(Urban) Renewal

"Cities are not defined by buildings alone; they are made up of an intricate web of relationships- physical, social, economic, cultural- that are rooted to places."
-- Alex Marshall

Marshall, Alex. "When the New Urbanism Meets an Old Neighborhood." Metropolis Magazine May 1995. Metropolis Magazine. Web. 2 Sept. 2009. .

I chose this article because of, first, its close relationship to our current area of RVA, but also because it's talking about the problems that new urbanism is hitting. Is it better for communities to tear down and rebuild? or is it better for them to just improve areas with minor bulldozing? Norfolk, was doing the first option, tearing down and rebuilding, while residents were being "asked" to leave.

This topic relates to my work, because my work kind of parallels this topic, among others. I feel that the idea of "Bike Culture" has its roots in the ideas of urban renewal and new urbanism, along with sentiments of a Grassroots America. People going back to being a simpler notion of being self sustaining. With new infrastructure playing a major roll in the development of their mentalities.