Introduction
It is not secret that there is still racial inequality within society. The mass migrations to cities have left many neighborhoods overpopulated, destitute, and families mainly minorities, left holding the bag. The progress of urbanization has led to many positive and negative aspects that affect every member. As life expectancy increases, people will naturally migrate from rural areas to urban areas where there is more opportunity for sustainable living. In essence the concept of participatory design has emerged from urbanization, a tool implemented in order to include community involvement in urban planning and development. In the matter of Atlantic Yards Projects in Brooklyn, New York, this project had been in development since 2004, and thought as “the most contentious developments in America’s history.” The Atlantic Yards Project has effected society, both positive in that it was proposed through participatory democracy, but negatively affected society from its lacked on its promises fulfilled to the community. As society grows it depends upon social planning, economic development, families, education, and factors that allowed people to adapt to the changing environment. Using information presented from theorists, Naomi Carmon, Susan Fainstien and Brenda Case Sheer this paper will examine Atlantic Yards Projects urban development.
Urbanization
The purpose of urbanization is study the economic, political, and social relationships in regards to city planning. Cities represent a microcosm of universal human behavior, rural and urban continually shift in between each other, but eras in time have illustrated large migrations from rural eras to urban. In the times of the Industrial Revolution, as more families migrated to urban areas in search of work at factories, many left the farms, and rural communities to move to the city. New York and other larger cities were inundated with poor workers, this wasn’t the first migration in American history and it wouldn’t be the last. Urbanization has had an immense effect on the lives of people that are forced into the position of having to adjust from a self-sustaining position in rural life to a depersonalized life in urban areas. During post-Civil War, many southern Blacks made their way to urban cities, and during the beginning of the 1900s many poor immigrants, and rural workers were subject to poor and unsafe working conditions in the factories.
As time has progress more moves into urban areas have resulted in the creation of suburbs that have appeals to the upper and middle class citizens. Cities grew to be more over crowded, which resulted in poverty, forcing people to migrate back out of them. Instead of living the city altogether, the urban population expanded as more options in transportation afforded more options for a suburban sprawl. The move from rural to urban areas have created socio-economic problems that have been plagued with an underlying notion of racial inequality. The U.S trend of “white flight”, which was the migration of financially secure white people from the mostly minority mixed urban areas into suburbs. This has been happening since the racial segregation established by Brown v. Board of Education, and throughout the present with middle class African American families following suit. The result of whites returning to cities that have a black majority historically has created problems of socio-economics, race, communities, and neighborhoods, which have remained challenging. (CNX, 2013) New York was America’s first megalopolis, an urban corridor that incorporated multiples cities, which were surrounded by suburbs, and exurbs, that are growing within the natural U.S landscape. (CNX, 2013)
Atlantic Yard Projects
In New York, there have been several changes to historical communities throughout the city have long been populated by immigrants and minorities that have been a product of urbanization. The urban develop into larger cities, have become not only a goldmine for architects, city planners, and designers. The Atlantic Yards in Prospect Heights, is a mixture of residential and commercial use that since 2004 has been under construction The Atlantic Yards project contrived in controversy has cost upwards of $4.9 billion spent redeveloping 22 acres in downtown Brooklyn. The development is owned by Forest City Ratner Companies (FCRC) with its controversial owner, Bruce Ratner. Just recently the Chinese-Owned firm, Greenland Group Co, agreed to take 70 percent interest in the Atlantic Yards project. (Ugolik, 2013) The proposed plans created by renowned architect Frank Gehry, and proposed from participatory design, includes two phases that are supposed to bring over 6,000 affordable housing units, the Barclays Center (already built), state of the arts sports and entertainment arena. Space used for retail, office, and publically accessible open space. The project has been made to improve transportation options, which includes a new storage and maintenance facility for LRR, and subway entrance to the Atlantic Terminal Transit Hub. (Atlantic Yards Fact Sheet, 2012)
The first phase of the project has been underway since its inception in 2004. According to the Final Environment Impact Statement (FEIS), the phase included the arena (Barclays Events Center), and five buildings that are used for market-rate affordable residential housing, office space, and a hotel. So far eight years into development it has only yielded one residential building, B2 that is still incomplete that will have 363 residential units, and 50% will be affordable. The Barclays Center is the only complete structure from the plan, where it is home to the NBA basketball team, the Brooklyn Nets. The second phase of the project includes 11 residential buildings, neighborhood retail use, and 8 acres of open space. These locations cover, Flatbush and 4th avenue, Vanderbilt Avenue, Atlantic Avenue, and Dean and Pacific Streets to the south. (Atlantic Yards Fact Sheet, 2012) Through the use of eminent domain, Forest City Ratner has been able to buy up private property to acquire homes in the highly desirable neighborhood, Prospects Heights, which has included closing streets, and tearing down residential units. Promises to Brooklyn residents from Bruce Ratner include more job opportunities, affordable housing and middle income housing units, improved transportation, and providing affordable home ownership.
