URP 508 - Race, Class and Gender Final Examination_2014

Final Examination
Professor Henry Louis Taylor, Jr.
URP 508 Spring Semester 2014
Race, Class, Gender and the City
Spring 2014

Instructions: Each question on the examination is worth 25 points. Each question should be no
longer than one page, 1.5 space with normal borders and fonts (12 for Times-Roman). Please
read each question very carefully and then answer it. The examination must be turned in not later
than Saturday, May 17 at 12:00 in Room 07 in Hayes Annex C.

1. The neoliberal metropolitan city and the just metropolitan city represent two antithetical
poles of urban development. Using the following variables, housing, neighborhoods and
employment, contrast the just metropolitan city with the neoliberal metropolitan city.

2. Explain how work on the final class project deepened your understanding of structural
racism, sexism and classism?

3. Explain the interplay of forces that lock and keep people of color in the nation’s economic
basement?

4. What did you learn from working on the zombie school project? Please relate your answer
to the specific themes and issues that have been discussed in class or in the readings.

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URP 508 - Race, Class and Gender Final Examination_2014

(1) Neoliberal metropolitan city can be classified as classical example of modern day American
metropolitan is defined as an economic power house focused towards privatized and decentralized
urban development. The governments of the city are focused towards placating corporate financial
interests and undermining the interests of minority groups and in many cases selling the cultural
assets of a particular place. A Just metropolitan city strives on the principles of mixed use, mixed
income neighborhoods with high quality of living. It strives to create a minimum standard for all
race, class and community to be self-sufficient. The central city is the most vital part for the city’s
development with neighborhood planning focused on physical, structural and economic
development of the entire city and not just few sectors within the region.
Neoliberal city was created as the consequence of series of government acts considered as “urban
renewal” the Housing acts of 1949 & 1954, the highway act of 1965 were the key driving forces
of this induced change. The inner city was abandoned and development began to focus on places
outside the city limits which were to become the new city extension, new highways were developed
to connect the Downtown with suburbs and hence ignoring and ferrying thru the inner city. The
transfer of people to the suburbs left vacant houses in the inner cities which were then occupied
by the immigrant African American population which were on a rise between 1940 & 1970. The
urban fabric so developed was clear segregation and division between people of different race and
class within the profit driven metropolitan. The red lining of sectors within the city meant that
houses in certain places would not get loans from banks for reconditioning and this led to further
deterioration of neighborhoods. The jobs which were available required higher education and
training which were unavailable to the central city dwellers hence making their situations worse,
there was also a shift of certain jobs towards the suburbs due to the mass migration of people
towards the new suburban city. This let voids in the central city further stimulating the decline of
the center city.
The just metropolitan city focuses towards equality in employment, housing and self-
sufficiency. Quality housing is seen as the key component towards better neighborhoods and the
neighborhoods is an amalgamation of mixed use, mixed income and people of different race live
in the same neighborhood. This would reduce the socioeconomic barrier and create tighter
neighborhoods and help community development. As the neighborhoods resides people of
different purchasing power there would be an increase in local economy and help create a self-
sufficient atmosphere within the neighborhood.

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URP 508 - Race, Class and Gender Final Examination_2014

(2) Structural racism refers to the ways by which public policies could create systems that would
operate in harmful ways to affect the public education, criminal justice system and land-rent
systems. These leads to vicious cycle of recreating similar economic and life conditions for people
in the same class and minority groups.
The reuse of buildings group which I was involved with had the chance to study areas in Buffalo
where schools were closed and also study areas within the rust belt with similar condition. Schools
are a reflection of the neighborhoods and the advancement of one leads to the advancement of the
other. In many cases studied neighborhoods where schools had been closed had started
deteriorating and the land value in the surrounding areas also started taking a slump. Mostly the
schools which were closed are in the inner city neighborhoods which are neighborhoods belonging
to minority groups and people of color. These neighborhoods based on color and class is the result
of numerous government policies which aimed at the glorification of suburban towns and the
decentralization of the city. During our visit to School 63 at Minnesota St. we found large number
of depleted as deteriorating houses in the immediate surroundings of the schools. The area were
largely occupied by students of UB and the visible residence of the neighborhood were
predominantly African Americans. There were no ways to get essential commodities with the
neighborhood indicating the dent in appropriate land use regulation which would otherwise
facilitate essential commercial facilities within the residential neighborhood for the benefit of the
residence and help sustain the community. There is a lack of appropriate transport as well to
commute in and out of the residential quarters. Better mobility could the residence of these
neighborhood who are not hyper mobile and need to depend on public transportation for commute
to work places. All around the rustbelt and similar cities the situation created are the result of such
segregation of race and job opportunities due to public and planning policies. The different studies
conducted and the formulated data all give us the understanding that neighborhoods of color, with
low income households and higher unemployment rates were the epicenter for closed down
schools. This further strengthens the inter-relation between schools and their neighborhoods. The
majority of the schools closed were public schools. The revitalization of the neighborhood school
would invite back residences into the neighborhood and could help rebuilt the surrounding area.
The done study helps us understand the consequences of structural racism, its impact on the city
and the interrelation between schools and neighborhoods within the neighborhoods.

