Brown University Urban Studies Program 2007 Newsletter

brown university urban studies Program 2007 newsletter

Note from the Editor DUG Update Senior co-leaders of the DUG, analytical observations-- the contribu- The Urban Studies Departmental Amy Barad and Robert Corey-Bou- tors show that there are many ways to Undergraduate Group is winding down let, have noted that the Urban Studies experience city issues. a busy and successful year, capped by Program is gaining interest, and it not Jessica and Jesse both focus on an interdisciplinary conference held surprising. The interdisciplinary nature contemporary issues here in Provi- March 9 at the Watson Institute for In- of the concentration trains students to dence. Together the articles illuminate ternational Studies titled “Cities of the make unique connections. the layered nature of a city and the inter Developing World.” The conference This newsletter contains articles connectedness of its challenges. - which was sponsored by the Harriet that focus mainly on the built envi- Continuing the topic of city de- David Goldberg ‘56 Endowment, Spa- ronment of the city. Sharing their per- velopment, Itiah and John offer criti- tial Structures in the Social Sciences ceptions--from personal experience to cism of schemes in other American and the Department of Economics CONTENTS: cities. Itiah’s examination of a histori- - featured renowned scholars and au- cal example, the urban renewal in New thors from across the country. York City, reminds us that fundamental The programming was broken News from Brown concerns, like housing, require com- down into three panels: health and DUG Update...... 1 prehensive planning and often meet health care, crime and housing. The Honors Thesis Summaries...... 2 unanticipated obstacles. health panelists addressed topics in- Funding...... 3 John corroborates this viewpoint cluding the delivery of care for tuber- with a current example, rooted in the culosis in urban Peru, the potential for Student Articles devastation of Hurricane Katrina. This an avian flu pandemic and the role of Re-thinking the Urban Waterfont premise illuminates how cities are sus- public and private health care institu- Jessica Kondrick ‘07...... 4 ceptible to natural disasters, while John tions in urban China. The crime panel Homeless Services and RIPTA presents the unique situation in Pass featured research on Mexico City and Jesse Cohen ‘07...... 5 Christian, Mississippi. international incarceration trends. On Prescribed Vernacular: Wal-Mart James Njoo is the urban studies the housing panel, researchers spoke and New Urbanists Hold Hands studio professor in the Paris half of about housing circumstances in locales John Wooster ‘07...... 6 the The Shape of Two Cities: New York ranging from urban China to Latin Flaws in Legislation and Execution and Paris, the only Brown-approved America. of Urban Renewal in NYC abroad program for urban studies con- Setha Low, a professor of environ- Itiah Thomas ‘07...... 7 centrators. He traces the history of mental psychology, anthropology and A Student and a Teacher Chinatown in Paris and suggests that women’s studies and the author of three Jack Walsh ‘09...... 11 we can learn from its organic growth. books, delivered a keynote speech on Jack Walsh leaves us with his im- gated communities titled “Fear, Privati- Guest Contributor pressions of the Arusha, Tanzania and zation and the State: Gated Communi- Learning From Chinatown the cultural differences he observed ties in the United States, Latin America James Njoo...... 8-10 while volunteering there. and China.” Her engaging presentation Enjoy! Caitlin Boyle and the ensuing question-and-answer continued on page 2... Urban Studies Newsletter NEWS FROM BROWN HONORS THESIS PROJECTS Public Transportation in Rhode Island - Paolo Ikezoe ‘07 My thesis is on public transpor- continued from page 1... session gave urban studies concentra- tation in Rhode Island: past, pres- tors the opportunity to speak with a ent and future. In the first chapter notable scholar they first encountered I outline the history of mass transit when taking US 21: “The City”. in Rhode Island and try to highlight The conference was a remarkable some of the technological innova- success, and it capped off a great year tions that have been attempted in for the DUG. Thank you to all urban the past. Then, in my second chap- studies students and faculty who of- ter I present a best-practices report fered their support, and a special thank that examines transit systems across you to everyone else who participated the country and worldwide. It spe- in the conference either as a panelist or cifically addresses how they are at- moderator. tempting to improve service. Final- ly, I offer some suggestions for the Sincerely, RIPTA (Rhode Island Public Transit Authority) system and how it might Amy Barad ‘07 improve its service and better serve Robbie Corey-Boulet ‘07 the population. DUG Co-Directors

Photograph credit Above: http://www.trolleymuseum.org/collection/newengland/9.html Below: http://www.ccri.edu/currents/05-dec/index.shtml

