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66-548: West Oakland is a neighborhood situated in the northwestern corner of Oakland , California , United States , situated west of Downtown Oakland , south of Emeryville , and north of Alameda . The neighborhood is located along the waterfront at the Port of Oakland and at the eastern end of the San Francisco–Oakland Bay Bridge . It lies at an elevation of 13 feet (4 m). The land which comprises part of West Oakland

132-410: A residents' committee ; these are subdivided into residents' small groups of fifteen to forty families. In most urban areas of China, neighbourhood , community , residential community , residential unit , residential quarter have the same meaning: 社区 or 小区 or 居民区 or 居住区 , and is the direct sublevel of a subdistrict ( 街道办事处 ), which is the direct sublevel of a district ( 区 ), which

198-858: A base for the prosperity of major cities. When these industries relocate to larger, less urban environments, some cities have experienced population loss with associated urban decay, and even riots . Cutbacks on police and fire services may result, while lobbying for government funded housing may increase. Increased city taxes encourage residents to move out. Libertarian economists argue that rent control contributes to urban blight by reducing new construction and investment in housing and discouraging maintenance . Large French cities are often surrounded by areas of urban decay. While city centers tend to be occupied mainly by upper-class residents, cities are often surrounded by public housing developments , with many tenants being of North African origin (from Morocco , Algeria and Tunisia ), and recent immigrants . From

264-400: A case for a new truck route ordinance that would re-navigate container trucks and their harmful emissions away from the neighborhood. Currently, the community is more engaged in environmental decision-making to protect their families. West Oakland consists of the following neighborhoods: Neighborhood A neighbourhood (Commonwealth English) or neighborhood (American English) is

330-496: A case study revealed that the predominantly African American and Latino neighborhoods in this area were exposed to disproportionate levels of diesel exhaust from 6,300 container trucks that frequented this route on their way to and from the Port of Oakland and a prominent US Post Office distribution center. Air pollution generated from traffic and truck idling is tied to early asthma onset in children, and approximately 64 pounds of diesel particulate matter emissions were released into

396-464: A divisive issue in French public politics. Many east German towns such as Hoyerswerda face or are facing population loss and urban shrinkage since the reunification of Germany in 1990. Hoyerswerda's population has dropped about 40% since its peak and there is a significant lack of teenagers and twenty- forty-some year olds due to the declining birthrates during the uncertainty of reunification. Part of

462-423: A geographically localized community within a larger city , town , suburb or rural area , sometimes consisting of a single street and the buildings lining it. Neighbourhoods are often social communities with considerable face-to-face interaction among members. Researchers have not agreed on an exact definition, but the following may serve as a starting point: "Neighbourhood is generally defined spatially as

528-796: A high level of regulation of social life by officials. For example, in the Tang period Chinese capital city Chang'an, neighbourhoods were districts and there were state officials who carefully controlled life and activity at the neighbourhood level. Neighbourhoods in preindustrial cities often had some degree of social specialisation or differentiation. Ethnic neighbourhoods were important in many past cities and remain common in cities today. Economic specialists, including craft producers, merchants, and others, could be concentrated in neighbourhoods, and in societies with religious pluralism neighbourhoods were often specialised by religion. One factor contributing to neighbourhood distinctiveness and social cohesion in past cities

594-522: A lull during the Great Depression , a Second Great Migration (1940–1970), in which 5 million or more African-Americans moved, including many to California and various western cities. Between 1910 and 1970, African-Americans moved from southern States, especially Alabama , Louisiana , Mississippi , and Texas to other regions of the United States , many of them townspeople with urban skills. By

660-549: A mix of other uses such as retail or commercial. One of the best examples of this is in Hulme , Manchester, which was cleared of 19th-century housing in the 1950s to make way for a large estate of high-rise flats. During the 1990s, it was cleared again to make way for new development built along new urbanist lines. In the United States, early government policies included " urban renewal " and building of large-scale housing projects for

726-559: A new influx of workers for the shipbuilding industry and the newly constructed Oakland Army Base and Naval Supply Center . As the railroads declined and Americans turned to the automobile for transportation in the 1950s, many employees moved away. When the Cypress Freeway , a double-decker freeway connecting the San Francisco–Oakland Bay Bridge with the Nimitz Freeway , was built in the 1950s above Cypress Street, it effectively split

