What does it take to be modern?

When driving around Memphis I find myself dreaming up the future for dilapidated structures and buildings of decades past. Especially when Downtown or driving east on Madison I am constantly distracted by the ruins of the past Memphis. After learning about the history of Beale, I ache for the business and cultural sector it used to be. There is a great chasm between how Memphis used to feel and how it is now perceived. The Judd reading highlighted the different forms of tourism that are used to "enrich" modern cities, primarily as an economic tool.

At the beginning he drew a comparison to the early Railroad industry to the today's tourist industry. It seems that the nature of this colossal business is that cities are in a zero-sum competition for convention centers, sports teams, casinos, etc. with complete disadvantage for the cities to claim rights to ownership of these businesses. In many ways I see the parallel of a monopoly of business of the railroad applied to the entertainment/tourist industry in cities today. Cities are under the impression that NBA teams, large convention centers and tourism are the keys to economic profitability and urban success. However, I thin Judd lays out the argument that these industries are not nearly as profitable as they are made out to be and lead to boom and bust economies that ultimately weaken cities and strengthen big business.

While I understand that Squires discusses the private-public partnership that is essential for cities, there should be more bargaining power for the cities in play. Since I have come to see the discussion of urban success through a Memphis lens, I cannot help but see how the larger private sectors have a powerful advantage over the needs and outcries from the urban poor who are forced to come with the terms laid out by the business elite.

In class Tuesday, we discussed the ownership of space and whose city is it? I would argue from Squires article, cities are held in the bonds of privatism, or the private city,  which can lead to the  "reduction  in the public debate over development and policy and the accountability of public officials and other actors for the consequences of their activities" (Squires 211). So what does this lack of accountability look like in the tangible world? Perhaps it's the blighted, forgotten neighborhoods surrounding the FedEx Forum or the absence of a free shelter. Maybe it is the Riverfront Development Project or the lack of accessible public transportation in Memphis.

It is not that private property or ownership are inherently bad or evil, but the effects that dismantle local political power are startling and unethical. The best example I can see of this is the use of personally owned automobiles. It is not that cars are bad inventions, however when an entire city is designed around the idea of privatized transportation, we end up with a underclass separated by the inability to travel around a city. My fear is for the cities we live in to be so focused on privatized, bug business, that we lose sight of the smaller collective issues within a city. This is how a I view the future city; one that is focused on providing effective, accessible services for all of its citizens, not just contributing to the pockets of big business.