New Edge Cities - Carrie Nielson ‘07 In 1991, Washington Post He could only guess what would I will investigate these case stud- journalist Joel Garreau published happen to the edge city in the de- ies as new forms of the edge city, his epic work entitled Edge City: cade to follow.Using Garreau’s defi- as places that are built with some Life on the New Frontier. The book nition of the edge city as a theoreti- level of private-public interaction informed America about the lat- cal framework, my thesis examines and with a comprehensive vision of est type of urban development oc- three large-scale communities in what a progressively-planned com- curring on the urban fringe. These California, Nevada, and Colorado, munity should look like. burgeoning areas, often places that all of which meet or approximate were rural crossroads only a few de- Garreau’s five-fold definition of the cades ago, consist of massive office edge city. The twist is that each of buildings and retail centers oriented these communities—Coyote Valley about the automobile. Square foot- in San Jose, CA, Summerlin in Las age was measured in the millions, Vegas, NV, and Stapleton in Denver, and there were few homes in their CO—is being master-planned either immediate vicinities. Indeed, these in the private sector or through a areas formed a type of new suburb, private-public partnership. To vary- where white-collar workers would ing extents, these communities have commute from their suburban resi- also integrated some tenets of the dences to work, completely bypass- smart growth movement into their ing the traditional urban core. Gar- master plans: mixed-use develop- reau qualified his analysis of the ment, higher-density and affordable edge city by noting that this form of housing, and transit-oriented devel- development was only in its infancy. opment, for example. In my thesis,

Urban Studies Newsletter FUNDING Hurray For UTRA Funding! Mia Scharphie ‘07 Hurray for UTRA funding! I the elements of the course that I was an underground mine fire which spent this past summer in Providence the most passionate about: namely, has been burning for thirty years. pursuing my urban studies interests the stories of grassroots green space As the trails of smoke rose up from out of the pressure of the semester movements from communities of the deserted land, I realized that timeline. I received an undergraduate color and low-income communities, this field is just one example of teaching and research award as well modern attempts at creating the connection between land and (UTRA) that allowed me to work sustainable urban green space. resources, and the way that humans with Professor Patrick Malone on Preparation for the structure interpret, use and change them. updating a course that I later helped of the class was only a part of my The other unintended benefit him teach-Green Cites, a course on summer learning. I accompanied of this UTRA came from its the history of designed landscapes Professor Malone to the historic continuation in the fall when I in America. industrial town of Lowell, MA, worked as a teaching assistant in Green Cities had not been taught where he has been involved in the Green Cites class. Nothing I in eight years and the syllabus was historic preservation, and to a town in did during the summer could have outdated. Readings and coverage Pennsylvania that we photographed prepared me for the wonderful mix were strong early in the semester, for the class. As we traveled through of students who took the class and the but were deficient of new literature, old coal country, and towns that synergistic effect of their differing especially that dealing with the have changed profoundly as their backgrounds and interests crossing, relation of the environmental justice economic context has changed, I meeting mixing. Although I had movement to urban green space. I was enlightened by the perspective read (and even chosen) many of the had much freedom and agency with of an industrial archaeologist. We sources and activities the summer regard to changes in the course, and stopped in a town called Centralia previously, class discussions opened I was able to focus on developing which had been condemned due to up whole new ways of thinking for me. RAB Grant - Caitlin Boyle ‘07 Overall, this UTRA was a Thank you to the commit- of Urban Space at the Environmen- perfect balance of independent tee that awarded me a Research at tal Design Research Association’s learning, initiative and guidance. It Brown (RAB) grant to continue 38th annual conference, which will added to my knowledge base, helped research for a conference this be held in Sacramento, California. me evaluate the built environments spring. Jonathan Villines ‘05 and EDRA is an international organiza- around me with more fluency and I have been invited to present our tion of professionals, researchers gave me hands-on experience project Front de Seine: Integrating and educators that has pioneered its with the practice of constructing the Planned and Unplanned Uses field for almost forty years. interdisciplinary curriculum.

