Social Outcomes and Height of the Building
by Pratik
Point: The idea that descendants of African slaves are the only people in the history of our species to be done in by the configuration of architectural blueprints is mistaken.
It was much, much more complicated than that: the culprit was aspects of social history in America starting in the late sixties, not merely how housing projects were constructed and how far their doors happened to be from the street.
John McWhorter at the New Republic argues against the commonly held perception that crimes and social conditions are worse off in taller public housing than low-rises. I don’t understand the Sonia Sotomayor connection though and it seems forced in order to attract eyeballs.
i read part of it, then skimmed a bit more, then gave up. to me, it seems he has agreed completely with the main researcher he cites, and that would agree at least mostly, if not completely, with what Jane Jacobs has said. racism plays a bit part, of course, but i never suspected anyone believed that ‘tall buildings caused crime’ — wouldn’t that be the gross overexaggeration that everybody thinks it is?
not sure where the controversy is. strawmen? got me.