The Effects Of Urban Renewal And The Freeway Systems

The author of Honor and the American Dream, Ruth Horowitz, takes us to Chicago’s Chicano community of 32nd Street in the

The Engineering Grand Challenge of restoring and improving urban infrastructure involves a foundation of challenges faced by architectural engineers today. Specifically, it is about repairing the infrastructure of a society, including its power grids, water infrastructure, roads, bridges, sustainable structures, and anything that provides support to our thriving lifestyle. Admittedly, improving infrastructure is an important challenge that can be fixed if there are new systems put in place that allow for improvement at any time in the future. The challenge of restoring and improving an urban infrastructure can be accomplished, but there need to be technological advances, and support from the government. Equally important is the need for programs with sufficient financial resources that can provide for a more up to date installation of the various components of an urban infrastructure.

During the 1960’s, the Civil Rights Movement wasn’t the only one occurring. Struggling to assimilate into American culture, and suppressed by social injustices convicted by their Anglo counterparts, the Chicano movement was born. In the epic poem “I am Joaquin” written by Rodolfo Gonzales in 1969, we dive into what it means to be a Chicano. Through this poem, we see the struggles of the Chicano people portrayed by the narrator, in an attempt to grasp the American’s attention during the time of these movements. Hoping to shed light on the issues and struggles the Chicano population faced, Gonzales writes this epic in an attempt to strengthen the movement taking place, and to give Chicanos a sense of belonging and solidarity in this now

In the film “Mi Familia,” we follow the story of the Mexican-American Sánchez family who settled in East Los Angeles, California after immigrating to the United States. Gregory Nava and Anna Thomas introduce the story of this family in several contexts that are developed along generations. These generations hold significant historical periods that form the identity of each individual member of the family. We start off by exploring the immigrant experience as the family patriarch heads north to Los Angeles, later we see how national events like the great depression directly impact Maria as she gets deported, although she was a US citizen. The events that follow further oppress this family and begins separate identity formations. These

n the early 19th century Olvera street was going to be destroyed along side with the Avila Adobe house . Until 1926 Chastina Rix better known as Christine Sterling came along and envisioned what the street can become . She believed that the street can become a tourist attraction and quickly began to campaign for the Avila Adobe home and the street itslef to be resotred . According to the L.A. Times, “during a fundraising BBQ held on the porch of the Avila Adobe, the tequila was flowing in spite of prohibition, and then Chief of Police Charlie "Two Guns" Davis was so moved by Sterling's call to action that he volunteered prison labor for Olvera's reconstruction” (“OlveraStreet: The Fabrication of L.A.'s Mexican Heritage”).

Before World War II, the Mexican American community had a very rich history in the United States; also they were suffering racial, economic and educational segregation. They still were foreigners in a land that once belonged to them. The women had a very specific part in this community´s development.

Those who grew up before the start of the Chicano movement believed that assimilating into the American lifestyle and adopting their values, ideals and believing in their education and politics would help them become more white. The Mexican American community faced segregation in all parts of life. “Chicano” was used as a derogatory term towards Mexican Americans before the Chicano movement in the 1960s. Organizations formed in the early 1900s, such as the League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC), sought to end discrimination and segregation against Latinos.

Louise Pubols, Fathers of the Pueblo: Patriarchy and Power in Mexican California, 1800-1880, article concentrated on the de la Guerra family from Santa Barbara, California. Pubols expresses to her audience that she wants to depict Mexicans from California Mexico in a different style from the usual. Pubols starts off by giving the reader a simple description of the way the California Mexican is usually presented. Typically, Californian Mexicans have little to no agency; they lose all their land and belongings and are lost to history. Pubols uses the de la Guerra family to show that California Mexicans not only had agency but also played a large part in society. Pubols second argument was that patriarchal language was being used to describe the de la Guerra’s family governance within their community.