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792-448: A significant effect, and remains the primary means of a natural remedy. In Western Europe, where undeveloped land is scarce and urban areas are generally recognized as the drivers of the new information and service economies, urban renewal has become an industry in itself, with hundreds of agencies and charities set up to tackle the issue. European cities have the benefit of historical organic development patterns already concurrent to

858-420: A small area within a town or city. The label is commonly used to refer to organisations which relate to such a very local structure, such as neighbourhood policing or Neighbourhood watch schemes. In addition, government statistics for local areas are often referred to as neighbourhood statistics, although the data themselves are broken down usually into districts and wards for local purposes. In many parts of

924-496: A specific geographic area and functionally as a set of social networks. Neighbourhoods, then, are the spatial units in which face-to-face social interactions occur—the personal settings and situations where residents seek to realise common values, socialise youth, and maintain effective social control." In the words of the urban scholar Lewis Mumford , "Neighborhoods, in some annoying, inchoate fashion exist wherever human beings congregate, in permanent family dwellings; and many of

990-490: A unit of analysis. In mainland China , the term is generally used for the urban administrative division found immediately below the district level, although an intermediate, subdistrict level exists in some cities. They are also called streets (administrative terminology may vary from city to city). Neighbourhoods encompass 2,000 to 10,000 families. Within neighbourhoods, families are grouped into smaller residential units or quarters of 100 to 600 families and supervised by

1056-530: A variety of causes from the loss of key industries, population decline , and counterurbanization . Population decline in particular was noted to be faster in inner city areas than in outer ones, however a decline was noted throughout the 1970s, through the 1990s in both inner and outer city areas. Jobs declined between 1984 and 1991 (a decline observed particularly among men), while outer areas saw job growth (particularly among women). The UK also saw urban areas become more ethnically diverse, however urban decline

1122-577: Is the direct sublevel of a city ( 市 ). (See Administrative divisions of the People's Republic of China ) The term has no general official or statistical purpose in the United Kingdom, but is often used by local boroughs for self-chosen sub-divisions of their area for the delivery of various services and functions, as for example in Kingston-upon-Thames or is used as an informal term to refer to

1188-484: Is the sociological process by which a previously functioning city, or part of a city, falls into disrepair and decrepitude. There is no single process that leads to urban decay. Urban decay can include the following aspects: Since the 1970s and 1980s, urban decay has been a phenomenon associated with some Western cities, especially in North America and parts of Europe . Cities have experienced population flights to

1254-462: The 1906 San Francisco earthquake settled in West Oakland. The original wooden train station at 16th and Wood Streets was replaced in 1912 by a large Beaux Arts structure which is still standing, though it was severely damaged in the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake . World War I brought new job opportunities in the shipyards and with it an influx of workers and business growth. By 1930, West Oakland

1320-605: The Pullman Palace Car Company , and the headquarters of their union, the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters , was at 5th and Wood Streets. The writer Jack London lived in West Oakland in the late 19th century, and his novel The Valley of the Moon is set in West Oakland. Many of the houses built in that period are still standing today and make up the quaint character of the neighborhood. In 1906, many people left homeless by

1386-405: The San Francisco–Oakland Bay Bridge and BART , and the slightly more affordable rental and home prices have attracted many new residents. Environmental racism is when a particular group (most often racial minorities or those with specific disadvantages) is subject to dangerous pollutants and deprived of access to basic resources such as clean air, water, healthy groceries, etc. In West Oakland,

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1452-641: The Southern Pacific Railroad West Oakland yard . In the 1950s and 1960s, urban renewal, construction of the Nimitz Freeway, and BART displaced most of the Latino community which settled in the Fruitvale and East Oakland areas. West Oakland became a primarily African American neighborhood, with a small Hispanic population. Groups of African American residents of West Oakland mobilized to resist

1518-475: The suburbs and exurb commuter towns ; often in the form of white flight . Another characteristic of urban decay is blight – the visual, psychological, and physical effects of living among empty lots, buildings, and condemned houses. Urban decay is often the result of inter-related socio-economic issues, including urban planning decisions, economic deprivation of the local populace, the construction of freeways and railroad lines that bypass or run through

