Steering pedestrians away from neglected areas only prolongs their “ghetto” status, denying the attention needed to fill storefronts with businesses and populate streets with enough people to counteract crime. Making it visible to outsiders, on the other hand, can call attention to a neighborhood’s potential and allow it to move away from stagnation and blight. — americancity.org
2 Comments
as a former transportation planner, i understand the importance and technicalities of moving masses efficiently. more than that i understand the sensitivities regarding struggling neighborhoods and the reality of marginalizing their growth and redevelopment by excluding them from all the touted, correlated livable factors, which we know lead to growth (i.e. connected, transit oriented, walkable, bicycle friendly...).
bllight is the result of "broken windows" and economic downturn. These existing conditions are a reality for many american districts. microsoft isn't a public policy or city agency charged with identifying problems and creating solutions. their goal is to make life more efficient for better or for worse.
The real issue is our inability to hold people accountable and ineptitude for being catalyst of change. todays trend is globalization. how do you make smaller communities relevant in contrast to burgeoning urban districts. maybe there's an answer, maybe there's not. this is economic survival of the fittest. adapt, evolve or bring in the bulldozers, get out the rakes and gloves and get your urban agriculture movement on.
I always enjoy how people will complicate issues beyond what's necessary. Globalization has nothing to do with the issues this technology presents. The REAL problem is that the whole real estate system feeds off "broken windows" as the next place for redevelopment and the future neighborhood to be gentrified. Part of the overall perception of poverty is that it is hidden aka....people aren't exposed to the ugliness of poverty. This technology only pushes this reality further. It identifies problematic or "blighted" areas and tells people to steer clear. In a way, it's an accurate descriptor for how our society treats poverty in general....avoid it and ignore it until it becomes a problem.
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