While today Los Angeles is prided on being one of the most diverse cities in the United States, there was (and still is) a tremendous amount of resistance that had to be overcome. Society’s inclination to maintain homogeneity along with the testing of loyalties and allegiance through pressures of war have proven great obstacles in the evolution of what is now a majority-minority city. Nina Revoyr’s Southland gives a historic fictional recount of Los Angeles’ most tested times from perspectives looking in to the past, present, and future. The discovery of unpleasant truths through grave social injustices provide a painful reminder of Los Angeles’ history and consequently a warning for future setbacks. Southland is an emotional testament to the inescapability of discrimination within stratified cities and the unspoken necessity of assimilation that occurs as a result.

Mexican Americans in Texas have a long and detailed history spanning from the arrival of Cortez all the way to the present day. Through historical events, the culture and identity of Mexican Americans have shifted, diverted, and adapted into what people chose to identify as. The rise of the Chicano identity during the Mexican American Civil Rights Movement was an adaptation as a culture to oppressive and unjust treatment from white, Anglos that had almost all political and social power over all minorities. To stop the oppressive voices from silencing and oppressing the Mexican Americans, they had to stand up to fight for their rights as American citizens that also had Mexican or Spanish heritage to be proud of. In Oscar Zeta Acosta’s novel, The Revolt of the Cockroach People, he dives into the Chicano Movement as a witness and an active participant. His larger than life character is on the front lines of the movement and examines the shift in identity among the group. It was particularly rising of their Chicano identity that gave the people cause to organize politically and socially in order to fight for a worthy cause.

In the Preface of Major Problems in Mexican American History Zaragosa Vargas writes, "Nearly two thirds of Latinos in the United States are of Mexican descent, or Chicanos- a term of self definition that emerged during the 1960's and early 1970s civil rights movement. Chicanos reside mainly in the Southwest, the Pacific Northwest, and the Midwest. Their history begins in the precolonial Spanish era, and they share a rich mestizo cultural heritage of Spanish, Indian, and African origins. The Chicanos' past is underscored by conquest of the present-day American Southwest first by the Spanish and then by the United States following the Mexican American War" (xv). When one thinks of a Chicano one thinks of the Mayans and Aztecs, the conquests,

The racist connotation that Miss Jimenez associates with who she thinks would “fit in” society’s box is a definite reflection of the hardships Valdez witnessed in his community. For example, the Zoot Suit Riots that occurred in 1944 was rooted by a reaction by young Mexican-American males against a culture that did not want them to be a part of it. Stuart Cosgrove examines this issue when he states, "In the most obvious ways they had been stripped of their customs, beliefs and language.” (*Vargas 317) These youths were going through an identity crisis because they did not know which culture they could identify with. Miss Jimenez is a character that embodies that repression Valdez explains in “Los Vendidos.”

On television people of the Chicano culture were often depicted and portrayed as happy go lucky people. In the real world, many of them spent much of their time working in factories located in Michigan (more specifically Chicago) that made cars and/or car parts. However, it wasn’t just the factories they worked well in; they also

Essentially, Olvera Street became a landscape for Mexican-American culture to exist. While certainly, Mexican-Americans were being deported, Christine Sterling prevented her Mexican employees from being deported (Suarez, Christine Sterling Lecture). Adding on, she also hired over 500 Mexican employees, truly giving reigns to Mexicans to portray their culture (Suarez, Christine Sterling Lecture). Sterling certainly tried to bring out the “colors of Spanish, Mexican romance” even if it was only the pleasant parts of their history (Kropp 211).

Contemporary cities face a dilemma in the modern world today; either they evolve in order to adapt to the challenges which globalization bring about, or simply refuse to change and stagnate. At present the global economy is at a fragile and unpredictable state, and for cities to continue to be competitive they are directing their attention towards their own historical, cultural, social, assets coupled with their own creative talents and spaces. The production, publication and campaign of such events as, festivals, exhibitions and championships are important factors of urban development and reconstruction of cities by way of economic prosperity, media coverage, image building and tourism. Nevertheless, cities need to weigh-in the factors of being an ‘eventful city’, which include, sustainability, security, the costs, interruptions and other social factors that comes with this strategic objective.