Photograph by Richard Benjamin. http://www.providenceri.com/richardbenjamin/ Urban Studies Newsletter PROVIDENCE, RHODE ISLAND Re-thinking the Urban Waterfont - Jessica Kondrick ‘07 The city of Providence is business owners, Conley is pushing into the plan for redevelopment. a work in progress. Currently forward his proposed $300 million Second, the developer should developers are performing radical development along Allens Avenue. conduct a comprehensive economic plastic surgery around the city’s analysis of the area to ensure heart, most notably shifting the I-95 “Providence must replace its his plan is both economically away from downtown and beginning industrial and erogenous zones feasible and solely beneficial to construction on several new high close to the downtown with a the surrounding community. Last, rise condominiums. Hoping to lure multi-use waterfront zone…” developers should clearly define the Boston commuters, most attention is Patrick Conley development areas to assuage the being paid towards Waterplace Park fears of neighboring residents and and Westminster Street. However, After studying all these plans business-owners. Regarding Allens Providence planners and developers to develop the waterfront, several Avenue, South Side community are beginning to shift their attention questions arise: What should be organizations who are preoccupied towards the Allens Avenue built? Who should decide what with the possibility of displacement waterfront and asking what should gets built? And most interestingly, by either gentrification or eminent be built. The RI Economic Policy who should benefit from the domain, would be comforted to Council calls this site “arguably the development? know their property would only most valuable piece of real estate in In a Public Policy seminar last benefit from the new development. the Northeast.” fall, “Urban Redevelopment and the Although most Allens Avenue This site’s value resides Providence Plan,” my group project spectators agree that something in both its position (bordering revolved around these questions. We must be done about the state of the both downtown and harborfront) collaborated with the RI Economic waterfront, it is unclear what should and the property’s size. Its huge Policy Council to determine who be built there and for whom it land tracts, previously used as should be in charge of determining should be built. In an ideal planning industrial manufacturing sites, the highest and best use for the process, developers, business- allow developers to “dream big” Allens Avenue site. owners, and residents would all and plan large-scale projects After personal interviews with collaborate to design a waterfront unrestricted by tight CBD squeezes Patrick Conley and several local benefiting everyone equally. In downtown. Visions have ranged businesses and community agencies, practice, however, the development from Buddy Cianci’s high rise we developed recommendations that process is imperfect. In the end, it is condo development, to Sasaki’s would bridge the communication the developers, not the community, public park and transit system for gap between a developer and the who have the last word in what the waterfront. surrounding community. Ultimately, should be built on the waterfront. Most recently, Patrick Conley the developer needs to reach out has proposed to build “Providence to the greater community as well Piers,” a mixed-use development as its individual residents. When along the waterfront. Infamous developers, like Conley, exclude for buying and selling tax liens of the community from the planning absentee landlords, Conley has process, residents naturally felt acquired a sizeable portion of Allens excluded, and therefore at odds Avenue which he will turn into hotel, with, development. residential, and commercial units. Addressing the gap between A Providence native and former developer and business-owners, history professor at Providence our group proposed three College, Conley feels that his high- recommendations. First, developers end development will naturally may benefit from creating an benefit the surrounding community. independent authority or advisory Without consulting local residents or body whose opinions could weigh

Urban Studies Newsletter PROVIDENCE, RHODE ISLAND Homeless Services and RIPTA - Jesse Cohen ‘07 Rhode Island has a homelessness problem. According to the Rhode Island Coalition for the Homeless, the homeless shelters in this state, “continue to reach overflow capacity.” For four years running, Rhode Island shelters have served more persons than any year prior. Homeless shelters and meal centers intend to serve the homeless population, but they are troubled by their location, deficiencies in the public bus system, and recent policy N decisions. RIPTA system maps conform to feature the travel time between stops; consequently, they distort area