1584-598: The "urban renewal" projects during this period. The Black Panthers grew out of this resistance and West Oakland became the center of the Black Panthers in the late 1960s. Their main office was on Peralta Street, and they distributed free breakfasts to children in St. Augustine's church on West Street. DeFremery Park was the site of Black Panther rallies and social programs. Huey P. Newton was convicted of manslaughter after allegedly shooting an officer on 7th Street, and Newton himself

1650-559: The 1900s, Clarence Perry described the idea of a neighbourhood unit as a self-contained residential area within a city. The concept is still influential in New Urbanism . Practitioners seek to revive traditional sociability in planned suburban housing based on a set of principles. At the same time, the neighbourhood is a site of interventions to create Age-Friendly Cities and Communities (AFCC) as many older adults tend to have narrower life space. Urban design studies thus use neighbourhood as

1716-412: The 1950s to the 1970s, publicly funded housing projects resulted in large areas of mid- to high-rise buildings. These modern "grands ensembles" were welcomed at the time, as they replaced shanty towns and raised living standards, but these areas were heavily affected by economic depression in the 1980s. The banlieues of large cities like Lyon , especially the northern Parisian banlieues, are criticized by

1782-513: The Foundation to be "more extreme and therefore more visible" in the north of the United Kingdom. This trend of northern decline has been observed not just in the United Kingdom but also in much of Europe. Some seaside resort towns have also experienced urban decay towards the end of the 20th century. The UK's period of urban decay was exemplified by popular songs, such as The Specials ' 1981 single " Ghost Town " and The Jam's 1978 single " Down in

1848-457: The New Urbanist model, and although derelict, most cities have attractive historical quarters and buildings ripe for redevelopment. In the inner-city estates and suburban cities, the solution is often more drastic, with 1960s and 1970s state housing projects being demolished and rebuilt in a more traditional European urban style, with a mix of housing types, sizes, prices, and tenures, as well as

1914-555: The San Francisco bay ferries. In 1869, West Oakland became the terminus of the transcontinental railroad , and the population grew again as railroad workers settled in the neighborhood. In the 1880s and 1890s, a large number of shops and small and medium-sized houses were built to accommodate the large number of European Americans, African Americans, Portuguese, Irish, Mexicans, Japanese, and Chinese immigrants who settled in West Oakland. Many African Americans were employed as porters for

1980-604: The Second World War, the United Kingdom carried out extensive slum clearances. These efforts continued after the war, however in many of these slums, depopulation became common, producing compounding decay. The UK is unlike much of Europe in having high overall population density, but low urban population density outside of London. In London, many former slum neighbourhoods like in Islington became "highly prized", however this

2046-516: The Tube Station at Midnight ". Historically in the United States, the white middle class gradually left the cities for suburban areas due to African-American migration north toward cities after World War I . Some historians differentiate between the first Great Migration (1910–1930), numbering about 1.6 million African-American migrants who left mostly Southern rural areas to migrate to northern and Midwestern industrial cities, and, after

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2112-569: The U.S., the new inner-city poor were often African-Americans that migrated from the South in the 1920s and 1930s. As they moved into traditional white neighborhoods, ethnic frictions served to accelerate flight to the suburbs. The main responses to urban decay have been through positive public intervention and policy, through a plethora of initiatives, funding streams, and agencies, using the principles of New Urbanism (or through Urban Renaissance , its UK/European equivalent). Gentrification has also had

2178-498: The UK wards are roughly equivalent to neighbourhoods or a combination of them. In the United States and Canada , neighbourhoods are often given official or semi-official status through neighbourhood associations , neighbourhood watches or block watches. These may regulate such matters as lawn care and fence height, and they may provide such services as block parties , neighbourhood parks and community security . In some other places

2244-488: The Urban White Paper (DETR 2000), and a study of Scottish cities (2003) hypothesize areas suffering from industrial decline, high unemployment, poverty, and a decaying physical environment (sometimes including contaminated land and obsolete infrastructure) – prove "highly resistant to improvement". Changes in transportation from public to private, (specifically the private motor car ) eliminated some of

