Civic Regeneration
"Lively, diverse, intense cities contain the seeds of their own regeneration, with energy enough to carry over for problems and needs outside themselves."
- Jane Jacobs
Whatever you think of the urban renewal/revitalization of Chattanooga over the last thirty years, it cannot be characterized as in practice a modernist sensibility possessed by a monolithic government entity (re: TVA). Those possessing the vision & will, especially in a town this small, are neighbors & family & friends and local.
Has Chattanooga been an argument for Jacobs? that through local, decentralized efforts the tendency towards dehumanizing modernism would be kept in check? Viewed externally, with no knowledge of the players and individuals involved, is a neighborhood like Cowart Place in the Southside seen as autocratic? I don't think so.
I'm excited about the future, when in 50 years (I hope) we're the economically diverse city that can begin to look outside itself.
Urban Planning | By Josiah Roe | 03:35 PM
Comments
not sure what you're talking about, too many big words. But after visiting macon, ga this week, a city similar in size and scope to Chattanooga, its amazing how much Chatty has progressed and other cities in the south have not.
Macon is kind of depressing, a city with a rich heritage, incredible history, and lots of potential and it all gets bogged down by terrible mayors and uninterested inhabitants... which stems from terrible mayors.
With chatty i think you have a little more infrastructure (TVA, CIGNA, UNUM, BCBST, Erlanger, UTC, and the scenic-ness of the city) But I think what has truly propelled Chatty to be more than a rest stop between Nashville and Atlanta is a strong dedicated leadership, community wise and government wise. I'm speaking historically... not necessarily currently.
Hopefully chattanooga can stay its course and not go down the path of political corruption and a disenfranchised populace.
Posted by: holton at April 28, 2008 12:34 PM
remember the days when people commented on this blog... man those were the days...
Posted by: holton at April 30, 2008 09:22 AM
I was going to comment but I initially thought this was a blog about the new Honda.
Posted by: C Fed at April 30, 2008 10:03 AM
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