and shape, and for the most part, omit Map made by Jesse Cohen intersecting streets. Thus, a previous walking, for the homeless, and 100 lost beds, but has yet to propose working knowledge of the area to Kennedy Plaza remains the RIPTA a specific plan for where they will which one is traveling is required in hub. Yet, there is no daily service be located. order to navigate the system. Further, provider for the homeless on the There are currently two major It is impossible to get to many downtown side of I-95, which problems that planners and policy locations in Providence without bisects the service providers and the makers need to address. The first at least one transfer. Successive transportation hub. is the replacement for Welcome bus rides can be expensive, and Crossroads, a major homeless Arnold. The geographic placement waiting time is uncomfortable in intake center for the city, was of any new shelter or transitional poor weather. These problems located quite close to Kennedy Plaza shelter should alleviate some of the are compounded for homeless a decade ago, before downtown travel complications imposed on individuals that rely on public revitalizations under the reign of the individuals and families who transportation in order to access Mayor Buddy Cianci. At this time use its services. The second issue, shelters and meal services. Crossroads moved across I-95 to its bettering the logistics of the RIPTA Several free meal sites are present location at Broad Street. A system, relates to the placement located close to Kennedy Plaza, decade after this move, Crossroads of homeless services, and can be clustered in Downtown Providence. remains the closest daily provider to addressed directly. The system Conversely, the shelters are more Kennedy Plaza. maps, the cost and confusion for dispersed throughout the city. While A further threat to the homeless users can be improved through all of the meal sites and shelters are service network is underway. In better communication. Ultimately, proximate to bus routes, they are 2006, Rhode Island governor Don the State should consider all relevant not all proximate to the same bus Carcieri announced the State’s stakeholders when selecting new routes, elongating and complicating support of the State Police plan to sites for homeless shelter beds and travel plans. build new barracks. Speculation should address barriers to homeless Public transit is the primary over the location of this barracks services erected by problems with mode of transportation, besides grew, and eventually included the RIPTA. current location of Cranston-based “Facts.” RI Coalition for the Homeless. Welcome Arnold, Rhode Island’s Polichetti, Barbara. “State Police Plan 24 July 2006. Rhode Island Coalition for largest homeless shelter. The Displaces Homeless Shelter.” The Provi- the Homeless. . LexisNexis Academic.

Urban Studies Newsletter PASS CHRISTIAN, MISSISSIPPI Prescribed Vernacular: Wal-Mart and New Urbanists Hold Hands - John Wooster ‘07 New Urbanism is entering privileges regularity and profit. for roughly a quarter of all annual adolescence. The only thing more At the same time, these revenue. In post-Katrina Pass frightening than their elitist design communities have done sensationally Christian, where 2700 of the 3600 professionals is the next generation: well with respect land value buildings were destroyed, Wal-Mart developers. As New Urbanism enters appreciation. Seaside and similar had to come back. uncharted territories of mainstream developments have experienced But how? acceptance, their success has finally phenomenal growth and as a result New Urbanists, long-time caught up to their arrogance. increasing mainstream acceptance opponents of big box retailers, The New Urbanism movement from the larger building community. seized the return of Wal-Mart in is best described as a return to Within a decade of founding Pass Christian as an opportunity urbanism of old through zoning New Urbanism, the professional to develop a new large-scale retail and a density scale (which they organization had in excess of 2,000 building typology. Using their call transects). New Urbanism members across the United States transects, traditional neighborhood is more a line of thinking than a and 20 countries. design pattern books (no joke), and style. The finished project--be it Enter Hurricane Katrina and local design principles, a vision for a building, large urban infill, or a regional devastation. With that same the Wal-Mart Village was born. In planned suburban community-- blow came a one-time opportunity the plan a new Wal-Mart fronted reflects consideration of its local for academic, design, and business the main road, boutique retail surroundings and regional needs. professionals. Katrina quickly and shops wrapped the façade, and a In addition, advocates promote relatively quietly transitioned from single-family home neighborhood pedestrian communities that provide national tragedy to entrepreneurship surrounded the retail district. all encompassing live/work/play opportunity. The rendering reveals, zones. Privileging public space and Pass Christian, Mississippi however, that the plan is just a veil. community life over paranoid and was among the devastated Dressing Wal-Mart with a shell anti-democratic gated communities, communities. It had experienced of independent stores is simply New Urbanist developments signal over a 70% decline in population hiding the retail behemoth. Beyond a preference shift to urbanity. These and approximately a 90% drop aesthetic the plan unapologetically principles, of course, are in theory. in the tax base. New Urbanists places Wal-Mart at the epicenter of In