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URP 508 - Race, Class and Gender Final Examination_2014

(3) The segregation of people of color and the impulsive force to keep them at the bottom of the
economic ladder was evolved by the transformation of the city into a Neoliberal Metropolis. The
transfer of housing to the new found suburbs in the 1950’s along with the Highway act of 1956
helped vision the new city plan. This was accompanied by the migration of African American to
the inner city which were left void by the outward flux of the citizens to the suburbs. Due to the
shift of jobs from the inner city to the suburbs there were scarcity if jobs leading to the deterioration
of neighborhoods within the city, this was interpreted and described by Fredrick Babcock as the
entry of African Americans to a neighborhood meant the deterioration of the neighborhood. The
American economy had shifted from Roosevelt’s New Deal social framework to Neoliberal
economy. The political movement of the late 60’s and the other radical activities happening the
central city was demonized and the suburbs became the symbol of success and prosperity. Prior to
the 1960’s political movement there was a deliberate action to devalue the central city this was
done through Residential Security Maps or Redlining. Several areas within the central city were
marked off as undevelopable. This meant that one could not avail loans for renovating or
remodeling ones house which were either public housing or trickle down houses. This period saw
the cluster of neighborhoods of people with similar wages and life style. This meant that white
people moved to the suburbs and lower income white and people of color were resided in the inner
city. All these factors eventually led to the glorification of suburbs and the degradation of the inner
city.
With the formation of the Neoliberal society jobs were created based on higher educational
attainment. The poorer inner city neighborhoods meant that he schools in these areas would also
be unstable and not be able to compete with the rich suburban establishments. This lead to the
reproduction of low-income workers of color, in many cases they had to have multiple part-time
or seasonal jobs to make ends meet. The jobs had also transferred from the city core to the suburbs
due to the population transferal making the availability of jobs in the inner city tougher. Even if a
person of color had the same job with similar pay he/she would have been looked upon with a
different notion than a person of white descent for the equivalent work that was being produced
by the individual. This crafted racial, financial and class based segregation meant that people of
color would constantly be denied better quality of life and would be persuasively locked and kept
at the basement of the nation’s economy.

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URP 508 - Race, Class and Gender Final Examination_2014

(4) The learning from the Zombie school projects are the effects institutions have on the
surrounding and the reason why they occur. The occurrence of zombie schools indicates the
decline or shrinking of a neighborhood or city and the future implications it may have on the
surrounding. Schools are the anchor institutions of the community and the neighborhood. They are
not just important for reviving the neighborhood but also to help shape better communities for the
future and provide better job opportunities for their future residence. The presence of a healthy
school invites residence into the community and help stimulate the neighborhood.
In order to create the just city there are several components to be considered and creating a good
learning environment and a good institution as it foundation helps kick start that process and prove
to be a vital constituent in the long run. This becomes the base from which future citizens can rise
and become self-sufficient. The study of neighborhoods give us the importance of the mixed
income mixed use developments and inter racial neighborhoods as they are only way by which we
can free our cities from being a neo liberal metropolitan to a just metropolitan city. The mix of
different magnitudes of commercial development help sustain the city. One of the most essential
findings is the planners need to understand who they are serving and what typology of development
is required for the particular situation and neighborhood. Working for building reuse help
understand the neighborhood and the people residing in the spaces better. A solution for a
neighborhood cannot be formulated through interpretations and assumption but only through field
study and the appropriate precedent studies and research from the same. The involvement of the
public in redevelopment is vital for the success of the project and helping in reviving the
neighborhood as they are the only people who can give you information on what is needed by the
community and what are the problems faced by them as a community. As the decisions and choices
made have direct repercussions on communities and have a long term impact on them. Invigorating
an abandoned or vacant school within a neighborhood can help revive a neighborhood and the
community.
The most important aspect of the project learnt from a professional planner’s point of view is the
need to have a specific boundary for the area set for development, establishment of a vision
statement for the project which helps keep the focus on the job in hand and not deviate from the
specified objective and to establish a time frame for the intended development.

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