Solnit, Rebecca. Hollow city: The siege of San Francisco and the crisis of American urbanism. Verso, 2002.
Key Terms and Concepts
1. Cities
2. Boom
3. Economy
4. Crisis
5. Artists
6. Market
7. Poorer
8. Richer
9. Internet
10. Culture
11. Industries
12. Community
13. Transformation
14. Neighborhood
15. Gentrification
Summary
Solnit surveys the transformation of San Francisco City. The author also describes the crisis associated with the American Urbanism related to real estate boom and the increasing crisis of housing displacement. To accomplish this, Solnit criticizes the issue of the poor being driven out for the intended gentrification. He also explains the rapid changes experienced in the town. The major part of Solnit’s argument expresses his concern about how the ‘boom economy’ in San Francisco turned the city to a resort community, as only those who made a lot of wealth would manage to live there. Solnit also demonstrates the concern regarding how the internet changed the city towards adapting Google in every activity.
Quotations/Evidence
“Gentrification is transforming the city by driving out the poor and working class, ------ such as art, activism, social experimentation, social service.”
“The new San Francisco is run for the dot-com workers, multimedia executives and financiers of new boom ------ and all-out exile of tenants, organizations, nonchain businesses, and even communities."
“A triple wave of real estate rapaciousness is evicting people from their homes, putting nonprofits and small enterprises out of business…….. (26)”
"Everyone talks about the transformation of the city, and almost every tenant talks about the fear of losing his or her perch hear. (28)”
“The internet too may be a laboratory for the new, but even if it is a great organizing tool------ or the expression of cultural genius. (34)”
“The book is not about the new technology economy, -------. It focuses almost on entirely on San Francisco------ it so resembles what is happening elsewhere that I believe it can stand alone as an example of a crisis in American cities. (35)”
Reflection
Solnit’s piece is effective in understanding more about public space. By arguing about how the booming economy changes the San Francisco city, the author makes it clear that the public space of the poor was affected. Besides, the gentrification of the city is based on a public realm, as the whole town and the nation, in general, are made to be in crisis. The argument makes me realize that Solnit is much concerned about those things happening in public (jobs, neighborhood, and homes). Solnit seems to be more concerned about public life and how it influences the poor and workers in the public sphere. In that case, what changes in towns is vital to the public. Solnit seems to be advocating for those dedicated to work and not only for money because this helps in the formation of free space in the city. Therefore, although the growth of the economy is desirable, Solnit aims at making the reader understand that “wealth can ravage a city’s vitality. Indeed, the piece helps me understand that the free space of the city is meant to enhance public life.
Source 2
Bibliographic Entry
Sullivan, Mercer L. "Getting Paid": Youth Crime and Work in the Inner City. Cornell University Press, 1989.
Key Terms and Concepts
1. Income
2. Family
3. Neighborhood
4. Population
5. Employment rates
6. Labor
7. Crime rates
8. Inner-city
9. Crime-control
10. Economic opportunity
11. Poor
12. Culture
13. Criminal justice
14. Youths
15. Delinquency
Summary
In the book, Sullivan argues about how the emergence of large groups of young adults influenced the city’s working class. Sullivan focuses on tracing the new and youth-oriented working-class culture. He explores how the 1850s culture was different from that of the native-born artisans. The argument about juvenile justice and delinquency show his interest in the lives of young males in Latino, White, and Black neighborhoods in Brooklyn, N.Y. He concludes by arguing that for the improvement of economic and educational attainments of the inner-city youths, inner cities have to be dealt with as communities rather than only punishing individuals.
Quotations/Evidence
“Crime rates among residents of inner-city neighborhoods are disastrously high. (1)”
“In fact, the young men we studied spoke of their criminal activities as “getting over” and getting paid,” terms that refer directly, albeit ironically, to economic motivation and reflect the perception of a social structure of restricted opportunity. (2)”
“Their work provided the theoretical basis for many social programs during the 1960s which attempted to reduce delinquency by improving economic opportunities for inner-city youths. (4)”
“The emphasis on the local neighborhood as a partially bounded sphere of interactions in which young males “choose” to go to school, to work, and/or to engage in criminal activities offers a perspective on “economic choice” and “cultural values. (8)”
"The economic positions of White, Blacks and Latinos in this study are representative of the city as a whole. (22)"
Reflection
Sullivan’s passage is relevant in thinking about public space. Social problems and street crime lead to the isolation of the inner cities, which are open spaces. Latino and Black's inner-city males compare youth crime with work, therefore dominating the public space through their criminal behavior. The argument makes me understand that Sullivan is concerned about the need for changing the crime control policy to have the ability to improve the economic and educational achievements instead of only punishing individuals. The criminal behavior of young inner-city males is influential to the public world. Sullivan seems to support the issue of public housing for the improved living of low-income families. I also think that social programs aimed at reaching young people should be improved to minimize crimes. Based on my understanding of the passage, income-oriented crime might seem private, but it affects the general public space.
Source 3
Bibliographic Entry
Sennett, Richard. "Capitalism and the city: Globalization, flexibility, and indifference." Cities of Europe: Changing contexts, local arrangements, and the challenge to urban cohesion (2005): 109-122.
Key Terms and Concepts
1. Urban life
2. City
3. Stranger
4. Social space
5. Urbanite
6. Freedom
7. Capitalist
8. Public
9. Economy
10. Globalization
11. Industrial capitalism
12. Citizenship
13. Power
Summary
In the passage, Sennett critiques the aspect of living in cities with the mentality that urban life contains a cultural value. He identifies the urban virtues defining the urban context including the sociability and subjectivity. To the argument, Sennett explores how diversity, density, and size of urban populations enhance the interaction of city complexities. Sennett's argument is vital in helping people learn how to live with multiplicity based on the experience of urban life. Also, the case makes it clear that strangeness and rigidity replaced the urban subjectivity and sociability.
Quotations/Evidence
“Urban life has a peculiar cultural value that makes it worthwhile to live in cities, even in decaying urban areas. (109)”
“The virtues of urban sociability and subjectivity were placed out a century ago, when urban studies began, in terms of a dialectic between rigidity and strangeness:----. (110)”
“----- the freedom of strangeness, the freedom of alterity, played itself out. (112)”
“And we continue – as indeed we should- to think of alterity as a social condition that holds out the promise of subjectivity freedom from arbitrary definition and identification. (113)”
“Socially, the coupling of flexibility and indifference produces a conflict less visible to the eye. (118)”
"We now have cities of globally mobile corporations, flexible workers, dynamic capitalism bent on erasing routine. (120)"
Reflection
Sennett’s piece is appropriate in understanding more about public space. The people’s experience in the urban city, which is based on its complexities shows that people in the city engage in different activities and they all influence their public space. The argument helps me think that even though Sennett focuses on capitalism in the city, there is more concern about how dwellers of the urban space affect each other. Also, I realize that in the public realm, people are required to withdraw to the private sphere which is essential for the public living. I understand that differences and flexibility in urban areas enable people to live with strangers in the neighborhood, therefore the importance of urban space.