practice, the lofty goals of descended on the town as well as town activity. At the core is Wal- New Urbanism are occasionally 10 other Gulf Coast sites to stage Mart itself, surrounded by smaller met. The most frequently cited issue an intensive planning intervention. stores and an outer ring of housing. is the authenticity of place. A 1990s True to their charrette process The veil itself, speaks to larger film, The Truman Show, showcased architects, engineers, planners, city issues with New Urbanism and the one of the model New Urbanist officials, and stakeholders worked movement’s reliance on repackaging developments: Seaside, Florida. The in collective participation. the same product. Houses can be community is marked by its insipid Thirteen site-specific design moved to front the streets, parking selection of whites, oppressive principles were generated to guide lots placed behind stores, and geometry, and suffocating sterility. the plan’s development. Among buildings occupied by a variety Combined, these elements have them there was an expressed of uses. But is that a movement? drawn criticisms as calculated, interest in walkable communities, Advocates should be challenged to manufactured, and disingenuous accessible convenience stores, and develop a nuanced new urbanism that urbanism. With their large close schools. looks beyond building placement. single-family homes and two-car The shiny neon pink Context-sensitive principles should garages, Seaside and many other elephant in the room was Wal-Mart. be derived from an economic plan New Urbanist communities have In many respects. Wal-mart is Pass for long-term sustainability. sacrificed sustainable principles and Christian. On any given month the For now, the Wal-Mart Village targeted a higher economic class for store constitutes 90% of sales tax is in limbo. Coming soon to Lowe’s, the creation of a community that revenue for the town and accounts however, are ready-to-assemble continued on page 7...

Urban Studies Newsletter NEW YORK, NEW YORK Flaws in the Legislation and New York’s Execution of Urban Renewal - Itiah Thomas ‘07 This article is a truncated the transition. reformers, the political environment version of a twenty-three page term Moses was strongly against surrounding WWII and concessions paper written in December of 2006 building residential projects on from city and state governments and for Brown University Professor vacant land, though it would ease planners who may have disagreed Robert Self’s “Urban Crisis” the number of displaced tenants. with his tactics, but were impressed seminar. It is an investigation of According to him, this would with his physical ends. Though New York City’s approach to urban have circumvented the goal of the Moses did help to clear many slums, residential renewal from 1930-1960 program, which was to eliminate modernize areas, get the private and the effects that this program had slums and rebuild on the cleared sector involved with city rebuilding, on the social and physical structure land, not preserve them while hold on to the middle class and of the city. building elsewhere. Because of his increase the City’s tax base, urban Under the aegis of Robert staunch belief and the fact that slums renewal was still considered a failure Moses, head of the New York City often consisted of densely built by 1960. This is largely because Housing Authority, strategies of tenement blocks, when the Housing of the crude nature of large-scale slum clearance, public housing, and Authority or private developer slum clearance, ruthless methods government funding to improve embarked upon a project, many and Project Approach. It also failed city housing conditions and evolve structures had to be cleared. It was because social concerns such as the spatial organization of its not until 1954 when amendments where to house dislocated people population existed in New York were made to the 1949 Housing were inadequately addressed. By before many other cities. New Act that urban renewal funding bulldozing homes and businesses York’s history of residential renewal was extended to the rehabilitation and replacing them with middle to illustrates the prevalence of public of deteriorating housing as well upper class housing and public works stimulation of the private sector to as the demolition of deteriorated projects, urban renewal typically induce housing redevelopment and structures. But because Moses did worsened conditions in New York by of slum demolition to correct the not believe in rehabilitation he did spreading the problem to other parts ills of blighted areas. Despite the not support the amendment, voting of the city. However, New York’s innovative approach, by 1960 New to destroy structures that could have experience with early slum-clearing Yorkers held the sentiment that been saved. methods put it in a position to learn urban renewal was failing. Moreover, changes in Federal from its mistakes and look towards Slum demolition outpaced legislation encouraged less housing a more comprehensive planning public housing construction as to be built. The 1954 Housing Act movement that would incorporate simultaneous mass clearances left stipulated that 90% of the new project the existing neighborhood fabric minimal housing for people to has to consist