REVITALIZATION How to build better neighborhoods.
TIM HURSLEY
BY JONATHAN OPITZ
1424 South Main, Little Rock
T
he difference between revitalization and gentrification is not always apparent or easy to discern; most people use the words interchangeably. Revitalization should be a wonderful and glorious process by which an area of the city witnesses actions imbibing and imbedding new life and vitality. Gentrification should be a scary, disgusting and dishonest practice where the poor are displaced and disenfranchised by the wealthy as they take over a neighborhood and remake it in their own image and impose their tastes, beliefs and values. The journey of most city neighborhoods is a meandering and winding path that is marked by mountains and valleys of prosperity and decline accompanied and beset by gerrymandering boundaries, overlays, zones and manmade impositions of dividing lines. It is in these moments and actions of division that the true intent is captured, how our highways, streets, train tracks and fences have been used with great power to dictate and decide which neighborhoods thrive and which languish. It’s time that we learn from these past mistakes and remove barriers and strive to make neighborhoods and communities that are inclusive and inviting for all. But how? A valuable step in the process to establishing the difference between revitalization and gentrification is determining the type 12 | BLOCK, STREET & BUILDING VOLUME 7 | 2021
of power making the decisions. The type of power we should be striving for is the “Power With” or shared power. It’s in this environment of collaboration and inclusion that we can create vibrant neighborhoods that have affordable, low-income and rentcontrolled housing mixed with modest middle-class single-family or multigenerational homes, duplexes, triplexes and apartment buildings and a smattering of more affluent homes. It is in this melting pot that we can attract all sizes and scales of businesses to allow for bustling main streets in our urban areas. The power that we need to steer away from is the “Power Over,” the one that has been controlling the decisions of the downtowns of our state for a long time with domination and coercion. It all goes back to the old saying, “If you are not at the table, you are probably on the menu.” We need to empower our neighborhoods to be diverse, because it is in this diversity we can all grow, learn and flourish. Another force that we must contend with in our struggles for revitalization is movement. Transportation has been an important factor in how our cities have developed and how they will be redeveloped. For far too long our streets have been widened to help cars go faster or to provide more room for parking, all at the cost of the pedestrian experience. If we want revitalization, we
