Personal Narrative: What Does That Mean For The Sense Of Place

There has been a recent phenomenon throughout the United States of gentrification. As older parts of neighborhoods are occupied by new tenants with money, the neighborhood changes and loses its old character. Those who might have lived in those neighborhoods their entire lives are pushed out as rents begin to skyrocket and the surroundings begin to change. This has happened in many neighborhoods. One of the most well known is San Francisco, where technology companies have brought in new software engineers that have caused local rents to skyrocket and people to move out of the area. However, just as importantly has been the influx of new money to Brooklyn, where local neighborhood changes have forced people from their homes, traditional music to be replaced, and old businesses to go bankrupt.

When you live in the suburbs of Atlanta, it was easy to forget about whites. Whites were like those pigeons: real and existing, but rarely seen or thought about…everyone had seen white girls and their mother coo-coing over dresses; everyone had gone to downtown library and seen white businessmen swish by importantly, wrists flexed in front of them to check the time as though they would change from Clark Kent into Superman…those images were a fleeing as cards shuffled in a deck, where as the ten white girls behind us were real and memorable (179).

The authenticity in the first four photographs speaks vastly of Adams Morgans’ diversity. Those who were photographed were the people that made Adams Morgan what it was, a lively, vibrant neighborhood where cultures thrived. However, at the first sign of urban renewal, as exemplified in Shia’s Neighborhood Advisory photograph, the neighborhood advisory was met with resistance as depicted in Shia’s Anti-gentrification Wall. This is evidence of gentrification affecting the core of what was once a highly coveted hub of Washington D.C.’s diversity.

While explaining his new daily routine, he expressed his views on the city, “I began to like New York, the racy, adventurous feel of it at night, and the satisfaction that the contrast flicker of men and women and machines give to the restless eye” (56). When he says this, his tone is a tinge of sadness but mostly acceptance. It doesn’t seem to affect or bother him that he feels solitary in a big city. He admits that he feels lonely, but he also believes other people in New York feel lonely as well. Showing that even though a big city can be exciting and filled with opportunities, it’s not always as grand as people make it

During the early 1990s, the explosion of murders throughout New Orleans shocked the conscience of the city. While violence has been part of New Orleans for decades, the sheer numbers, the brazenness, and the madness of the spree made people cry when the murder record was broken in 1994. In the novel Glass House (1994), New Orleans native Christine Wiltz, who is white, presents many strengths and weaknesses in her writing that makes the effects of black-white residential segregation visible by presenting her New Orleans story through the diverse perspectives of residents who live in housing projects as well as Garden District mansions.

The world has been evolving as quickly as the population has grown. As the years progressed, the habitual lifestyle has transformed from spread out house and land living to city and suburban occupation. Along with the living style, cities have progressed from just roads and buildings to multifunctional spaces with copious possibilities. Federation Square in the ‘heart of the city’ is an example of how a space in the city vastly contributes to the visual culture of Melbourne. Times Square in New York also displays how what was previously an intersection of roads, has been transformed into a visual landmark. Melbourne city had always lacked a functional public space ever since its birth.

The fact that part of the UChicago campus is literally in the neighborhood, along with its access to parks, lakefront, and educational options, all can make it a desirable place to live. Missing from Woodlawn is a “sense of place”, as it is lacking commercial vitality and density that both supports it and animates the streets. Similarly, beyond the campus and parks, which while critical to the neighborhood, are removed from where people actually live, there are few public places that contribute to civic life in Woodlawn.

Much has been said about the development patterns that are found throughout towns and cities in North America. In the New York Times, a post authored by Vishaan Chakrabarti discuses the trends facing American cities in the article “America’s Urban Future (Chakrabarti).” This article talks about the ways in which American cities are seeing resurgence in their urban areas, and new population segments are moving into once blighted areas. In order to convey the changes occurring throughout our communities, Chakrabarti relies on ethos and logos to provide a foundation for the information, and effectively uses pathos to convince the audience that they should care about the subject in question.