of residential units. while redeveloping low income temporarily or permanently relocate. In the subsequent Acts of 1959 and areas. There was a lack of real-time 1961 that requirement was reduced documentation of site demolitions to 80% and 70% respectively. and tenant dislocation. This could Although Moses’ unwavering have led to better synchronization personality accounted for much of continued from page 6... of public housing construction with what he was able to accomplish in New Urbanist Katrina Cottages. So redevelopment projects among the NYC housing, he could not have in short, New Urbanism fanfare is agencies. Tenant relocation and done it without the support of liberal growing, but not nearly as fast as destruction of community life were corporate cooptation or as quickly taken for granted as casualties of as its founding principles are surrendered. redevelopment. Increased land Schwartz, Harry, Planning for the Lower coverage of new site buildings East Side, New York: Praeger, c1973 won over the planning for common Chung, Hyung C, The economics of community amenities in new residential rehabilitation: social life of projects, which could have eased housing in Harlem, New York: Praeger http://www.fanniemaefoundation.org/ c1973 programs/hpd/pdf/hpd_1102_edintro.pdf

Urban Studies Newsletter GUEST CONTRIBUTOR Learning from Chinatown - James Njoo In the final sequence of Roman Pedestrian deck, or “dalle” at Les Olympiades, Paris, France. Polanski’s 1974 film, Chinatown, set in 1930s Los Angeles, the viewer looks out towards a distant city centre along a sparsely lit main street at night. Crowds of Asian immigrants gather in an attempt to see the aftermath of a shootout. The camera slowly rises above the roofscape, gradually detaching the viewer from the perceptual environment of the characters. The main character, Jake Gittes, a private detective played by Jack Nicholson, turns back one more time to look at the corpse of his former lover and client. His associate discourages him: “Forget at wikipedia.com Available Thierry Bézecourt. Photo taken by it, Jake… it’s Chinatown”. The 13th arrondissement of Les Olympiades covers The imaginary of Chinatown Paris is the home of what is arguably approximately an area of 7,8 and its various representations have Europe’s largest Chinatown. In the hectares, roughly one half of the often coincided with a traditional mid-1970s, a massive Diaspora of total area of the Chinatown district. conception of the urban outskirts: Southeast Asians arrived in France It is strategically located just within a harbour for marginal activities, at the close of the Vietnam War with the limits of Paris intramuros on a disinherited zone on the edge of the ensuing upheaval in the French the site of a former freight station civility populated by outcasts and colonies. Most of them settled in which is integrated underneath the misfits. Poverty and vice but also the Paris region, curiously enough pedestrian platform suspended 8 spontaneity, mobility and chaos on the Southeast border. But more metres above street level. A privately are recurrent themes set against the than sheer size, density, or even financed operation, Les Olympiades exotic backdrop of Chinatown. To location, what best characterises the is originally marketed as a “prestige” some extent these representations are identity of this particular Chinatown condominium residence intended legitimate since many ethnic enclaves is its uncanny marriage of form and for young upper middle class white originally settled in underdeveloped function, the creative appropriation collar workers. The initial project, areas outside municipal control. of existing structures for unexpected a veritable “city within a city” But Chinatown today appears as a uses. In the local McDonald’s, a equipped like an Olympic village, global metropolitan phenomenon large mural painting presents to its promises 4 500 apartments, 25 000 inhabiting both the centre and the customers the veritable “centre” of m² of offices, arranged in a series of periphery, that which is “almost this Petite Asie: a raised platform of orthogonal blocks –10 towers 32- alright” and that which is politically 1960s/1970s modernist towers and 34 storeys high, 3 slabs of 15-18 correct. Somewhere between the slabs known as Les Olympiades. Olympiades, see Michelle Guillon and exotic and the banal, the authentic In the unlikely setting of the dalle, Isabelle Taboada-Leonetti, Le triangle de and the kitsch, Chinatown questions the French word for “deck” –a type Choisy, un quartier chinois à Paris, Paris, the labile contours of contemporary of urbanism generally criticised L’Harmattan, 1986. See also Yves Du- urbanity. today for its rigidity, autonomy, and balen, Panos Mantziaris, and Jean-Louis inability to generate “place”, the Violeau, “Dalle Italie. Détournement et subversion par l’usage”, AMC Le Mo- inhabitants of Chinatown discover a niteur, n° 113, Feb. 2001, pp. 64-71. A� See Robert Venturi, Denise Scott- “hidden” architecture of maximum shorter version of the article is included Brown, and Steven Izenour, Learning from possibility. in the exhibition catalogue, Mutations, Las Vegas, Cambridge (Mass.), MIT Press, Bordeaux/Barcelona, Arc en Rêve/Actar, 1972. For a more detailed history of Les�� 2000.

