Geographical Context: Beacon Hill is a neighbourhood on the east side of Ottawa, and formerly a part of the City of Gloucester. It is bounded on the east by the Greenbelt and on the south by Highway 174. Its two parts, Beacon Hill North and South, are separated by Montreal Road.
Hypothesis: The question is how land use influences the livability and sustainability of Beacon Hill; the hypothesis is that land use has an outsize influence on liveability and sustainability. For example, if the land use tends to residential with barely any commercial or institutional uses within a reasonable distance of most residences, its livability will decrease, as the lack of access to services and stores will hinder the lives of many residents. The same goes
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A quick glance at both graph and map can show that the Greenbelt and low density residences take up almost half of the land in the Beacon Hill community. This shows that Beacon Hill is a mostly residential community, a suburban neighbourhood rather than a downtown hub. Following the residences and the Greenbelt in terms of land use is transportation and recreation or parks. This, again, is characteristic of a suburb. Since suburbs are located outside the downtown core and their often middle-class residents use a personal car as their primary mode of transportation, roads are an important part of any suburban community, as they are how residents get to their places of work. Thus we can see that the character of the Beacon Hill neighbourhood is that of a suburban …show more content…
a) Although livability depends on personal opinion, there are some things that most people can agree is required for a livable community in this country and this city; access to services, good schools and good housing, quality public transportation, green spaces, and, of course, stores and places of work within a reasonable distance. These factors all contribute to the quality of life in a neighbourhood. If we look at Beacon Hill, how does it do when compared against those factors? Looking at the map, we can see that in terms of institutional access, there are plenty of schools distributed throughout the neighbourhood, places of worship, medical, and government buildings. The vast majority of the housing is what is usually called ‘good’; single-family homes in low density residential areas. There are multiple bus routes that serve the community, the Greenbelt and other green spaces take up about forty percent of the land, and there are a wide variety of commercial and industrial buildings near the residential areas of the neighbourhood. Judging by the criteria previously laid out, the neighbourhood of Beacon Hill is a place with a high quality of life within a city that is already highly educated and therefore trends toward the wealthier end of the
Gentrification is defined as the process by which the wealthy or upper middle class uproot poorer individuals through the renovation and rebuilding of poor neighborhoods. Many long-term residents find themselves no longer able to afford to live in an area, where the rent and property values are increasing. Gentrification is a very controversial topic, revealing both the positive and negative aspects of the process. Some of the more desirable outcomes include reduced crime rate, increased economic activity, and the building of new infrastructures. However, it is debated whether the negatives overwhelm the positive. An increase in the number of evictions of low-income families, often racial minorities can lead to a decline of diversity
Lance Freeman tackles the issue of gentrification from the perspectives of residents in the gentrified neighborhood. He criticizes the literature for overlooking the experiences of the victims of gentrification. The author argues that people’s conceptions on the issue are somewhat misinformed in that most people consider it as completely deplorable, whereas in reality, it benefits the community by promoting businesses, different types of stores, and cleaner streets. These benefits are even acknowledged by many residents in the gentrified neighborhood. However, the author admits that gentrification indeed does harm. Although gentrification does not equate to displacement per se, it serves to benefit primarily homeowners and harm the poor. Additionally,
Several works we have read thus far have criticized the prosperity of American suburbia. Jack Kerouac's The Dharma Bums, Philip Roth's Goodbye, Columbus, and an excerpt from Lawrence Ferlinghetti's poem "A Coney Island of the Mind" all pass judgement on the denizens of the middle-class and the materialism in which they surround themselves. However, each work does not make the same analysis, as the stories are told from different viewpoints.
In this means, what is suburbanization? As indicated by my exploration and studies around there of history I can without a doubt recognize that suburbanization is on an extremely fundamental level the term used to depict the physical advancement of the city at the urban-commonplace fringe, or basically the edges of the city. This in
In conducting this assignment we visited the neighborhood of Washington Heights. During our visits we interviewed several of the residences; so that we could get a first hand prospective of what it is like living in the community, why they settled in the community and the many changes that they have witness durning their time in the neighborhood.
...on that was created among suburbs, which was not the ideal everyday life that suburbs were designed to create.
