Human Interest

Unit 7

Unit 7: Cities and Urban Land Use

This article is about Sandtown, Baltimore and its shift into a disamenity sector. It explains how this neighborhood, mainly housed by blacks, had a high percentage of vacant houses. The article says that this neighborhood is overrun with poverty, war on drugs and gangs and has the more residents in jail than any other neighborhood. This shows the changing demographics of the city of Baltimore.

This relates to unit 7 because it covers the topic of disamenity sectors and changing demographics. It shows reasons for the high levels of poverty and abandoned housing. It also shows the racial spatial distribution of the neighborhood and its correlation to housing and development.  

This article left me heart broken. The African American community in Baltimore is stuck in a deep poverty cycle, and it cannot seem to escape its impoverished past. Even now, the poverty in the area seems to just be getting worse. The problems of income disparity lead to more problems than just economic; they lead to social and political problems. Social unrest and injustice occurs as a result of the modern white flight. This article arose as a result of the death of Freddie Gray, whose death demonstrates a significant social issue that needs to be addressed: police brutality and the criminal targeting of the African American community. His death stems from the tremendously amounts of disparity in the city. Promoting investment in the inner city would definitely help alleviate the poverty in the area. The problem is getting people to invest.

(North America post 3)
Built upon from class today, this article discusses the hardship many Appalachian families are feeling as the coal mining business continues to evolve and industrialize. Although coal was the major 'boom' behind many of these towns, the 'bust' hits more than just those laid off by the industry. Like a chain reaction, other families and their businesses suffer; less income leads to less eating out leads to less income for restaurants, and it goes on and on.  This article is also good at showing that geography is more than spatial and economic: on certain levels, it's also relational, personal, cultural, and historic, giving residents strong feelings behind their decisions to stay.

This video really shows the relationship between sense of place versus economic geography. Even though the town is no longer the rich mining town it once was, the remaining residents still cling to the past and their sense of identity remains strong. It demonstrates that cultural heritage is a powerful factor that can remain long after dramatic economic changes. Even though there are few opportunities left in the town and the majority of its young people leave for greener pastures, some residents still identify so strongly with the area that they are willing to do whatever they can to revitalize their town.

This is relevant to early posts about coalfields in West Virginia.

This article is connected to human geography by agriculture. We talk and learn about agriculture every day in the class room. I feel like this article is a eye opener to the naive mind of people who do not live in or around food desert areas.

This article/scoop is very intriguing and cool to read. It goes along with the topic of agriculture and describes the 11 facts that it bares about food deserts whether those facts are good or bad. Overall, I liked this scoop because of the 11 facts and the detail that was provided with them.