Gentrification Threatens Urban Progress: Ground Zero Case Study

Introduction

Gentrification as a threat to urban progress has become a common phenomenon in urban regions of both developed and developing nations in terms of its regressive effects on the low-income earners and on its proponents' often unwillingness to employ the activist approach in designing architectural structures according to postmodern movement.

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According to Lange, nowhere is this reality more apparent than in "Ground Zero" Urban neighborhood of lower Manhattan of New York City where, following the restoration of 'world trade center,' the immigrants, who helped to clear the debris, and the previous residents of the neighborhood, are facing discrimination, deportation, and displacement due to high cost of living and loss of residence and businesses.

After the restoration of 'the World Trade Centre,' developers, architects, and New York City officials promised to restore a vibrant neighborhood in downtown Manhattan that would connect with all the previous communities and promote culture. But for more than ten years after that promise, there has been disquiet over how the surrounding neighborhood was being gentrified, and the low costs and subsidies guaranteed to attract new tenants to the vast site have been disregarded. Instead, opportunities have been created for the wealthy like bankers, professionals, and business people to make a lot of money. 'Ground Zero' has ultimately become a very upscale neighborhood where to attract businesses back, generous subsidies have been provided, which has seen big companies like magazine giant 'Conde Nast' frightening away the locals.

Another crucial issue that could have been given due attention when considerations were being made for the restoration of 'The World Trade Centre' is the appropriate design which the new structure was to acquire. The stakeholders, basing their reasoning on restoring the 'artistic value' of the previous building, had resolved to maintain 'structuralism' form advocated for by 'modernist movement' against the trends of the time. An 'Experiential' 1ibid primarily drove the decision rather than 'the Activist' one, which could have been very appropriate given the fact that the building was supposed to be a postmodern model. By disregarding the 'activist' approach, the stakeholders were not only overlooking the fact that the terrorism was becoming a constant threat everywhere in the world making the act of having such a tall structure to be an easy target for their bombing schemes but also neglecting the constant dangers that were becoming ever common by the ever-increasing density of the population of the neighborhood and also the natural catastrophes brought about by earthquakes and the effects of climate change.

An activist approach could have been very appropriate in designing the restored building since it involves everyone and is all-encompassing. The 'activist' approach of design can contribute meaningfully to complex situations of the contemporary world regarding housing disparity, changing building paradigms, and limited resource availability through design- thinking and creative works.

Contemporary architectural structures follow the postmodern approach whose buildings have curved forms, decorative elements, asymmetry, bright colors, and features that are often borrowed from earlier periods. Colors and textures are unrelated to the structure or function of these types of buildings. According to Charles Jenck, post-modernism is distinct from modern and other movements in that it seeks a unique look that emphasizes originality and local flavor.

To respond constructively to the problems posed by low-income earners and lack of choice of an activist's approach about designing the restored 'World Trade Centre' in the wake of gentrification, there are issues which should always be given due consideration at the time of making deliberations such as drawing development plans and formulating strategies for the future development of the urban neighborhood. The critical roles that the building-design and the affected people of the neighborhood are going to play need to be acknowledged from the start so that at the time of implementation, they would not pose any stumbling block.

To give an example of how the problems posed by low-income residents could have been dealt with most effectively regarding the restored 'World Trade Centre' case, guiding principles and policies should have been being put in place in advance. These could have been enacted and could have included making an effort in advance at understanding the community in question quite well, engaging the community in the design and implementation of solutions, getting ahead of investments and change, considering the scale of the solution and the scale of the issue at hand, funding robust enforcement mechanism in anti-displacement policies and to organize well in advance3ibid.

As regards the issues of architectural design, the architects, planners, stakeholders and those with interest at the time of decision making needed to have been certain that following an activist's approach of 'the postmodern movement' could contribute meaningfully to complex situations of the contemporary world regarding housing disparity, changing building paradigms and limited resource availability through design thinking and creative works.

Using principles and directives of the 'activist approach' of the post-modernist movement, the twin challenges brought by gentrification after the restoration of 'The World Trade Centre' could have been constructively dealt with and the integrated progress of the people of the lower Manhattan- New York could have reached a sustainable level.

Bibliography

Jencks, Charles. The new paradigm in architecture: the language of post-modernism. Yale University Press, 2002.

Lange, Alexandra. Writing About Architecture: Mastering the Language of Buildings and Cities. Chronicle Books, 2012.

Mouratidis, Kostas, and Ramzi Hassan. "Contemporary versus traditional styles in architecture and public space: A virtual reality study with 360-degree videos." Cities 97 (2020): 102499.

Van Gent, Wouter, and Cody Hochstenbach. "The impact of gentrification on social and ethnic segregation." In Handbook of Urban Segregation. Edward Elgar Publishing, 2020.