The Modern Urban Community
Urban (ûr’ban), 1. Of, relating to, or located in a city. 2. Characteristic of the city or city life. (Latin urbānus, from urbs, urb-, city).
In modern day America the term urban as related to communities generally infers locales inhabited by people of color. Oftentimes, this reference to a locale and its inhabitants is proffered as synonymous with Black as in African-American. To a lesser degree the same is true as related to brown skinned people including but not limited to those of Latina/Hispanic lineage. A third branch is aptly applied to other ethnicities that are considered outside of what some might consider mainstream, this would include individuals of Asian ethnic origin. When used in this context, the word urban appears to be code for a negative connotation regarding poor, disaffected, and disenfranchised people and/or communities.
It is certainly true that many urban communities have been plagued by an excess of social problems and ills. It is also true that the very problems that have plagued abandoned and neglected communities are now being realized in communities that not so long ago were thriving. The truth is that specific people and/or communities are not exclusively prone to certain behaviors, challenges, or problems. The very influences that decimate progressive and prosperous communities threaten to infect all communities, if allowed to flourish unchecked. Crime and poverty are not a condition, but symptomatic of negligence and the increasing malfeasance of greed, and self-interest.
The idea that a city by its very nature and the nature of its inhabitants is somehow inherently flawed is erroneous. The ability of any individual or group of individuals to draw such a conclusion speaks to the sad state of ignorance and intolerance that still infects many minds of a nation. The inability to recognize the resources within once great, once grand communities can only further exacerbate troubles for a national community comprised of cities, towns, and hamlets great and small.
The very idea that there are those that would wish for the failure of any communities and/or leaders is a sad testament to the fact that impoverished thoughts do exist. As we take stock of the deteriorating conditions that exist throughout the urban centers of the world we must ask ourselves, how they came to be? More importantly we must ask ourselves, how can we halt the plague that promotes the growth of environments rooted in rot and decay?
A mere hundred years ago communities sprang up at the dawn of the industrial age. Fortunes were made, communities grew and a great society flourished… the bustling metropolises that were the hub of urban centers reflected the power of an industrial empire. Today, vacant citadels loom throughout abandoned downtowns… is this, what we call progress? The arguments made in the name of profit are that fair trade and commercialism are necessary for continued growth and prosperity, but growth and prosperity of what, of whom? Is it progress and prosperity when entire communities die; is it growth and prosperity that leaves not only children but entire families and neighborhoods behind? Where is the progress in the death of urban communities?
As we contemplate the modern urban community, the place that once served as the fertile breeding ground for the workers of a great and growing nation, let us think about what can be left behind next. If we fail to reinvest in our people, in our communities, if we fail to provide for those that once served as the engine of our nation’s industrial might, what can we expect? The modern urban community is no longer the once powerful looming metropolis, it is no longer the tenements filled with day workers and laborers… it has moved beyond those boundaries but it still exists. The modern urban community is as it is defined… of, relating to a city which is by definition: An incorporated municipality with definite boundaries and legal powers set forth in a charter granted by the state… in other words… it is where you live… so ask yourself, what shall become of your modern urban community?
