{"id":2450,"date":"2012-08-30T23:44:06","date_gmt":"2012-08-31T03:44:06","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.alexblock.net\/?p=2450"},"modified":"2012-08-30T23:44:06","modified_gmt":"2012-08-31T03:44:06","slug":"buying-into-the-urban-myth","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.alexblock.net\/blog\/2012\/08\/30\/buying-into-the-urban-myth\/","title":{"rendered":"Buying into the urban ‘myth’"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>

Williamsburg Bridge. CC image from Kev Gilmour<\/p><\/div>\n

(Building off the previous post<\/a>, in response to this Atlantic Cities piece<\/a>)<\/p>\n

If Feargus O’Sullivan isn’t really moving to a “suburb” as his article is entitled<\/a>, but rather to a different urban neighborhood – then what’s the reasoning behind this? \u00a0O’Sullivan complains about \u00a0“hype” and “supposed edginess and creative ferment”, instead arguing that they are “increasingly as banal, antisocial and plain dull as any suburb.”<\/p>\n

Maybe I’m reading too much into O’Sullivan’s piece – it’s one thing to be a lament over a supposedly cool place not living up to the hype, or for a personal experience in a place to fall short. Drawing conclusions beyond that seems dubious, but nevertheless interesting fodder for discussion.<\/p>\n

So, is this really an indictment of urbanism, or just one of hype? \u00a0O’Sullivan’s complaint is focused on “fashionable” neighborhoods, and given the fact that O’Sullivan’s destination in the suburbs isn’t really all that suburban (or, rather, it’s quite urban under a reasonably broad understanding of the term). \u00a0This makes me want to discount the idea that it’s the city – rather, the critique seems to be focused about what’s cool.<\/p>\n

Some quotes:<\/p>\n

For all their reputation as hives of individuality, neighborhoods like my own city\u2019s\u00a0Broadway Market<\/a>\u00a0offer almost identical businesses to those you\u2019d find in currently hip city neighborhoods anywhere.\u00a0 While the base materials (streets and houses) may be different in, say, NYC\u2019s Greenpoint, Berlin\u2019s Neuk\u00f6lln, or Madrid\u2019s Malasa\u00f1a, the trappings of gentrification \u2013 expensive coffee and bike shops, junk sold at a premium as \u201cvintage\u201d and, soon after, bitterly resented chain outlets \u2013 make these places seem increasingly homogenous.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

So, it’s about gentrification.<\/p>\n

Even accepting this description of the problem seems to be setting up a straw man to be beaten down, however. \u00a0O’Sullivan claims “people are being asked to buy into an urban myth whose claims don\u2019t always stand up to scrutiny.” \u00a0Are they really? \u00a0Are people really being asked to buy in to this? \u00a0Or perhaps, do they just want the basic characteristics presented by the physical urban environment?<\/p>\n

As O’Sullivan delves into “the myth’s central tenets,” he cites the idea of creative people living near the heart of the city. \u00a0However, his definition of ‘creative’ is awfully narrow, limited to “starving artists, wannabe writers, thinkers, eccentrics, [and] aesthetes.” \u00a0But we know (through empirical evidence<\/a>) that innovation<\/a> and density<\/a> are linked. \u00a0O’Sullivan admits this is a narrow definition (both of creativity and, previously, of urbanism), but points out that his myth holds out for “more exciting neighbours.” \u00a0This seems to be a critique not of the places O’Sullivan visits, but of the trendiness that colors his experience.<\/p>\n

Indeed, what is the actual myth here? At Salon, Will Doig writes about Williamsburg<\/a>, Brooklyn, asking: “Are urban bohemias, you know,\u00a0so over?” \u00a0 <\/em>Doig notes”Pre-hipster Williamsburg was a neighborhood of working-class ethnic groups, crack dealers and violence \u2014 but also, crucially, post-industrial vacancy: boarded-up factories, weed-choked lots, an abandoned waterfront, train tracks to nowhere.”\u00a0The answer draws on a similar line from an Atlantic piece by Benjamin Schwarz entitled Gentrification and its Discontents<\/a>, <\/em>noting similar critiques from other authors:<\/p>\n

He doesn\u2019t recognize that the SoHo he yearns for was precisely the product of that rapid industrial decline, which made economically available to artists and their hangers-on all those cool industrial spaces that in more industrially vibrant times would have been used by, well, industry.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Despite these lamentations about the change of the city (which Doig’s piece notes wouldn’ve been unthinkable for a city-dweller in the 1920s – particularly if one reads Robert Fogelson’s Downtown<\/em><\/a>), Doig closes with this from the gentrifying ‘hood:<\/p>\n

As the neighborhood begins to upscale in a way that fills Anasi with dismay, Napoleon opens Williamsburg\u2019s first proper lounge and rides the crest of the transformation with purpose. His swanky club becomes a smash hit, and helps create a whole new scene on the sleepy south side. Moreover, it gives the young entrepreneur \u2014 a poor kid of color from a dangerous neighborhood \u2014 a chance at a life he might not have otherwise had.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Given the larger scale economic processes, it’s hard to understand what these writers are making a big deal out of, whether it’s a myth of urbanism or some sense of authenticity. \u00a0On one hand, O’Sullivan’s embrace of a less-cool neighborhood would seem to undermine the fears of a lost bohemia and instead embrace the idea of a large pent-up demand for urban living of all stripes, myth or not.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

(Building off the previous post, in response to this Atlantic Cities piece) If Feargus O’Sullivan isn’t really moving to a “suburb” as his article is entitled, but rather to a different urban neighborhood – then what’s the reasoning behind this? \u00a0O’Sullivan complains about \u00a0“hype” and “supposed edginess and creative ferment”, instead arguing that they are […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1],"tags":[451,357,327,67],"class_list":["post-2450","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-density","tag-gentrification","tag-innovation","tag-suburbs"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pHcGQ-Dw","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.alexblock.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2450","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.alexblock.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.alexblock.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.alexblock.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.alexblock.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2450"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/www.alexblock.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2450\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2464,"href":"https:\/\/www.alexblock.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2450\/revisions\/2464"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.alexblock.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2450"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.alexblock.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2450"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.alexblock.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2450"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}