A Quick Look: Suburban Inequality and Uneven Development.

  After watching “Requiem for Detroit,” I began to think about white flight and then the way that suburban communities potentially breathe inequality. One of the causal reasons we discussed in class on the current state of Detroit was the flight of whites, upper, and upper-middle classes. With many leaving, they also left with capital which supported Detroit. Of course, this is just one of the many possible causal reasons. However, where did many of these folks (who were able to leave) go? In the film, many people were leaving to suburban communities. The movie briefly talked about the reason many folks had to stay behind. One reason being because they heavily relied on public transportation in order to get to their jobs, run errands, and so forth. In suburban communities, public transportation is not as widely available as it is in cities and thus there is a need to have a car in suburbs.
 
Furthermore, the majority of people who live in suburbs tend to be wealthier and also the makeup tend to be white folks. But when taking a look at suburbia, how unequal are suburban communities? To what extent do other factors play into this inequality? In a fairly recent article on racial inequality in the suburbs, the article stated that:

  Blacks and Hispanics have moved into the suburbs, but they're still likely to live in
  neighborhoods there where they're isolated from whites, regardless of income. And
  those neighborhoods are likely to have more poverty and lower-performing public
  schools than the suburban neighborhoods where whites live, suggesting that old urban
  forms of inequality are replicating themselves in the suburbs. - The Oregonian 

It’s important to highlight the potential inequality that can exist in suburban communities because suburbs are an important aspect to urban life and development. For example, if many leave cities due to crime, insecurity, etc then that flight will negatively impact city life.
 
In chapter 4, the authors discuss uneven development. The beginning of this section begins with the authors writing “urban and suburban settlement spaces grow and develop because of capital investment.” They further discuss how people with money seek to invest in places and enterprises that bring to them the highest rate of return or profit. Thus, if cities are deteriorating (due to many different factors), these individuals will not want to invest in these locations. Additionally, they bring up that “well-being of a place depends not only on the amount of investment it can attract but also on the wealth of its residents.” Therefore, if residents of a location are particularly low-income then the likelihood of investment in that particular area will be low and thus create this idea of uneven development.

I think it’s also important to look at the different ways that investment can affect various areas. In an article called “Suburban Disequilibrium,” the author discusses:

  High property values support high-achieving schools, which in turn increase property
  values and personal wealth. Racial redlining holds property values down, limiting
  investment in schools and preventing families from building equity, disadvantages that
  pass to the next generation like a negative inheritance. - NY Times

Therefore, if there is constant investment in areas of high property values where there is high-achieving schools, this creates unequal development in areas where investment can truly be needed.

Uneven development creates inequality because there can be a select group of people and locations that are more successful and thriving surrounded by areas of poverty. An important aspect of uneven development is the idea that capital becomes more mobile and thus can easily be shifted. In this particular section, they discussed how in the Silicon Valley they began outsourcing many of their manufacturing operations and thus the capital that once existed in the Silicon Valley was no longer there. This outsourcing then left many without jobs and thus plagued the valley with poverty and inequality. It would be interesting to compare what occurred in the Silicon Valley to what occurred to Detroit.

The reading also mentions the spatial disparities that can occur and how this can lead to an increase in prices in the local grocery stores and thus cause residents to shop out of their community looking for cheaper prices. This reminded me of the idea of food deserts and how food deserts have become a huge concern in many communities. These communities, not surprisingly enough, are low-income communities.  These different readings raise important questions on the ways that inequality may exist in suburbs and the uneven development that can exist. I know that we will dig deeper into suburbia and also look at different factors in city life. These, after all, are premature thoughts on these different relationships.