Page 497 - Essencials of Sociology

470 CHAPTER 14 Population and Urbanization

The Potential of Urban
Revitalization

Social policy usually takes one of two forms.
The first is to tear down and rebuild—
something that is fancifully termed urban
renewal. The result is the renewal of an
area—but not for the benefit of its inhabit-
ants. Stadiums, high-rise condos, luxury
hotels, and boutiques replace run-down,
cheap housing. Outpriced, the area’s inhab-
itants are displaced into adjacent areas.
The second is to attract businesses to an
area by offering them reduced taxes. This
program, called enterprise zones, usually
fails because most businesses refuse to locate
in high-crime areas. They know that the
high costs of security and the losses from
crime can eat up the tax savings.
U.S. suburbs were once unplanned, A highly promising form of the enter-
rambling affairs that took irregular prise zone, called the Federal Empowerment Zone, is the opposite of disinvestment. It
shapes as people moved away from targets the redevelopment of an area by adding low-interest loans to the tax breaks.
the city. Today’s suburbs are planned
to precise details even before the first The renaissance of Harlem, featured in the Down-to-Earth Sociology box on page
foundation is laid. This photo is of a 461, was stimulated by designating Harlem a Federal Empowerment Zone. The low-
suburb in Maryland. interest loans brought grocery stores, dry cleaners, and video stores, attracting the
middle class. As they moved back in, the demand for more specialty shops followed.
A self-feeding cycle of investment and hope replaced the self-feeding cycle of despair
and crime that accompanies disinvestment.
If they become top agenda items of the government, U.S. cities can be turned into
safe and decent places to live and enjoy. This will require not just huge sums of money
but also creative urban planning. That we are beginning to see success in Harlem, Chi-
cago’s North Town, and even in formerly riot-torn East Los Angeles indicates that we
can accomplish this transformation.

Public Sociology. Replacing old buildings with new ones is certainly not the answer.
Instead, we need to do public sociology (discussed on page 13) and apply sociological
principles to build community. Here are three guiding principles suggested by sociolo-
gist William Flanagan (1990):
Scale. Regional and national planning is necessary. Local jurisdictions, with their
many rivalries, competing goals, and limited resources, end up with a hodgepodge
of mostly unworkable solutions.
Livability. Cities must be appealing and meet human needs, especially the need for
community. This will attract the middle classes into the city, which will increase its
tax base. In turn, this will help finance the services that make the city more livable.
Social justice. In the final analysis, social policy must be evaluated by how it affects
people. “Urban renewal” programs that displace the poor for the benefit of the mid-
dle class and wealthy do not pass this standard. The same would apply to solutions
that create “livability” for select groups but neglect the poor and the homeless.
urban renewal the rehabilitation
of a rundown area, which usually Most actions taken to solve urban problems are window dressings for politicians
results in the displacement of the who want to appear as though they are doing something constructive. The solution
poor who are living in that area
is to avoid Band-Aids that cover up the problems that hurt our quality of life and to
enterprise zone the use of eco- address their root causes—poverty, poor schools, crimes of violence, lack of jobs, and an
nomic incentives in a designated inadequate tax base to provide the amenities that enhance our quality of life and attract
area to encourage investment
people to the city.