2310-563: The advent of mass car ownership, the marketing of suburbia as a location to move to, and the building of the Interstate Highway System . In North America, this shift manifested itself in strip malls , suburban retail and employment centers, and low-density housing estates. Large areas of many northern cities in the United States experienced population decreases and a degradation of urban areas. Inner-city property values declined, and economically disadvantaged populations moved in. In

2376-426: The air in a single day in West Oakland according to one study. Residents in the surrounding neighborhoods reported regular findings of diesel exhaust soot on windows and vents of their homes. In part to environmental racism, these people could be exposed to ‘‘90 times more diesel particulates per square mile per year than the state of California.’’ After this information came to light, community organizers called together

2442-515: The area followed their customers to the suburbs, and some apartment buildings were "hi-jacked" by gangs who collected rentals from residents but failed to pay the utility bills, leading to termination of municipal services and a refusal by the legal owners to invest in maintenance or cleaning. Occupied today by low-income residents and immigrants and being over-crowded; the proliferation of crime, drugs, illegal businesses, and decay of properties have become prevalent. Like many industrial nations before

2508-545: The area, depopulation by suburbanization of peripheral lands, real estate neighborhood redlining , and immigration restrictions. During the Industrial Revolution , many people moved from rural areas to cities for employment in the manufacturing industry, thus causing urban populations to boom. Subsequent economic change left many cities economically vulnerable. Studies such as the Urban Task Force (DETR 1999),

2574-525: The blight in east Germany is due to the construction and preservation practices of the socialist government under the German Democratic Republic (GDR). To fill the housing needs, the GDR quickly built many prefabricated apartment buildings. In addition, historic preservation of pre-war buildings varied; in some cases, the rubble of buildings destroyed by the war were simply left there while in other cases

2640-473: The cities' public transport service advantages, e.g., fixed-route buses and trains. In particular, at the end of World War II , many political decisions favored suburban development and encouraged suburbanization through financial incentives like government supported FHA loans and VA mortgage aid. This allowed many veterans of World War II and their families to afford comfortable single family housing in suburbs. The manufacturing industry has historically been

2706-501: The constituent art groups within can be found on display outside the complex. Mandela Gateway, a mixed retail and residential development at the south end of Mandela Parkway, surrounds the West Oakland BART station. The old Victorian houses are being refurbished, and new condominium, townhouse, and live-work loft residences have sprung up. The growth of Emeryville on West Oakland's border, West Oakland's proximity to San Francisco via

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2772-719: The control of city or state officials. In some preindustrial urban traditions, basic municipal functions such as protection, social regulation of births and marriages, cleaning and upkeep are handled informally by neighbourhoods and not by urban governments; this pattern is well documented for historical Islamic cities. In addition to social neighbourhoods, most ancient and historical cities also had administrative districts used by officials for taxation, record-keeping, and social control. Administrative districts are typically larger than neighbourhoods and their boundaries may cut across neighbourhood divisions. In some cases, however, administrative districts coincided with neighbourhoods, leading to

2838-533: The country's territorial spatial planning administration. They have been ostracized since the French Commune government of 1871, considered as "lawless" or "outside the law", even "outside the Republic", as opposed to "deep France" or "authentic France", which is associated with the countryside. In November 2005, the French suburbs were the scene of riots sparked by the accidental electrocution of two teenagers in

2904-497: The debris was removed, and an empty lot remained. Other standing historical structures were left to decay in the early GDR as they did not represent the socialist ideals of the country. In Italy, a well-known case of urban decay is represented by the Vele di Scampia , a large public housing estate built between 1962 and 1975 in the Scampia neighborhood of Naples . The idea behind the project

2970-435: The early 2000s, Community Development Corporations, Rehabilitation Networks, Neighbourhood Development Corporations, and Economic Development organisations would work together to address the housing stock and the infrastructures of communities and neighbourhoods (e.g., community centres). Community and Economic Development may be understood in different ways, and may involve "faith-based" groups and congregations in cities. In

