Thesis it, thesis it, thesis it, thesis it.

Before we hand in our thesis proposals in a couple of weeks, we are asked to answer various questions and explore numerous areas to get us to that final stage. This week, we are asked to refine our questions, take a first pass at answering and framing the questions(s) and identify another reading for discussion. 

Refine your thesis questions - Have you narrowed or broadened the topics? Has your research evolved your approach or point of view?

• Looking over my three questions from last week, I think I'm pretty set on my research topic. I’ve tried a combination of all three with this question:
• Gentrification has come to define a “safer” neighbourhood, but alongside the many negative effects associated with gentrification, the most important is that it strips away the rights of the residents to decide what their neighbourhood needs. What are the elements required to rebuild neighbourhoods to make them safer, more liveable, cohesive, inclusive and open to everyone without displacing the residents?

Take a first pass at answering the framing and positioning questions

• After reading the Monocle Liveability index, I thought it would be an interesting experiment to develop a neighbourhood liveable index – however, I don’t think a general index will suffice. Each neighbourhood, like every city, is different, and we must keep in mind that they cannot all be judged on the same criteria. In order to develop this, I think an infographic analysing the essential elements from each liveable index (Monocle, The Economist, Mercer, etc) and comparing them would be an interesting exercise. 
• Furthermore, dealing with “ideal” elements in a city, this can be answered using images – ie what do these “ideal” scenarios look like? The Arsenal of Exclusion and Inclusion book by Interboro Partners already attempts to visualise the 100 weapons through signs, parks, etc, Monocle sells an illustration on their online store of the perfect city and the perfect street, Baltimore Open City invited artists, students, academics, community organisers, residents, and others to create a series of workshops and installations based on the inclusive city. But how many of these elements overlap? What if the neighbourhood residents were to draw these elements, just like Jeanne van Heeswijk asked the children in the Face your World project to do so? It would be a nice comparison – to take all these projects and compare them to the image one entire neighbourhood has for their area.
• Further to this, I think mapping would play a big role in my research – looking at vacant lots and properties, transportation, grocery and food availability, etc.

Identify an additional reading that informs your thesis

• Mercer’s annual Quality of Living Survey: http://www.mercer.com/press-releases/quality-of-living-report-2011 

Feedback after my presentation last week all lead to pursue readings on other liveable city indexes and so I did just that. I was lead to the “Economist Intelligence Unit Global Liveability Ranking” which assesses living conditions in 140 cities around the world based on 30 indicators assigned across five broad categories: stability; healthcare; culture and environment; education; and infrastructure. The survey gives an overall rating of 0-100, where 1 is intolerable and 100 is ideal. But since the survey costs $500 and there isn’t much information online, I opted for the “2011 Quality of Living worldwide city rankings by Mercer” (The Economist uses a lot of its data from the Mercer consulting group).

Mercer’s annual Quality of Living Survey identifies the 221 most liveable cities (it surveys 420 cities) based on 39 criteria, grouped in the following 10 categories:

1. 
Political and social environment (political stability, crime, law enforcement, etc)

2. Economic environment (currency exchange regulations, banking services, etc)
3. Socio-cultural environment (censorship, limitations on personal freedom, etc)
4. Health and sanitation (medical supplies and services, infectious diseases, sewage, waste disposal, air pollution, etc)

5. Schools and education (standard and availability of international schools, etc)
6. Public services and transportation (electricity, water, public transport, traffic congestion, etc)

7. Recreation (restaurants, theatres, cinemas, sports and leisure, etc)

8. Consumer goods (availability of food/daily consumption items, cars, etc)

9. Housing (housing, household appliances, furniture, maintenance services, etc)

10. Natural environment (climate, record of natural disasters)

Many of these are relevant, more so than those from Monocle, however, the indicators are again more applicable to cities as a whole. In something I find somewhat strange, Mercer compares all cities to New York, which is given a baseline score of 100. Alongside the Quality of Living survey, it assesses cities through a separate “Personal Safety Ranking”. Unfortunately, surveys like Mercer are produced for the benefit of multi-national companies, in order to help them open offices or plants and how much to compensate employees, etc.

I also decided to read “Disappearing Acts: Harlem in Transition” an essay by Robin D.G. Kelley in Jerilou and Kingsley Hammett’s book The Suburbanization of New York. Kelley’s essay discusses the transformation Harlem has undergone in the past decade and the effects of Manhattan’s real estate value on local residents, on the old signs and edifices that remind the observer “what black Harlem was and could have been” (63). Kelley’s essay discusses the effects of gentrification on a place like Harlem, one that was labelled the most important black city in the world, and which offered hope for a new beginning. And even though there is countless literature on how the city was lost and the golden age gone forever, how will this new market like Harlem attain that?

Instead of helping the residents of Harlem better their neighbourhood by creating low-income housing, job creation, support for local businesses and other services, developers and investors draw up plans for restaurants, fast food chains, chain stores and condos, demolish old sites and call it “the second Harlem renaissance”, one that promises a unique experience in Black culture, yet it is merely the Disneyfication of Harlem. This essay truly highlights the importance of authenticity in a community like Harlem. The needs and feedback of Harlem residents were overlooked and developers and investors sketched out Harlem according to who they felt should be there, all while promising the “Harlem experience”.