The Element Of Great City

Gentrification is a practice that cultivates social displacement. This change is revealed in the change of the neighborhoods environmental aesthetics, engrossed by the belief that a rebirth of the older city was in the making.

These improved housing will increase the neighborhood and property value, increase social mixed, reduce crime rate, and reduce vacancy rates. While the superficial key of gentrification is the upgrade of housing, there is actually other great benefits that gentrification bring to the neighborhoods. In terms of symbolic implications for urban change, gentrification is the urban changes and improvement which also redevelop the area’s image. Fancy restaurants, high-priced boutiques and shops, high houses’ values, and fancy house have changed the neighborhood's image or symbol from a rural neighborhood (before gentrification) to a high-class neighborhood (after gentrification). Gentrification has certainly restructure the economic of one’s neighborhood by bringing up new standard in consumption. The decrease in crime rates and increase in property value can stabilize the previously struggling neighborhood, restoring interest in the inner city life as a residential. These changes are able to encourage other forms of development of the area that promote the economic

Urban decay is an issue in the United States and will cause the act of gentrification. Urban decay is current in most, if not all, inner cities of the United States. Middle and upper class avoid traveling around downtown cities in their state because they do not feel safe. Government and private markets are implementing gentrification to decaying urban areas. The positive effect of gentrification is that there will be a renovation of buildings and local businesses. This is a controversy because these renovations will be create a higher property and push out local businesses to implement new businesses to appeal gentrified citizens; ultimately, targeting the lower class by displacing them. “The Search for Marvin Gardens” by John McPhee and “Gentrification

The documentation, through motion pictures, of Montreal over the decades, characterizes this city of owning a vibrant energy and engaging atmosphere. A common factor from these films portrays Montreal’s never ending construction and poor conditions due to the ancient infrastructures. Nonetheless, many changes have induced that could be interpreted as positive or as negative consequences, depending on one’s perspective. The architecture of the city has altered due to the hope of creating suitable living areas and notably, its people and culture have changed through time as well. From the films seen in class, Montreal by Night from 1947, À St-Henri le Cinq Septembre from 1962 and La Mémoire des Anges from 2008, exhibits the modifying evolution

This historical study will define the gentrification and social disruption of medieval Paris in the modern urban design of Georges-Eugene Haussmann’s renovation of Paris in the 19th century. Haussmann’s urban design was founded on the revolutionary leadership of Emperor Louis-Napoleon Bonaparte III in the late 1840s to renovate the massive slums and overcrowded tenements of Paris. The modernity of this massive urban project was founded on making wider streets, demolishing slums, and providing better sewage for an ever-increasing population. The destruction of the “medieval” structure of Paris was extremely influential in the design of the modern European city, yet it also brought about the problem of gentrification that alienated and marginalized

“I seek to explore the ways that a variety of national regimes have used architecture and urban designs to express political power and control and to investigate how designers have manipulated the urban built environment to promote a version of identity that would support and help legitimize this rule” (Vale 6). In America, the White House is the capital of a democratic government which represents the ideology of the people working together as one. The pillars of the White House symbolize the citizens of the country who uphold the government while the color of the White House represents a fresh new beginning. While some countries choose to make their architecture represent their type of government, others choose to represent their country with its aura. Around the world, Paris is known as the capital of love and romance. Located in Paris, the Eiffel Tower signifies the capital's beauty. The Eiffel Tower reaches high to the heavens as the designs on it intertwine with one another to show strength of the bonded. The tower's beauty was made to capture the city's constant aura of love while its structure was made to hold firm in the toughest conditions like any

In present-day America, historic preservation is not just for the historic home, but rather a component of “smart growth;” which utilizes space in cities where buildings have already been established. With businesses closing, cities feel the crippling effects on its economy and with that consideration in mind; cities can reinvent themselves with the abandoned spaces for city growth through adaptive reuse. To find out just how beneficial using the abandoned buildings, further research needs to be conducted on the movements associated with historic preservation using adaptive reuse. These elements will help provide evidence or lack thereof that historic preservation is actually a form of “smart growth.” Based on the observations from the historic districts in cities like Charleston, South Carolina, I believe historic preservation is a form of “smart growth” due to the adaptive reuse of current buildings (i.e. Warehouse becomes lofts and businesses).

Paris as the City of Light, or the “modern” Paris, emerged in the mid 19th century as the demolition of “Old Paris” by Prefect Haussmann paved the way for the urban renewal program set out by the Emperor Napoleon III. New streets, sewers, and parks, and new town halls, hospitals, and schools were all created at this time. Not all were admired though. In fact, some Parisians grew angry that the historic core of Paris was lost in these bold projects. Lights throughout Paris evolved over the 19th century as well. Candle-lit lanterns that once lit the city became oil-burning lamps. It wasn’t until the year 1900 that Paris was illuminated by electric lighting, and formally became known as “Ville Lumière.” Main monumental spaces such as the Palais de l’Électricité, the Eiffel Tower, and even the new central wide boulevards were illuminated with these lights. Paris displayed the pleasures of the city to visitors who came to experience it, however, it also divided Parisians on the basis that the city’s traditions and memories were destroyed. Despite being called the most cosmopolitan city in the world by Baedeker, its history left out the dark side of it all. Paris was desolated of its historic memories and its traditional morals. However, renovations did bring sunlight and air into the historically beloved unhealthy, cramped streets. Ultimately, this image of Paris is all about its visually appealing aesthetics and does not mention what a true Parisian, in the center-periphery or banlieues, for example, would vision.

