The Impact of Urban Planning on Poverty and Crime in the Film City of God
The film City of God (2003) co-directed by Fernando Meirelles and Katia Lund explores the impact of urban planning and urban environment on the social and cultural behaviors of urban residents. The movie portrays urban planning as a factor in the allocation of resources to different urban neighborhoods, and how this allocation promotes the development of two social classes- the poor and the rich. Secondly, the film attributes urban planning to social decadence as the marginalization of poor neighborhoods through government policies that limit resource allocation creates the perfect social environment for crime, moral decadence, and socialization of a whole generation into criminal activities.
City of God is set in the sprawling slums of Rio de Janeiro, in a poor urban neighborhood built in the 1960s to host the city’s poor inhabitants. Lins Paulo, the author of the book of the same title on which the movie is based, describes a grim picture of the slum in its early years. He writes, “the new residents brought garbage, bins, mongrel dogs”… (Paulo 6), depicting the poverty of those who moved into the slum. The favela (the slum) is located far away from central Rio, in what can be interpreted as an attempt to create a as comfortable as possible distance between the rich who frequent and live with the main city, and the poor residents who present a security threat to businesses and Rio’s upper class society. This design of urban planning in which authorities go to great lengths
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It demonstrates that poor urban planning promotes the growth of urban slums and the creation of a social environment that encourages lawlessness and decadent behaviors. It links urban planning to the unequal allocation of resources, and its consequences such as poverty and
The book itself is an on-going dialogue between Kozol and the neighborhoods residents, interjected every so often with thoughts from Kozol. He covers a spectrum of topics from AIDS, drug addiction, prostitution, crime, poorly run and funded schools, white flight from schools to over-crowded hospitals and the amazing faith in religion and God that many of these people have.
While crime is abundant throughout our world, it’s image is often magnified in urban cities. In the book, There Are No Children Here, Alex Kotlowitz describes the striking story of two brothers, Lafayette and Pharoah, struggling to survive in the community of Henry Horner Homes, a public housing complex on the West Side of Chicago disfigured by crime and neglect. With their mother’s permission, Kotlowitz follows the lives of the brothers for two years, taking note of their disappointments, joys, and tragedies along the way. Throughout the book, the environment that the boys are forced to live in acts as a predictor for their potential crime-filled future. Using environmental theories, such as James Wilson’s broken windows theory, we, as readers,
Anderson, Elijah 1999, Code of the Street: decency, violence, and the moral life of the inner city, W.W. Norton and Company, Inc., 500 Fifth Avenue, New York, N.Y. 10110
Throughout this book, Kozol interviews many children so the reader gets the open and honest answers for the community. It is continuous dialogue between Kozol and many residents. Many of them speak about how they feel abandoned or forgot about by our nation. "I believe that what the rich have done to the poor people in this city is something that a preacher could call evil. Kozol wanted to get close to the individuals he got his information from because he wanted to get the true feeling for the environment he entered. He tried to uncover some reasons why people live these horrifying lifestyles or what could have lead them to this. The amount of drug users is extremely high; the dangerously large number of gangs, the poor and high unemployment rate and the most shocking is the number of people who have been infected with AIDS.
WESTERN, and CHRISTOPHER MULLER. “ RECONSIDERING THE URBAN DISADVANTAGED: THE ROLE OF SYSTEMS, INSTITUTIONS, AND ORGANIZATIONS; SPECIAL EDITORS: MARIO L. SMALL AND SCOTT W. ALLARD: SYSTEM: Mass Incarceration, Macrosociology, and the Poor.”
In Jane Jacobs’s acclaimed The Life and Death of Great American Cities, she intricately articulates urban blight and the ills of metropolitan society by addressing several binaries throughout the course of the text. One of the more culturally significant binaries that Jacobs relies on in her narrative is the effectively paradoxical relationship between diversity and homogeneity in urban environments at the time. In particular, beginning in Chapter 12 throughout Chapter 13, Jacobs is concerned greatly with debunking widely held misconceptions about urban diversity.
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?
