Inner-City Life and Stereotypes

“Neighborhoods built up all at once change little physically over the years as a rule...[Residents] regret that the neighborhood has changed. Yet the fact is, physically it has changed remarkably little. People's feelings about it, rather, have changed. The neighborhood shows a strange inability to update itself, enliven itself, repair itself, or to be sought after, out of choice, by a new generation. It is dead. Actually it was dead from birth, but nobody noticed this much until the corpse began to smell.” ― Jane Jacobs, The Death and Life of Great American Cities.

Driving through the city of San Fernando a late Sunday afternoon, I was privy to a much quieted scene of deserted pavements and traffic-free streets. As I observed what had once been my daily stomping ground near the primary school I attended, the nostalgia set in for the good, care-free times of childhood innocence and ignorance. I was taken aback at  the forsaken state of the buildings as if neglected since I last set eyes on these surroundings some 10 years ago.

But perhaps my vision is tainted by experiences outside the city, and a knowledge of everything else that is beautiful that I have encountered in recent endeavors, making what was then an exciting, liberating area, now one of hopelessness and unease.

Image taken from http://media-cache-ec3.pinterest.com/192x/38/5b/6b/385b6bd9af420d6035251e4f2456cf3f.jpg

Corrupted by idealized notions of order planted into development schemes of the suburbs I now inhabit, it is only natural that the dissimilar feels unnatural.

However, it was this image (below) of children and adults playing cricket in the street between apartment buildings in a disreputable area which had me questioning the real source of my apprehension toward the neighborhood. Such socialization and friendship among the members of this community is something to be admired as few neighborhoods are able to boast of such interaction.

Hall and Barrett (2012) mention that a lack of social cohesion within communities are a major source of social and cultural problems in urban areas. Then, if that sort of issue is ruled out from affecting this neighborhood, why the stereotypical conception?

Urban models have the tendency to suggest that some areas are 'better' than others, e.g. that all housing in inner city areas is low class/low-income and that only the elderly and single-parent families live here in a zone lacking open space, whereas wealthy families only reside in the 'tree-lined' suburbs or gated communities.

Image taken from http://www.glogster.com/lovbug34/stop-stereotypes-reblog-this-glog-if-you-support-me-/g-6lpgc34qj68310st7g144qp

It is easy to accept stereotypes without realizing we are doing so, and seeing a situation for ourselves may lead us to question our original picture.