His first comprehensive city plan was La Ville Contemporaine (the Contemporary City) a project to house three million inhabitants designed in 1922. This was Le Corbusier’s first attempt to reconcile man, nature and machine (Fishman, 189). The city starts at the center with a transportation hub for busses, trains, cars and planes. Surrounding this hub there will be an organized cluster of 24 60-story skyscrapers. These glass and steel skyscrapers are cross-shaped. Each individual skyscraper is to be set within a large rectangular green space. The skyscrapers house the “brain” of the city. The city is beautifully geometric and symmetrical. Placing the skyscrapers in the city center reinforces the emphasis on capital as a means of creating a successful city. Because of the shape and mass of each skyscraper, they have more usable space than an entire neighborhood but also relieves density and congestion because of the organization (Frampton, 46).

Over the past few centuries, after mankind had almost fully embraced the thought of living life within the confines of a city, the people in charge of the maintenance and upkeep of the sprawling metropolises that now dominate the world scene have used methods that are equally alike and different in order to accomplish their goals. Often considered one of the first great city planners of pre-modern times, Haussmann was given the task to recreate the sprawling mass that Paris had become into a landmark of both beauty and power. His personal style, although having its own fair share of critics, is now considered to have been at least fairly successful in completely retrofitting and modernizing the monuments, the roadways and the main public

Haussmann 's reconstruction and renewal of Paris represented the ‘triumph’ of middle class urban culture and value of open, accessible social spaces and a drastic improvement in the living and sanitary conditions of the city. The middle class was deeply involved in the idea of a large social sphere in order to talk and discuss all aspects of life, and the renewal of Paris with open spaces and large boulevards enabled this sphere. The unsanitary and unlivable conditions of the city previously were completely changed, which demonstrates a triumph for the middle class as they gained a clean and safe environment that separated them from the lower working class.

Paris today is known as a center of arts and rich culture both acclaimed and original. Famous moments pop up through the history of France’s art, such as the impressionistic artworks by Monet, the École des Beaux-Arts teachings of classicism, and the iconic Eiffel Tower by Stephen Sauvestre. Paris augments itself with numerous museums to catalog countless masterpieces and sculptures throughout France’s enduring, yet sometimes gritty, history. As a whole, Paris comprises of a mixture between historic architectural themes like rusticated brick clad, mansard roofs, striated columns, and a modern day architectural themes like engineered metalwork, and external program support machinery. The notion of classic French architecture, juxtaposed

It was one of the largest efforts to rebuild the centre of a city since ancient times. While there was the glamour of the many entertainments in the city, there was also a darker side of poverty, crime and prostitution. "The city - with its pristine exterior, its soiled underside, its hollow entertainments - provided the makings of an enormous duality: a two-sided mirror...a spectacle and secret life." (Bromber 1996: 62) One of the key parts to this design by Haussmann were the wide tree lined avenues, which replaced the smaller streets that had previously existed in the city. "Haussmann's grand design for the reconstruction of Paris was being carried forward by the Third Republic, and the city was now laced with wide, tree-lined avenues." (Schneider 1972: 134) In fact, the modern city of Paris is based on the city that was built by Haussmann and the modern perception of Paris as being the artistic and cultural centre that it is known for, is chiefly based on Haussman's design and re-modelling of the city.

Under the trend of globalization Chinese architects are always struggling in how to engage in the trend of globalization and keep its unique culture and tradition. There are a large of numbers of cities in China undergoing a delirious wave of development. Traditional dwellings are demolished everyday replaced by high-rise commercial high-rise buildings which has no characteristic. The image of cities became similar and lost their identity. There are normally two ways to deal with this identity crisis. One way is to build landmark to display it character which always ignore the tradition of the city. An example is the Galaxy Soho designed Zaha Hadid, which as a giant out-space invader intrude in a historical area of Beijing Hutong area without any considering the surrounding texture and culture. The other way is considering the tradition but in fact it just superficially make a direct reference to tradition forms. For example, on the street of Xi’an the first capital city in China, there are a lots of buildings topped with a pitched roof on high-rise to structure or Shanghai Museum which directly mimic a form of traditional cooking vessel. Those buildings always as kitsch for their superficial mimic.

In 1853, Napoleon III appointed Baron Georges-Eugene Haussmann to design the reconstruction of Paris (Jordan 25). The goal was to transform the ancient city of narrow streets and medieval spaces in to a modern European capital city (Jordan 25). Haussmann built eighty-five miles of new roads, including the Rue de Rivoli and the Boulevard Saint-Michel (Jordan 32). Along these new streets modern architecture was soon developed in accordance to the Emperor’s authority. This “Haussmanization” created a city that became “the centre of the bourgeoisie”, although the poor were not easily discarded and would soon reappear in the city in even more cloistered and squalid areas (Jordan 50).