Many ideas jumped out at me while reading the selection from Susan Bickford's "Constructing Inequality," mostly from my own biased ideas about what a city should be. The most intriguing, however, was the idea of fortification. I suppose I never really put together that a "fort" that a child builds actually comes from the word "fortification" - perhaps because my childhood forts were more about privatizing the inside than prohibiting the outside from coming in (or maybe there can't be one without the other!).
There is a commercial in central Ohio for a large homebuilder, where the various "residents" run down things they wanted in a new home that brought them to this builder. "My own room," "a deck," "cathedral ceilings," a big backyard, a fireplace, lots of windows, hardwood floors - the list is seemingly endless. But its the end of the commercial that really drives it home for me: as a father drives his car down the street one evening, before picking up his sleeping son to carry him inside, he passes what would appear to be a neighbor walking a dog (in the street, because there is no sidewalk). He doesn't wave or acknowledge the woman. Why is this a place where someone would want to live? While listing all of the things these people want in the actual structure of their homes, they never mention anything about the neighborhood. It seems this dream house can be next to the railroad tracks or just below the interstate - and it doesn't matter who your neighbors are, as long as they stay out of your yard and off your deck.
Whew! That rant was just a little off-topic! I think that the idea of fortification doesn't have to be physical. Just owning your little quarter-acre seems to be enough of a fortification for some, while in the city there is less of an option to fortify. Public space intrudes (especially at my house with zero street setback!) right up to the building - while in some suburbs, the lots aren't even violated with a sidewalk. Gated communities further this notion by restricting even who can access the streets.
Fortifications aren't just city versus suburb, all middle-class. I'd like to know some of your thoughts while I think about this further.
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8 comments:
Hi Carli,
I enjoyed reading your thoughts. I would agree with you that in the city your fortification begins at your doorstep whether it is a multifamily developments corridor, or the sidewalk outside your townhouse. While in the suburbs your lawn/driveway seems to be a buffer or shall we say semi-fortified space. Area that is accesible to the public, but there is sometimes that unseen 'white picket fence'. I have been reading some of the other blogs... I find this to be a fairly interesting conversation to be having due to the limited cross section of american culture that is represented by our class. I hope all is well.
Hi Carli,
I came to your blog from Steve Harman's Geek-Blog, which I read quite regularly. And he has just tagged you :)
I have never understood the culture of Fortification and 'Gated Communities' that exists in America and other western countries. Perhaps that is because I was raised in a culture where real communities exist, where neighbors know each other and help each other without agendas, without the need for physical boundaries.
To me Gated Communities scream 'We don't trust or care for anybody in our neighborhood, except ourselves inside these Gates.'
Moreover, the idea of residents inside a Gated Community feeling 'safe' is mostly psychological.
shiva
Fortification is an interesting term to apply here and when I look back at recent efforts to find roots for my family, fortifying is the first thing we do... it seems a natural instinct. Attempting to define what is ours, eventually leads us to the autonomy that Bickford describes.
~R
Carli, your commercial is fascinating. I'll pair it with another one that I know. Some guy is talking about having bought cable TV because they were running a special with free multiple installations at the same address. He's interrupted by his little girl. "Daddy, the movie's starting." He says, "you can watch it on the TV downstairs." He starts talking again, but is interrupted by the teenage son. "Dad! Game's on!" Dad says, "Go ahead and watch it in the living room; Mom and I are going to watch our show in our room." He then addresses the audience again, and says "Cable TV... It's our best family investment!" But of course the unintended irony (just as that of your commercial) is that we're driving ourselves apart in the name of "family" and "community."
Here's a notion I've had... that "citizen" and "consumer" are at opposite ends of the conceptual scale. As consumers, we demand total satisfaction of our detailed individual needs; as citizens, we constantly enter into negotiations about satisfying many needs, all imperfectly. As we have become more expert consumers, I think we've become far less expert in public life.
So... as citizen designers, part of our job is to teach our friends and families along with our clients, to be citizen consumers. If we begin to let down some of our fortifications when it comes our own consumerism, maybe this could be the first brick to come out of the wall. Just a thought.
one of the themes that I am picking up from many of the posts, as well as the reading, is that there is confusion as to where the public/private line should be drawn....we can all agree that at some point, we innately desire privacy...but where should it start?? at my bedroom door??? at my driveway??? at the edge of my neighborhood???
Peter - I think it has to begin inside your own mind and you get to move the boundary when needed.
When I was doing my first research with high school kids, I came to the realization that they had three kinds of friends: the ones they knew at school and work, the ones who came over to their houses, and the ones they actually invited into their rooms. That kind of layering of space is common, and the penetration from one layer to the next is a real sign of trust and affection.
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