Rose, J. K. (1997, November 8). The city beautiful movement. University of Virginia. Retrieved December 28, 2010, from http://xroads.virginia.edu/~cap/citybeautiful/city.html
In this article, Squires and Kubrin argue that place, race, and privilege interact and combine to play a large role in the unequal opportunities that different citizens have in metropolitan areas across the United States. They first explain the existence of “bad” neighborhoods in these metropolitan areas and attempt to describe their development over time. They discuss how place has played a role in this. For example, they discuss sprawl, which they define as “a pattern of development associated with outward expansion, low-density housing and commercial development, fragmentation of planning…, auto-dependent transport, and segregated land use patterns” (48). They explain how sprawl has negatively affected inner-city neighborhoods. Additionally, the authors discuss the impact of race on the formation of unequal life opportunities. Racial minorities do not have access to the same opportunities as white people in America today. Although improving in recent years, the United States remains a highly segregation nation. This segregation, which is both a cause for and result of sprawl, is an example of how place and race interact in the formation of bad neighborhoods and unequal opportunities. Finally, the authors define how privilege affects inequality. Living in an area of large concentrated poverty as well as family social status, being born into either extreme wealth or poverty, have a large effect on the opportunities that one will have in life.
When the City of Atlanta is mentioned, individuals automatically associate the city with its positive attributes, such as, the beautiful lights, family activities and tourist attractions. The crime that occurs often goes unmentioned; however, it is increasingly becoming an issue. Forbes ranked Atlanta as the sixth most dangerous city in the US with a violent crime rate of 1,433 per 100,000 residents. The city’s crime rate correlates with its poverty levels and low education rates. Beccaria’s believed punishment should be swift, severe and certain. However, Beccaria’s ideas are often difficult to execute properly.
The inner city described in the story mimics social disorganization theory. This theory suggests that the consequences of urban decay are due to the lack of social stability and cohesion, which results in a higher rate of delinquency and crimes. In this Philadelphia inner city, it is obviously socially disorganized and has led to many members of the community to have no community connection, resulting in taking part in deviant/violent acts. Another theory that emerges from this book is routine activity theory. Routine activity theory is based on the premise that your lifestyle determines whether or not you will commit a crime. This theory conveys that the people you interact with are not your choice, it depends on where you are raised and the community you are
Who hasn’t seen the critical examples of overpopulation that are always depicted with large cities, tall buildings and many people? It is a common thought that cities are the cause of air pollution and are in no way thought of to be sustainable or as having a smaller footprint than those residing in rural zones. Yet, this chapter shows that the criticisms have no bearing when it comes to cities and rather, cities are better in terms of stronger economies, those who live in cities have smaller families, and the more the city is developed the lower the level of poverty (unlike rural areas which shows to have a higher level of poverty). The misconception that cities are actually overusing resources and contributing to environmental degradation is not the case. The chapter cites that this is not so, it is rather “industries and commercial and industrial enterprises (or corporations) and middle and upper income groups with high consumption lifestyles.” (56) These wealthier people who want to live more luxuriously, often live on acres of land with multiple cars, thus do not often reside in the city. The chapter continues to list the positive roles of cities, for example, “lower costs per household and per enterprise for the provision of piped, treated water supplies…collection and disposal of human wastes.” (56) Another positive is the efficient use from recycled waste, also a smaller demand for land relative to the population in cities. The fourth advantage is listed as more efficient heating techniques, and fifthly, a greater use of public transportation. The rich culture found in cities is also cited in the chapter. It concludes with the need for “good governance,” whereby the goals are met and cost is not past onto others, without it the cities are left to be sources of pollution, sickness, and waste
Throughout the article “The Code of the Streets,” Elijah Anderson explains the differences between “decent” and “street” people that can be applied to the approaches of social control, labeling, and social conflict theories when talking about the violence among inner cities due to cultural adaptations.
I would like to, quote Jeremiah 29:7, “But seek the welfare of the city… and pray to the Lord on its behalf, for in its welfare you will find your welfare”. When you consider the word “Urban” what comes to mind is a vibrant city full of diversity and potential for I just seem this in New York City. All of the diversity and potential are part of the challenge and promise that make urban ministry so unique. However, whether we are in the city or suburbs, our welfare is tied to the welfare of the people. As Christian, we are to embrace the city in its fullness as we bear the witness of Jesus
...he squatter camps of the city which they are living. Moreover slums are also the source of all kinds of social evils such as drugs and prostitution because of the lowest security.