corona and how it used female activists' creativity to express the concern about the quality of life that brings about the creation of a more inclusive community board. Through the use of grassroots politicking, this community board successfully improved their neighborhood to a large extent by way of urban planning developments initiatives. In his work, the author stresses on three major lessons learnt from the urban planning development initiative in Queens, to be color-full before color blind, government matters, and lastly pay attention to women for the reason that they do heed to each other.
Brief Description of the Urban Planning Development Initiative
An urban planning development initiative has some general objectives which include clarification of the desirable city model and working towards that goal, improving the living conditions of the citizens involved, adapting to the new circumstances, channeling energy as well as coordinating private and public efforts. Urban planning is a technique that, for many decades, has been applied to many facets of the activities of the human beings with Queens, New York is one of the cases.
Players Involved How Private and Public Interests Come Together
In the 1970s, the advent of multicultural politics in Queens, New York City traversed its 'majority minority' (Sankej 764). According to Sanjek (2000), the neighborhood enjoyed proper representation, from all the unique ethnic and racial backgrounds that the Elmhurst-Corona residents came from, in the government (764). Both the community boards and the Queens, New York City society at large played a major role in the urban planning development initiative. Sanjek points out that in spite of there being multiple races and ethnic groups in Queen, the community boards as administrative districts or district-level entities are seen as venues for formalizing the day-to-day concerns of the locals. Not only do they formalize the daily activities of the residents but also elevate their matters to the city level for policy formulation and political action and so was the case of urban planning development initiative (Sankej 766). In building the case for the critical role played by the community board in local politics, the author, during the late 1980s, attended hundreds of meetings and documented them through retelling the personal experiences (Sankej 767). In Queen, New York City, individuals who had expanded their friendships and social linkages across the ethnic and racial lines arose as the neighborhood leaders whereby they, in the long run, reframed the common trepidations regarding the conditions of the neighborhood that were declining as a result of the fiscal crisis of the NYC other than the huge influx of migrants (Sankej 767). These problems brought about the need for private and public along with all the concerned stakeholders to come together and work out a proper urban planning development initiative.
City Hall, Architects, Private Investments, the Community, Urban Planners) Which Might Promote A Conflict Of Interest
Whereas it is trivial for conflicting objectives to exist between civic responsibility and institutional needs, Queen, New York City shaped up a different case. Queen experienced a healthy integration between the government, the society, and races. In other words, the urban planners, the community, private investments, Architects, and City hall were conjoined by the healthy association that existed. In his research, Sanjek found out that the racial and social change than existed in the borough of the Queens, New York demonstrated that civic rituals played a major role in the recreation of the sense of community. For instance, some civic rituals such as the observation of the memorial and veterans Days as well as the lighting ceremony at the Christmas time contributed to the one voice in the Urban Planning Development Initiative. Opposition to the Development, Players Involved, and the Pros and Cons of the Development
There existed a few cases of opposition to the development. One of them is the group of people who did not want the closure of their local services to pave the way for development. Most of these people were middle-class immigrants who possessed a substantial amount of social capital. The development helped balance the poverty relief pressures that were experienced by the authorities. Furthermore, it offered catering to the middle class. However, the development came at the expense of the marginalized and the very poor.
Analysis and Reflection
Given the fact that the ethnography fieldwork by Sankej spread across 13 years of hard work, research, and personal participation, the article did not receive any media bias. The Queens, New York City urban planning development initiative was effective. This is because it elevated the city infrastructure, developed the land, besides promoting public welfare. This had the effect of a positive change in the neighborhood business activities.
Works Cited
Sanjek, Roger. "Color-full Before Color Blind: the Emergence of Multiracial Neighborhood Politics in Queens, New York City." American Anthropologist. 102.4 (2000): 762-772. Print.
