 The Changing Face Of U.S. Cities
By:Jon Dougal
Date:October 21, 2008
The Demographics of cities are going to change drastically over the next 10-30 years. As minorities become majorities and majorities fade from dominance, the cultural fabric will change along with the look, feel and structure of cities. A sense of place will be defined by new brick and mortar storefronts, signs in foreign languages, changes in mobility and colors.
A simple revue of recent world politics will document the social unrest in Europe as the Muslim population has grown. This is a result of changing demographics and major immigration changes. Diversity will become the norm and anticipating the changes are paramount to cities becoming vibrant and prosperous.
USA Today on August 14, 2008, ran a short article of truly earth shaking impact. The article “America’s face evolves, blurs, ages” predicts that white populations will decline from ca. 65% at 2010 to 46% by 2050, Hispanic will increase from 16% in 2010 30% by 2050, blacks will remain the same at about 125 of the population. The US population is currently about 305 million, and will grow to 400 million in about 31 years.
As urbanism and sustainability have emerged as leading urban planning and design concepts, legal concepts and laws have often failed to keep pace.
Two Recent publications seem to be ahead of the pack both in public perception and in city planning preparedness.
 A Legal Guide to Urban and Sustainable Development for Planners, Developers, and Architects
(John Wiley & Sons; Sept 2008, ISBN: 978-0470053294) is a primer for practicing architects, urban designers, and urban planners on legal and contractual issues that accompany the emerging field of sustainable urban design.
Endorsed by Andres Duany, noted “new urbanist designer” the authors, Daniel K. Stone and Doris Goldstein used case studies, photographs and illustrations to offer real world solutions to the thorny legal issues of future population centers development, including:
- Incorporating good urban design principles into local land
regulations
- Overcoming impediments to urban and sustainable design
Practice
- Getting projects built and codes changed within existing zoning framework
- Using fundamentally new approaches to zoning
- Managing and coping with litigation
- Structuring and operating the mixed-use common interest
Community
- Understanding legal issues specific to urbanist building types
- Avoiding unnecessary conflicts between urbanist codes and
sustainability codes
 The other publication Intercultural City Planning for Diversity Advantage (ISBN: 978-1844074365) helps city planners to gain insight into the forthcoming changes and will help avoid turmoil in the process.
According the USA Today’s piece on the proportion of children under 18 who are minorities will be even higher at 62% up from 44% today. 2 in every 5 children will be Hispanic and 2 in 5 will be non-hispanic white. These projections were formulated from the 2000 census.
Further projections, the Hispanic population will nearly triple from 46.7 mln to 132.8 mln by 2050, which will increase their share of the population from 15% to 30%, while Blacks will increase from 14% to 15%, and Asians from 5% to 9%.
Aging will also transform the urban-scape, in that one in five U.S. residents will be at least 65 years old. The group over 85 is expected to more than triple from 5.4 mln to 19mln.
Some reviews from people in the ”Know”
“Phil Wood and Charles Landry have emerged as the leading exponents in the UK of the path from multiculturalism to interculturalism... Their refreshingly grounded approach builds on actual examples and provides inspiring stories of the social and economic benefits of embracing diversity. A must-read for those involved in city building, community development and place making,” says Leonie Sandercock, professor in urban planning and social policy, University of British Columbia.
“This book reminds us - with both proof and passion - that there can be no truly creative or competitive cities without first having curiosity, compassion, conviviality and cooperation” quotes Richard Florida, author of The Rise of the Creative Class.
“A much-needed addition to the literature” says Kathy Pain, director of Globalization and World Cities Spatial Planning Unit, Loughborough University.
“This book is a fantastic achievement by the authors. It offers a concise overview of extant literature and policies, as well as hands-on recommendations for local administration. A must-read study” opines Orhan Kaya, alderman for participation and culture, Rotterdam, The Netherlands.
“This book is a welcome celebration of urban cultural diversity that lays out new concepts and policies to enhance recognition across the social and cultural divide, but without ducking the very real challenges” suggests Professor Ash Amin, Department of Geography, Durham University.
In a world of increasing mobility, how people of different cultures live together is a key issue of our age, especially for those responsible for planning and running cities. New thinking is needed on how diverse communities can cooperate in productive harmony instead of leading parallel or antagonistic lives. Policy is often dominated by mitigating the perceived negative effects of diversity, and little thought is given to how a ‘diversity dividend’ or increased innovative capacity might be achieved.
The Intercultural City, like A Legal Guide to Urban and Sustainable Development for Planners, Developers, and Architects uses numerous case studies worldwide, analyses the links between urban change and cultural diversity. It draws on original research in the US, Europe, Australasia and the UK. It critiques past and current policy and introduces new conceptual frameworks. It provides significant and practical advice for readers, with new insights and tools for practitioners such as the ‘intercultural lens’, ‘indicators of openness’, ‘urban cultural literacy’ and ‘ten steps to an Intercultural City’. We suggest you learn Spanish and start learning Latin-American architecture, and visit a Sun City development to learn how old fogies mobilize, live and work.
|
