I've lived in Harlem since 2007. More specifically, I've lived in the North/Western-est part of Harlem, a neighborhood called Hamilton Heights. Not quite Central Harlem and not quite Washington Heights, Hamilton Heights rests between Columbia's main campus and the med school, and is home to a primarily Dominican/Latino community. In the almost 5 years that I've lived here the neighborhood has definitely changed. While I definitely believe that gentrification comes with positive and negative effects, I do believe that in general urban revitalization and development is a great thing, even more so when it is authentic and relevant to the community it seeks to improve.
During some web searching recently I came across
PopupHood, an innovative and ambition initiative that seeks to achieve community revitalization by partnering with property owners and artists to create comprehensive "neighborhoods" of stores, bringing retail options into communities that are on the path to growth. A mini-documentary featuring
PopupHood is below:
What do you think? Does this seem like a sustainable model for urban revitalization? How can we transfer this to other cities and communities? Could it only work in a city with a booming artistic community- or is Oakland just special?