3036-570: The end of the Second Great Migration, African-Americans had become an urbanized population, with more than 80% of Black Americans living in cities. A majority of 53 percent remained in the South, while 40 percent lived in the Northeast and Midwest and 7 percent in the West. From the 1930s until 1977, African-Americans seeking borrowed capital for housing and businesses were discriminated against via

3102-599: The equivalent organization is the parish , though a parish may have several neighbourhoods within it depending on the area. In localities where neighbourhoods do not have an official status, questions can arise as to where one neighbourhood begins and another ends. Many cities use districts and wards as official divisions of the city, rather than traditional neighbourhood boundaries. ZIP Code boundaries and post office names also sometimes reflect neighbourhood identities. Urban decay#United States Urban decay (also known as urban rot , urban death or urban blight )

3168-638: The federal-government–legislated discriminatory lending practices for the Federal Housing Administration (FHA) via redlining . In 1977, the US Congress passed the Community Reinvestment Act , designed to encourage commercial banks and savings associations to help meet the needs of borrowers in all segments of their communities, including low- and moderate-income neighborhoods. Later urban centers were drained further through

3234-645: The following ... Prohibition of the occupancy of properties except by the race for which they are intended ... Schools should be appropriate to the needs of the new community and they should not be attended in large numbers by inharmonious racial groups . Federal Housing Administration , Underwriting Manual: Underwriting and Valuation Procedure Under Title II of the National Housing Act With Revisions to February, 1938 (Washington, D.C.), Part II, Section 9, Rating of Location. Ninety-five percent of cities with populations greater than 100,000 people in

3300-585: The functions of the city tend to be distributed naturally—that is, without any theoretical preoccupation or political direction—into neighborhoods." Most of the earliest cities around the world as excavated by archaeologists have evidence for the presence of social neighbourhoods. Historical documents shed light on neighbourhood life in numerous historical preindustrial or nonwestern cities. Neighbourhoods are typically generated by social interaction among people living near one another. In this sense they are local social units larger than households not directly under

3366-607: The neighborhood in half and isolated it from downtown Oakland. In the late 1960s and early 1970s, block after block was razed and thousands of residents were displaced for the building of the massive Oakland Main Post Office, the West Oakland BART Station , and the Acorn Plaza housing projects . These projects coincided with a period of economic decline characterized by unemployment, poverty, and urban blight . West Oakland

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3432-431: The neighbourhood as a small-scale democracy , regulated primarily by ideas of reciprocity among neighbours. Neighbourhoods have been the site of service delivery or "service interventions" in part as efforts to provide local, quality services, and to increase the degree of local control and ownership. Alfred Kahn, as early as the mid-1970s, described the "experience, theory and fads" of neighbourhood service delivery over

3498-720: The northern suburbs of Paris, and fueled in part by the substandard living conditions in these areas. Many deprived suburbs of French cities were the scenes of clashes between youth and the police, with violence and numerous car burnings resulting in media coverage. Today the situation remains generally unchanged; however, there is a level of disparity. Some areas are experiencing increased drug trafficking, while some northern suburbs of Paris and areas like Vaulx-en-Velin are undergoing refurbishment and re-development. Some previously mono-industrial towns in France are experiencing increasing crime, decay, and decreasing population. The issue remains

3564-416: The poor. Urban renewal demolished entire neighborhoods in many inner cities and it was as much a cause of urban decay as a remedy. These government efforts are now thought by many to have been misguided. For multiple reasons including increased demand for urban amenities, some cities have rebounded from these policy mistakes. Meanwhile, some of the inner suburbs built in the 1950s and 1960s are beginning

3630-571: The prior decade, including discussion of income transfers and poverty. Neighbourhoods, as a core aspect of community, also are the site of services for youth, including children with disabilities and coordinated approaches to low-income populations. While the term neighbourhood organisation is not as common in 2015, these organisations often are non-profit, sometimes grassroots or even core funded community development centres or branches. Community and economic development activists have pressured for reinvestment in local communities and neighbourhoods. In

3696-523: The process of decay, as those who are living in the inner city are pushed out due to gentrification . General: Specific: Notes The construction of the Gowanus Parkway , laying a concrete slab on top of lively, bustling Third Avenue, buried the avenue in shadow, and when the parkway was completed, the avenue was cast forever into darkness and gloom, and its bustle and life were forever gone. Recommended restrictions should include provision for

