Crosstown and the Neighborhood

I’ve been fascinated by the idea of gentrification for awhile and in particular the concept of social preservation, though I never really had the vocabulary for it until reading Brown-Saracino’s article.  Last semester for an urban politics class I wrote about the potential for gentrification stemming from the Sears redevelopment.  I anticipated what one scholar writes:  “they’re only saving the shell of the buildings.  They’re going to completely gut the inside” (Brown-Saracino 264).  However, what I found was something in between gentrification and social preservation.

The Crosstown area definitely needs a facelift, especially at the corner of Watkins and North Parkway.  Yet, the households diagonally across from the superstructure and in the nearby Overton Park vicinity are some of the most affluent in Midtown.  I think gentrification will not totally encompass the area because the impoverished have already been pushed to the periphery of Midtown.  If anything, hopefully the services provided by the new Sears Crosstown will make the street a regional hub once more.  Lloyd’s article about “living like an artist” makes me wonder if the Sears Development will diversify the breadth of yuppies, artists, and the poor, turning the neighborhood into a Cooper-Young facsimile or instead become a haven for a creative class alone.  Regardless, I am confident that the Sears Development is a positive step in trying to maintain some of the authenticity of Memphis while strengthening a meager population of young creative community leaders.

Here is the link for the Crosstown Collaborative if you want to stay up to date.

I could go on for awhile, and would post the paper I wrote but that doesn't seem to be an amenity of Blogger.