Hartford Urban Observation

Through a multitude of significant changes physically, conceptually, economically, and more, the societal reformation of cities in the Progressive Era had set themselves as the foundations of American civilization. The juxtaposition between the rich and poor statuses in these urban areas show the drastic separation within developing cities. Through this division caused a wide variety of living conditions, the majority of which held the overcrowded sections of cities where the population mostly stayed while the higher end communities had more luxurious lives. Through this success of entrepreneurship and economic growth from all aspects in cities, the entire landscape, both physically through innovative architecture and the perspectives outside rural and suburban areas had on them, had transformed for the better in these areas.

In Streetwise, Elijah Anderson (1990) discusses the social forces at work in an urban area he calls the Village-Northton. His is a sociological field study of the daily interactions between the residents of an area encompassing two communities--in his words, "one black and low income to very poor (with an extremely high infant mortality rate), [and] the other racially mixed but becoming increasingly middle to upper income and white" (Anderson, 1990, p. ix). In keeping with valid sociological fieldwork, Anderson (1990) immersed himself in the community from the summer of 1975 through the summer of 1989.

Nestled in the Smoky Mountains, Gatlinburg has become an area that East Tennessee State University students go to visit. Gatlinburg offers something for many; however, the city has some growing pains such as traffic and limited space. Thus, the city of Gatlinburg offers many things that a traveler could need and want, provided that he or she is willing to overlook the city’s rapid growth.

How has the suburb Harvey and the residential area of Englewood changed over the course of years? Both neighborhoods and residents have faced much adversity and are struggling in many fields such as unemployment, police brutality, gun violence, schools closing, drugs, and high crime rate. Amidst one of the worst economic times in history, residents are being laid off, which interns lead to a domino effect for many. The differences (similarities) between Harvey and the residential area of Englewood are pronounced, and they deserve rigorous scrutiny.

Hartford, CT is a well-known city that has developed into a concentric zone fashion. A concentric zone consists of five zones; Central Business District, Transitional Zone, Working Class Zone, Residential Zone, and the Commuter Zone. Each zone consists of different qualities that can all be found in Hartford. Hartford is very similar to Chicago based on the description of Chicago given by Dr. Burgess. Just like Chicago, Hartford is also a city that has a high crime rate.

South Street Philadelphia’s sidewalk’s safety is not determined by the strangers shuffling in and out of the area, but instead by the local residents and community members who live there. Based on my personal observations, the biggest asset to South Street in regard to safety and overall quality of the area are the locals who reside there. This idea of community investment relating to the safety of a street is presented in Jane Jacob’s novel The Death and Life of Great American Cities and is one of her ideas that is accurately displayed throughout South Street. By examining the various ways people interact in different areas and shops on South Street, I was able to evaluate what aspects of her writing proved to be beneficial to the overall safety of the area.

Nineteenth Century Chicago had numerous flaws within the city compared to the city in present time. Larson’s ideal perception of Chicago in the past was known as the “Black City” (Larson 11). The death rate was increasing rapidly due to the murders and disappearances of people. All across the country, residents of other states knew how disgusting Chicago truly was, and had been judgmental towards their city. Anyone could notice the trembling fear of the construction workers when they had to show up to their profession. “Of the 352 men who worked on the bridge’s notorious east caisson, pressured-related illness, killed twelve, left two crippled for life, and injured sixty-six others, a casualty rate of over 20 percent.” (24). Laborers would go into the harmful work environments every single day; they would never know if the probability of making it out alive. The fowl smelling odors of nineteenth Chicago were so horrendous because of the public health process, which was not produced. “In any street not paved with macadam oozed a fragrant muck of horse manure, mud, and garbage that swelled between granite blocks like pus from a wound.” (28). The civilians of Chicago had not taken care of the hygiene within the city. This led to outbreaks of deadly ailments that killed a mass number of individuals. During the night hours, intolerable noises screeched out to the city’s residents. Means of transportation, such as, trains, trolleys, and hearses strolled down the pavement during

It was founded by a group of Germans and Norwegians Hartford Connecticut after the fire of ’55 1855 is when new Hartford was founded

The city of New Haven, Connecticut has been a long-standing settlement. Established officially by Europeans in March of 1638 (Source 3), New Haven has a detailed history of population declines and growth. The territory that is now New Haven was once inhabited by the Native American group the Quinnipiack (Source 6). The accrual of land was easy for the English settlers in this territory due to the conflicts between the Native American groups. The Quinnipiack tribe occupied the area near the harbor and the Mohawks and Pequots occupied the surrounding area and constantly harassed the Quinnipiack. When the English arrived the Quinnipiack traded their land for protection, which the English agreed to immediately. Through the years the settlement of New Haven has grown and declined in population due to different factors including political, economic and many more.

The traditional working class nature of Pilsen is presently endangered by the gentrification of this mainly Mexican-American locality. The Pilsen Alliance, a waged people's organization created in 1998, coupled with city geography classes at DePaul University to carry out a building list of Pilsen in order to spot and coordinate around issues connected to gentrification.

The town bustles with life and energy at all times. Many stores and restaurants are twenty-four hours due to the fact that the city never sleeps. The interstates and highways almost always have commuters on them as well. Atlanta occupies a few colleges, so student life is another contributing factor to the atmosphere. Multiple religions are present in Atlanta: hinduism, presbyterian, greek orthodox, etc.

Like a majority of state and local governments, the City of Morristown raises revenue through taxation, fees, grants, and issuing bonds for capital projects (City of Morristown, 2017; Hyman, 2014). Like a vast majority of the United States, the "Great Recession" impacted the budget of Morristown, primarily through a loss in the city's manufacturing base (City of Morristown, 2017). Thankfully, since the end of the "Great Recession" Morristown finds its economic situation improving, which can be viewed through an analysis of the city's budgets from 2015 to the present.

It has been rapidly growing since the early 2000s. In Surprise, mainly all of the stores are jammed together. All the food places are relatively close to each other. There are many schools and apartment complexes. It is convenient that all the stores are close together so we can shop everywhere.

In Jane Jacobs’s acclaimed The Life and Death of Great American Cities, she intricately articulates urban blight and the ills of metropolitan society by addressing several binaries throughout the course of the text. One of the more culturally significant binaries that Jacobs relies on in her narrative is the effectively paradoxical relationship between diversity and homogeneity in urban environments at the time. In particular, beginning in Chapter 12 throughout Chapter 13, Jacobs is concerned greatly with debunking widely held misconceptions about urban diversity.

Part two of Death and Life explains several conditions for city diversity based on the observations of different American cities and discusses in depth the four factors that Jacobs believe are critical for the development of a city. The basis for generating diversity lies in these conditions, and cannot be secludedly achieved by planning and designing. This part lays out the foundation and is the basis for the rest of the book. It shows urban planning and many possible remedies for creating equal diversity, and studies why these are not applied and the effects of it not being so.