Urban Studies Newsletter PARIS, FRANCE Pekinese, Shanghainese, Fuchinese, Hainanese…) comprising a diversity of origins, dialects, philosophies, and religions (not without antagonism or competitive rivalry), organise themselves in section not plan through an improvised network of elevators, service entrances and emergency exits. A vertical archipelago, where in the towers, for example, living and work mingle albeit in a discrete if not clandestine manner. Or like in the stratification of the deck where administration, politics, religion, business, leisure are stacked in various community “poles” –a neighbourhood association on the www.road75.com deck, a Buddhist temple below, a storeys. A 24 000 m² pedestrian deck rise development in favour of the recreational den or warehouse at the accommodates 2 shopping centres, “traditional city”– the Southeast level of the station. a supermarket, a skating rink, a Asian community arrives in the In this form of micro- swimming pool, a gymnasium, day neighbourhood and finds the Manhattanism at the scale of care, 2 nursery schools, a library, vacant housing it needs. Empty Chinatown, the opacity of the and 4 000 private parking spaces. retail spaces on and inside the architecture acquires an urban An immense “yuppie” enclave pedestrian deck are progressively value. Whereas the architects of organised according to the principles transformed into Asian restaurants, Les Olympiades saw their repetitive of post war modern planning supermarkets, speciality shops, concrete facades as a tool to –high-rise blocks, open space, a karaoke bars, beauty salons, hi-fi fight against social segregation rational separation of functions and outlets, even places of worship. The (i.e. a public housing tower circulation. freight station, still owned by the looks no different than a private Les Olympiades opens in 1972 national railway company, becomes condominium), theAsian community to positive reviews in the press an important Asian import-export interprets the discrepancy between while its occupation proves on the centre and warehouse. 10 years container and contained as an area contrary to be slow and difficult. later, Les Olympiades is the largest of unexplored freedom. A form of Vacancies persist and many of the Chinatown in Europe. architectural lobotomy in which, as public amenities such as schools and The initial conception of Koolhaas defines it, certain mental day care have yet to be implemented. the Les Olympiades as an elite disorders of the city are relieved by The residents, generally content private residence removed from disconnecting thought processes with their new standard of living, its working class neighbourhood, from emotions, the monolith of deplore nonetheless the puritanical becomes on the contrary an urban Les Olympiades “spares the outside use of concrete and the quality of hub between centre and periphery, world the agonies of the continuous certain common spaces such as a crossroads for communication changes raging inside it.” the deck, not to mention the shared and flux. The vertical separation of The private status of the costs relative to their maintenance. functions dear to the Athens Charter pedestrian deck “open to public Too grey, too dense, too empty, too is short circuited by the Asian circulation”, like the escalators, expensive, the city of tomorrow community structure superimposed remains a difficult reality. on the structure of the dalle. The 3 Rem Koolhaas, Delirious New York, 1974 –the year the new French different regional associations A Retroactive Manifesto for Manhattan government definitively stops high- (Wenzhou, Teochow, Cantonese, [1978], Rotterdam, 010 Publishers, 1994, p. 101.

