Cities, Neighborhoods, and Communities

[Emiliano]

[MENTION=23097]Insertnamehere[/MENTION]
Thanks for replying.. I know I was asking a lot of questions, but these have been really interesting to read so far (at least for me). I've asked you about your city before and I've looked at a lot of photos of it from when I drew that picture of it. As an outsider, it seems really appealing, but again, its not a place that I know much about at all. So thanks for sharing what you did.

Constrained by geography it's the one place that never could and will never follow an orderly planification with straight streets and clear spaces. An amphitheatre of hills sorrounding a ridiculously slim bit of flat land in front on a harbor. People built where they could how they could.

Thats a really well written description. If this were for a grade, I'd give you some bonus points for that.

Mostly in a friendly and relaxed manner. If you go to the ghettos, that are usually in the upper parts, things can go bad if you meet the wrong kind of folks concentrating there, but there's the poor folks who are nice are still around. It used to be better in this respect, poverty didn't imply criminal activity. Nowadays that is growing to be the rule in those parts.

Im curious why that could be a growing issue. But it sounds like a problem that a stagnant or declining city would naturally have. Poverty and crime.

No tension, except when someone is protesting against something, usually on labor day or on September 11 (we all know why).

No, actually I have no idea why people in Chile would protest on Sept. 11th. For real. Can you explain?

Let it be said here that I am proudly NOT a "street" person. There's also better things of course, street performers, small scale carnivals, music events blah blah blah.

Again, I guess I used the wrong word. Culture of the street... so yeah, Im not asking if you guys think you are "street" or if "street" people are in your area... thats all sort of coded language anyway, isn't it? I mean to ask like the culture of the street - so yeah, the street performers, carnivals, music events... thats more in line with what I meant. Graffiti falls under that too I guess. But yeah, the positive stuff you listed sounds really cool. Streets are made for more than walking - at least in my opinion. Does that stuff pop up organically?

Successful? Hardly. It's barely able to retain its once great status even on a moderate level, it's constantly underfunded, always facing some kind of shit, earthquake, storm, massive fire, etc wrecking havoc.

How do you feel about living somewhere that has such a threat of natural disaster? Have you been through any before?

Very little can be done in construction, large scale commerce and expanding the port sector because of the geography constraints and because a good part of the city is a UNESCO heritage site, so it's really hard to just modify and build anew. It also has height limitations for buildings due to a "view to the harbor" legislation. All of this and lack of space, means that both population (numbers and renewing) and economical activity remain stagnant without any easy way to overcome it.

I can see why those things can hold back a city to adapt to changing circumstances, but its also interesting that there's such a spirit of preservation there. I guess a great challenge for cities is how to balance those two things - how to keep a city alive and dynamic, while also preserving the character and history of a place. You'd think if the economy is based on the port and tourism and nearby universities that would be the right path... but it sounds like it requires a different sort of approach for your city.