“Cities are not approached simply as forums for economic and political confrontations but as places rich with meaning and value for those who live, work, and play in and near them” (Borer 2006). People assign characteristics and personality to cities. These traits are assumed to be as permanent and concrete as the physical city (Borer 2010). However, like the characteristics of a person’s identity may change over time, the identity of places is fluid and dynamic (Borer

Jane Jacobs compared old buildings to a “necessary ingredient in city diversity,” which emphasizes the essentiality to city’s aesthetic value and economic vitality. Jacobs believes that both characters are indispensable to city’s public life and people’s social life. In addition to more discussion on the implication of building preservation in terms of economic vitality, Jacobs also believes that communities often develop a physical attachment to the people, places, and events in the past. Therefore, retaining the “sense of old places” becomes even more critical to generate the “sense of community”, especially along with the fast pace of globalization and urbanization, building preservation also means to preserve the heritage for the future

A social location that has affected my life is education. I chose education because I have always struggled with it throughout my middle school years. I was having tough time focusing in school. I was that child that never got awarded for anything. Instead I was always sitting at the principal’s office having meetings with teachers and my parents. Math and English weren’t my subjects I always a struggled with both, because I only grew up knowing one language which was Spanish, and Math I was never good with numbers. For not knowing good English I would get bullied and made fun of all the time. That I made me give up on school. By the time I was in sophomore in high school I was transferred to a charter school, because I need help with all the

Tucson is the largest city in southern Arizona, and is home to the University of Arizona and a population of over 500,000 people. This city has a unique sense of place, and it’s likely that if everyone in Tucson was asked to describe this sense of place, about five hundred thousand different answers would be given. Pictures are wonderful tools that can help people convey their sense of place to others more clearly than with merely words. With the technology that is available today, it is quite easy to access hundreds of pictures of Tucson, and almost every other city in the United States as well. With so many pictures to choose from, it’s a little difficult to find only one that can convey someone’s sense of place of a city, especially if that city is enormous or diverse. With a little bit of searching, however, it is possible. John Diebolt’s “Downtown Tucson, Arizona” captures my sense of place of Tucson as a lively, modern city that still contains hints of its rural past and embraces Arizona’s natural environment. Although this city is rather populous and urban, it can still seem hospitable and peaceful at times.

As the crowd aimlessly wandered and dispersed into the streets Aydon stood frozen why am I here, and where did I come from? He looked down at the glossy ticket in his hand- 1892 Sycamore Rd. apt 2. Aydon began walking down the street glancing at road sign looking for his. The people on the streets all walked with their heads up looking straight forward all on some mission to be the best. Only a few swayed and stumble lost, these few all wore the same grey pants and “Welcome To Freehold” shirts as Aydon marking them as new to the city not one looked younger than 16. Finally he managed to stumble upon Sycamore rd, his apartment was a carbon copy of all the other apartments on this street. He found his room and stumbled in, on a small table sat a welcome basket. It had some basic necessities like food, soap, and few sets of the same clothes. The basket also contained a letter that

Mr. Gates observes quietly as a real estate agent shakes the hands of his customers who grin at their boisterous children and teen son. This African-American family has found a place to call home after weeks visiting open houses. Mr. Gates cringes and shakes his head. Living in a upscale suburban town and a gated community, Mr. Gates expected that those kind of people could not and would not be anywhere around his neighborhood. And now, they are moving next door. Disturbed and frazzled, he heads over to Miss. Mullen’s house to air his concerns with someone who would understand.

A growing line of sociological inquiry documents how places are shaped by the meanings residents construct and attach to them. Specifically, scholars have studied “the symbolic relationship between people and places and the ways that persons invest places with meaning and value in order to make sense of their world” (Borer, 2006, p. 180). These meanings have the power to direct how and why people move to a place, how they invest their time and money, and the ways in which they do or do not engage in civic and political action (Firey, 1945; Bell, 1994; Milligan, 1998; Paulsen, 2004; Alkon and Traugot, 2008; Kaufman and Kaliner, 2011). Because of this, it is central to uncover how meanings are made, who specifically makes them, and how they direct action on the ground.