Cosmopolitan Canopy: Race And Civility In Everyday Life

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One of the most important and major characteristics about a big city is its population. Its population creates an environment that affects the city either to attract more people or to keep people away. For example, if a city has a reputation of not being safe, then people would not want to live there. However, if it has a reputation of having a friendly environment, then people would like to visit or even move there. As a result, the city would have to increase in size to fit all of its population. Cities with a friendly environment, like Philadelphia, increases in population, therefore they have to create recreational places. Recreational places are areas where people are able to participate in activities for enjoyment, amusement, or pleasure …show more content…

A cosmopolitan canopy is not brand new, one can go back to Roman times and notice that there is a lot of diversity in piazzas in Rome and people were from everywhere (CalvinCollege). The cosmopolitan canopy is a term created by the author Elijah Anderson in his book The Cosmopolitan Canopy: Race and Civility in Everyday Life. As Anderson explains, “cosmopolitan canopies are public spaces...generally involves people from close proximity, people from various cultures or ethnicities. All kinds of people…get along together” (CalvinCollege). An example of a recreational place in Philadelphia that has become a cosmopolitan canopy is Rittenhouse Square. People are always present in this park and interacting with each other, which has led to the formation of friendships and people to socialize with. Even though the environment of the park is friendly, there are times when homeless people are not welcome at all. This is due to the fact that Rittenhouse Square is in an upper-middle class area. In Anderson’s book, he created this idea of how a recreational place can transform into a cosmopolitan canopy. I observed the area of Rittenhouse Square to test his observations, experience what is like in a cosmopolitan canopy, and how recreational places can convert to a

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