The positive Effects of Society
The change to the Brooklyn neighborhood has brought positive effects do to urban planning. Urban planning, “is a dynamic profession that works to improve the welfare of people and their communities by creating more convenient, equitable, healthful, efficient, and attractive places for present and future generations” (Carmon, Fainstien, 2010, pg. 15) The project and planning alone has enabled the leaders, businesses, and the people to play meaningful roles in helping to create communities to enrich the members lives. In making good on their promises to the neighborhood, residents can expect more job opportunities, and affordable housing that has been updated, and modernized to improve their environment. It has built a Barclay Center that has offered more jobs to the declining job market, and subsidized housing. The support for the project has gained support from by four governors, including David Paterson, Eliot Spitzer, George Pataki, and Mayor Michael Bloomberg. Support has come from legislation including U.S Senators, former and present Congressmen, and comptrollers that support the project. Some of the most important support is from the Brooklyn Borough President, Marty Markowitz who applauded bringing back a professional sport to Brooklyn, and the affordable housing advocates that praised the project for providing at least 30 percent of the units to low, moderate, or middle income tenants. (Bagli, 2011)
One the positive aspects to the project is it use of participatory design. In participatory design, “citizens were given the right to participate in planning and implementation processes through grants and technical assistance” (Sanoff, 2005). The purpose of participatory is to enforce an attitude of change for the management of the urban environment for the citizens that dwell in them. When the project was propose, community input was significant, as leaders and other critics believe that when citizens are active in major changes, the environment works better. The Atlantic Yard project is supposed to include affordable housing to residents, and provide an influx of jobs in the neighborhoods. This participatory designed is then uses a democracy tool used in providing social and economic changes to the community by actively listening to residents on neighborhood and race relations. In this project much community input was warranted, with community meetings, protests, and activists lodging their voices in order to benefit the communities. The problem however, as the project has produced more negative effects on society than positive effects, that have ignored some of the input from the communities.
The negative Effects of society
The Atlantic Yards Project has been plagued with controversy since its inception. Opponents have largely argued that the project has forced many citizens from their homes due to the use of eminent domain, and the lack to fulfillment on the promises made for jobs and affordable housing. The project was yielded from participatory design, community involvement, but has shielded the community from involving. The master planner Frank Gehry is no longer involved in the project and critics are to slow to guarantee that Ratner will make good on the promise to include residential workers to work on the buildings, or provide low cost basketball tickets to the community. The original project slated for a 10 year duration has now been pushed back to a 25 year schedule. The businesses can no longer afford to rent in the neighborhood, and instead have been inundated with high cost stores that cater to a higher income. The impact of the urbanization of the neighborhood has shed the light on the problems within the neighborhood and the city. These include lack of adequate housing, high employment rates, and still the lack of proper planning that will revitalize the community. The incomplete construction of the first residential tower is oft-putting as the firm has continually asked for more money to complete a project that has taken billions already from taxpayers.
New York has been one of the most popular examples of not only urbanization but problems stemming from changing from an industrial city into a postindustrial city where gentrification have become more common. Gentrification is in fact what the lack of good urban planning has done to the Brooklyn neighborhood. As the once historical and majority minority neighborhood has gave way to bustling high price shops, and housings with high rent. It has driven the majority minority population out in favor of another class of residents. It has negatively affected the society within the neighborhood, and continue to keep with the negative process of urbanization in urban development.
Problems with Urbanization and Urban Development
The problems with urbanization and urban development stem from the issues in urban planning. Sheer noted that one of the prominent ideas to urban planning is that if, “we could only show people that dense urbanism is attractive and healthy and socially interesting, they would come to demand it everywhere” (Sheer, 2010, pg 1). However that is not the case. When trying to provide urban transformation, the planner has to acknowledge that the cities artifacts; bridges, buildings, streets, landscapes, and other objects impact society. What Ratner doesn’t see is the “urban tissue”, “term that urban morphologists use to describe the arrangement of lots, blocks, and streets, or the demarcation of the owned space of the city” (Sheer, 2010, pg. 47). These tissues make up the urban environment, and it is a failure on architects and planners that don’t realize the significant that the relationship between the buildings to the street play in sculpting the urban environment. In neighborhoods such as those in Brooklyn where the value of properties have slipped, the owners of the buildings did not reinvest in improvements allowing the properties to deteriorate. The properties are then overtaken by large firms that tear down or rebuild for storage yard, repair ships, and parking lots. It is then a challenge left the planner to bring back the neighborhood that is overrun with vacant land.
Conclusion
The Atlantic Yards Project is still ongoing and has yielded more negative effects to the society than positive. The urban planning is purposed with being a positive manifestation with community involvement in participatory democracy. In urban planning and development participatory is essential in addressing the social, political, and economic problems that urbanization causes in environments. However, in this case, the city planners, have neglected the community aspect, and the urban tissue of the neighborhood in exchange for a quick money grab. From the almost 10 year development of the Atlantic Yards Project, it has yielded one complete structure, the Barclays Center, with a slew of broken promises to the communities.
Works Cited
Bagli, Charles. With Federal Case and Modular Building Plan, New Attention for Atlantic Yards Project. The New York Times. 17 March 2013. Web. 10 Nov, 2013. http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/18/nyregion/18yards.html
Carmon, Naomi & Susan S. Fainstein, Eds. Policy, Planning, and People
Promoting Justice in Urban Development. Philadelphia, PA: University of Pennsylvania Press. 2003.
Sanoff, Henry. Multiple Views of Participatory Design. Journal of the Faculty of Architecture Middle Eastern Technical University. Vol 23. No. 2. 2006. Web. 10 Nov 2013. http://digitalcommons.calpoly.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1182&context=focus
Sheer, Brenda Case. The Evolution of Urban Form: Typology for Planners and Architects. Chicago: Planners Press. 2011.
The Atlantic Yards Project Fact Sheet. Good Jobs NY. July 2012. Web. 10 Nov. 2013. http://www.goodjobsny.org/sites/default/files/docs/atlantic-yards-b2-fact-sheet-july-2012.pdf
Ugolik, Kaitlin. Chinese Developer to Take Large Stake in Atlantic Yards. Law 360. 11 Oct. 2013. Web. 10 Nov. 2013. http://www.law360.com/articles/479924/chinese-developer-to-take-large-stake-in-atlantic-yards
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