.jpg)
For this week’s blog I thought that since I was going home for the weekend, I would do my blog on my hometown of Glendora. Glendora is about 45 miles south of UCLA nestled between San Dimas and Covina. It is a relatively small town located at the base of the foothills. I decided that my hometown would be appropriate because, after the lecture on the post-metropolis, I realized that the concept of the carceral archipelago is represented in Glendora.
To illustrate this point, I noticed that there are hardly any bus stops in Glendora, nor are there many buses from other cities that even enter Glendora’s limits. This is designed so that unwanted people, often those without cars, are not allowed easy access into the city. Also, there is a noticeable lack of sidewalks in Glendora, yet another way Glendora discourages access to an undifferentiated public. Furthermore, Glendora is also known for its abundance of gated communities. Even though there are a few of these communities that are physically enclosed, many gated communities do not even have gates, but are characterized by ominous community names that further segment the city. While the use of physical gated communities restricts public access in a very blatant way, the use of community names relies on restricting the social access of the community. Glendora’s spatial layout also makes it very difficult for an unfamiliar public to navigate the city. The majority of residential space is designed in such a way that there are only a few points of entry into large residential plots, turning common neighborhoods into virtual labyrinths to non-residents.
I can also relate my hometown to David Sibley’s “Mapping the Pure and the Defiled,” specifically his overriding theory that humans have a deep sided need to separate “us” from “them,” the civilized from the uncivilized. Glendora boasts an incredibly low crime rate and a relatively affluent community and appears to have taken the necessary precaution to preserve these values. Furthermore, Sibley’s objects relations theory, which holds that “individuals and groups form positive identities of themselves by excluding others that are thought to be deviant,” perfectly embodies the essence of Glendora. By viewing outsiders as potential threats to the status quo of the city, Glendora relies on both physical and social boundaries to turn its city limits into city borders.
Thanks a lot for your insightful post Alyssa; I really enjoyed reading about your knowledge and experience of Glendora. Your pictures were also very insightful, as they define what type of city Glendora is with only three pictures in hand. Further, your use of concepts from the lecture was also greatly compatible with Glendora. My uncle’s family also happens to reside in Glendora, so I thought finishing my blog off with a response to your post, would be pleasant. I was often told that the area south of the Foothill Freeway, was the unappealing part of the city, as it is cut off from the more attractive areas to the north. Thus, I believe it’s interesting how the freeway plays a significant role in dividing the city into two different areas. However, as you have mentioned, Glendora as a whole, boasts a very low crime rate with no documented gangs of any kind.
ReplyDeleteYou brought up Carceral Archipelago which appears to be prominent in many areas of Glendora. As a result, you brought up many aspects of urban design that are applied throughout the city. The lack of bus stops seems to show that it is highly expected of its residents to be able to afford a car. Further, the lack of sidewalks seems to further indicate the view that its residents should be driving around instead, while simultaneously preventing homeless people from wandering around the city. From personal experience, I also got the impression that the layout of the city is also quite difficult to navigate around. Without a GPS, it has always been difficult finding a particular location to go to, as one street seems to be an exact copy of the previous street and so on.
Your emphasis on gated communities was also very interesting. Your observation of how some gated communities aren't actually gated off but rather use names to intimidate unwanted visitors was very interesting in terms of urban design. The use of names to symbolize a community gives a sense of group territoriality while maintaining social distance by marking on their turf. Furthermore, this part of your post reminded me of our last lecture regarding the Neo-Liberal era where public and social goods were being called into question. The lack of a sense of community as well as taxes being viewed as payments, for the greater good of the public seemed to have been a great reason why gated communities were formed in the first place. As a result, urban secession can be seen in which taxes would only go towards gated communities. Hence, fees for security and parks are paid exclusively for the gated communities themselves. As communities are divided even within a city, as well as weeks of observing the LA Metropolitan area, I believe that Robert E. Park's statement of how the city is a mosaic of little worlds which touch but do not interpenetrate to be absolutely true.