First off after analyzing the census data, the total population of Laurelhurst is 7789 which is only 1.2% of Seattle's absolute population as a whole. Laurelhurst also has a similar ratio of male, and women but when it comes to age group percentage wise Laurelhurst has 9.65% more teenagers than Seattle in general. This may link to the household data of Laurelhurst since 74.5% of the households are family households. Although, this residential neighborhood is a majority of married couples being 65.48% as opposed to Seattle being 40.35% currently married. So the likeliness of couples settling down in this neighborhood, and starting a family is high. Therefore, these families may have desired to live somewhat close to work that they didn’t have a high commute while at the same time still being able to live in Seattle. Although, these families have an increased dependence on vehicles for transportation.
This investigation is based on the assumption that gentrification with all its troubles can’t be prevented and is an inherent part of every city. What are the negative impacts of gentrification? What are the underlying mechanisms that feed these impacts? What drives these mechanisms? What would be an alternative scenario?
Herbert Gans piece on the mass production of suburban styled homes like Levittown with its homes on the outskirts of the city and mixed land uses closer within the core “ analyzes the suburbs and makes it evident that they are not a utopia” no matter the societal segregation they represent (Herbert Gans). These areas have their burdens resulting in physical and social isolation, no access to transportation, the start of gender roles, and inadequate decision making. In comparison, Pleasantville was a society of segregation due to the land constraints and urban planning of the society. Its visible that there is an increase in segregation between the suburban population and inner city. The higher class living in the suburbs would remain in that area unless it was for work.
If housing is not affordable, like in Vancouver, many people are forced to live far away from where they work just so they can have a home. In this way, the further you have to go for the necessary goods, such as food, supplies, or even go to work, the more stressful life is. Why? It is because many of the very basic and needed services are not available nearby, such as hospitals and various other medical services, this forces people from remote locations to travel long distance to have some of their basic needs met. Affordability has many linkages which is what makes it an essential part of planning and supporting a sustainable community. If the community cannot provide a sustainable living environment to those people living in there, how can the community be
Gentrification is the keystone for the progression of the basic standards of living in urban environments. A prerequisite for the advancement of urban areas is an improvement of housing, dining, and general social services. One of the most revered and illustrious examples of gentrification in an urban setting is New York City. New York City’s gentrification projects are seen as a model for gentrification for not only America, but also the rest of the world. Gentrification in an urban setting is much more complex and has deeper ramifications than seen at face value. With changes in housing, modifications to the quality of life in the surrounding area must be considered as well. Constant lifestyle changes in a community can push out life-time
In discussions of Gentrification, one controversial issue has been with displacement. Gentrification is the process of renovating and repairing a house or district so that it complies to wealthier residents (Biro, 2007, p. 42). Displacement is a result of gentrification, and is a major issue for lower income families. Gentrification is causing lower-income residents to move out of their apartments because they’re being displaced by upper class residents who can afford high rent prices and more successful businesses. Throughout out the essay, I will discuss how gentrification affects lower income residents and how it results in displacement. Then I will follow on by discussing some positive and negative effects that take place because of Gentrification.
Inner City Communities are often areas which are both densely populated and deteriorating(quote). The areas and its residents have strongly been correlated with social and economical disparity. Residents of inner city communities have been plagued with problems including: “high unemployment, poor health care, inadequate educational opportunities, dilapidated housing, high infant mortality, and extreme poverty” (Attitudes and Perceptions, n.d). Though the inner city communities have been stricken with
Of the many problems affecting urban communities, both locally and abroad, there is one issue in particular, that has been victimizing the impoverished within urban communities for nearly a century; that would be the problem of gentrification. Gentrification is a word used to describe the process by which urban communities are coerced into adopting improvements respective to housing, businesses, and general presentation. Usually hidden behind less abrasive, or less stigmatized terms such as; “urban renewal” or “community revitalization” what the process of gentrification attempts to do, is remove all undesirable elements from a particular community or neighborhood, in favor of commercial and residential enhancements designed to improve both the function and aesthetic appeal of that particular community. The purpose of this paper is to make the reader aware about the significance of process of gentrification and its underlying impact over the community and the community participation.
The two neighborhoods that I chose to use for this assignment are vastly different. The main reason is because they are on opposite sides of the country. The first neighborhood that I visited is the one that I grew up in. This neighborhood is in Connecticut, on the East Coast, all the way across the country from the neighborhood that I currently live in here in West Hollywood. Most of my family lives in Connecticut and Massachusetts and I’m the only one who lives on the West Coast. A big difference is that the neighborhood in Connecticut has houses that are more spaced out, have larger lawns, and very many more trees. There are very few apartments there, unlike where I live now where my entire street is almost all apartment buildings.