Urban Studies Newsletter stairs, ramps providing access, or the the informal premises of an invisible Olympiades has survived through a roads traversing the site underneath, mutant playscape. Children invent regime of arbitrary rules grounded questions the limits of public space games, appropriate the open spaces more in sensibility than in logic. as it enters the private domain. But for social gatherings, for sports A model of urbanity that blurs within this “protected” territory of like soccer, tennis, cycling, roller the distinction between periphery the deck, somewhere in-between the skating, parkour… or even to be and centre, inside and outside –a over determined zones of leisure, alone, such as on the “inaccessible” Chinatown where improvisation commerce and circulation (which in roof terraces of certain buildings, triumphs over foresight. plan symptomatically resemble an thus subverting even horizontally outdoor shopping mall), the resident the rational separation of functions population of Les Olympiades –not and circulation. only the Asian community, but also Through the cohabitation of those coming from the West Indies, different uses and social patterns, Video Still photographs from a February Maghreb, and France– discovers never formally modernised but 2006 urban studies workshop directed by constantly submitted to the relentless James Njoo and Kent Fitzsimons, which On the ethnic identity of Les Olym- focused on post-war deck urbanism in piades see Anne Raulin, L’ethnique est pressure to adapt and expand, Les Paris, bringing together students from Co- quotidien. Diasporas, marchés et cultures Chinatown district of Les Olympiades is lumbia GSAPP New York-Paris program, métropolitaines, Paris, L’Harmattan, 2000. essentially defined by the visible presence Paris-Malaquais School of Architecture, As the author notes, the image of the of Asian commercial activity in the area. and Rice School of Architecture Paris.

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10 Urban Studies Newsletter ARUSHA, TANZANIA A Student and a Teacher - Jack Walsh ‘09 I traveled to Arusha, Tanzania must return them after use. Fanta A more subtle observation last summer to teach English at and Coca-Cola bottle tops form a of the city infrastructure and its Tekua, a school run by volunteers. street-wide mosaic on dirt roads. resonating effect is the absence It is an inland city with little to The main road is flooded of streetlights. It was amazing to moderate tourism, and I rarely felt with small buses about the size notice how big an impact such a sheltered or separated from the of a Chevrolet Suburban, called trivial thing had on a community. culture because of the nature of “dolla dollas.” This reference is an No one, locals included, would walk my work and the ambiance of the interesting association to American the street past dusk due to the risk city itself. I learned more traveling currency—particularly considering of crime. The notion of increased through the city like a native and Tanzanians use Schillings—and safety and comfort in areas of talking to people face to face than I tourism. Each bus is privately heightened activity manifested itself did by sitting in a car owned, so the drivers and fare everywhere. Foreigners especially My time at the school collectors honk, hang out of their would stay on the most traveled personalized the experience so that vehicle, and solicit any prospective paths, partly out of fear of the beyond seeing differences in the passengers. Three rows of sparsely unknown side streets. The Arusha physical city, I witnessed differences padded seats and metal floors force economy dramatically reflected this in attitude. Students made no people to cram, as there will be up to phenomenon: A wood carving or excuses and went to extreme 30 people at a time; getting a seat is ebony elephant on the main road lengths to learn, often walking a luxury, not a provision. Since the might cost five times the price of miles to and from the school. Their buses provide personal commuting, the same item, or perhaps a better or career ambitions were interesting, commercial transportation and more artistic version, two blocks up and also somewhat tragic from our limousine service, locals sometimes a dirt road. perspective: the students wanted carry goats or chickens with them, to be tour guides, secretaries, or contributing cacophonous sounds teachers. Since tourism is the leading and pungent smells. revenue generator in Tanzania, the tour guide industry is competitive. The desire to join that trade is understandable, but it is unfeasible that each student will attain that goal. Outside of the school, the people of Arusha were so welcoming it was almost embarrassing: one afternoon a man invited me to his house for tea shortly after we met and traded stories. I had to decline the offer due to another volunteer event, but his hospitality amazed me. Regarding the city infrastructure, transportation and streetlights impacted me the most. Their connection to street-life and commerce was notable. The primary road through the city, which continues on to Mount Kilimanjaro, is the main corridor for virtually everything. Along it, soda vendors Photograph taken by Jack Walsh reuse glass bottles, so that buyers