3762-665: The surrounding areas. Many families left homeless by the earthquake squatted inside the Vele . The lack of police presence, led to a rise in Camorra drug trade, as well as other gang and illicit activity. In South Africa, the most prominent urban decay case is Hillbrow , an inner-city neighborhood of Johannesburg which was formerly affluent. At the end of apartheid in 1994, many middle-class white residents moved out and were replaced by mainly low-income workers and unemployed people, including many refugees and undocumented immigrants from neighboring countries. Many businesses that operated in

3828-565: Was a thriving, predominately African-American neighborhood of about 2,800 residents. Seventh Street was lined with jazz and blues clubs. Marcus Garvey 's Universal Negro Improvement Association had its West Coast headquarters at 8th and Chester Streets. West Oakland experienced a decline in the Depression in the late 1930s, and some residential areas became dilapidated. In the 1940s and 1950s, dozens of blocks were bulldozed and replaced with public housing projects. The 1940s and World War II saw

3894-674: Was also home to the first Mexican and Latino community in Oakland. Fleeing the Mexican Revolution , Mexicans started settling in West Oakland in the 1910s. Mexican and Puerto Ricans also settled in West Oakland to work on the railroads, at the port, and in industry, and opened many local businesses. In World War II the Latino community grew as Mexicans from the Southwestern United States settled in West Oakland to work in wartime industries Also 5000 Braceros came to Oakland to work in

3960-506: Was granted to Luis Maria Peralta in 1820. In the 1850s, a group of men who had been leasing the land from his son Vicente, Horace Carpentier , Edson Adams , and Andrew J. Moon , began illegally selling small farm plots west of what is now Market Street. One of the squatters , Horace Carpentier became Oakland's first mayor in 1854. The population grew after 1863, when the San Francisco-Oakland railroad connected central Oakland to

4026-565: Was killed in 1989 by a drug dealer in West Oakland. The east end of the Transbay Tube is located in West Oakland. In the Loma Prieta earthquake of 1989, the Cypress Freeway collapsed. 42 people were killed despite rescue efforts by West Oakland residents. West Oakland residents successfully resisted efforts to rebuild the freeway in the same location. With the freeway now removed, West Oakland started to undergo gentrification . Cypress Street

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4092-427: Was not limited to areas which saw population changes. Manchester in 1991 had a non-white population 7.5% higher than the national average, but Newcastle had a 1% smaller non-white population. Features of British urban decay analyzed by the Foundation included empty houses; widespread demolitions; declining property values; and low demand for all property types, neighborhoods, and tenures. Urban decay has been found by

4158-450: Was renamed Mandela Parkway, a recently finished wide thoroughfare with a pedestrian path and greenway in its median, including a park commemorating the 1989 earthquake. It is lined with condominiums and new and established businesses. Several of the surrounding warehouses now serve as artist studios. Most notably the former facilities for American Steel are now Big Art Studios, a unique facility for large-scale artists. Several pieces of work by

4224-544: Was the exception to the rule, and much of the north of England remains deprived. The Joseph Rowntree Foundation in the 1980s and 1990s undertook extensive studies culminating with a 1991 report which analyzed the 20 most difficult council estates. Many of the most unpopular estates were in East London , Newcastle upon Tyne , Greater Manchester , Glasgow , the South Wales valleys , and Liverpool, their unpopularity driven by

4290-482: Was the role of rural to urban migration. This was a continual process in preindustrial cities, and migrants tended to move in with relatives and acquaintances from their rural past. Neighbourhood sociology is a subfield of urban sociology which studies local communities Neighbourhoods are also used in research studies from postal codes and health disparities , to correlations with school drop out rates or use of drugs. Some attention has also been devoted to viewing

4356-479: Was to provide an urban housing project, where hundreds of families could socialize and create a community. The design included a public transportation rail station, and a park area between the two buildings. The planners wanted to create a small city model with parks, playing fields, and other facilities. However, various events, starting with the 1980 earthquake in Irpinia , led to urban decay inside this project and in

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