Abstract
On 27 October 2005, two young males, aged 15 and 17, accidentally electrocuted themselves in Clichy-sous-Bois, a Paris suburb, while allegedly being chased by police. Nearby youths vented their anger at perceived police persecution in what has come to be seen as a small riot. A larger one followed the next evening. Within a few days, disturbances had broken out in several areas of greater Paris and they spread to other French and European cities. The French government declared an emergency and the police enforced a curfew. More than 7,000 automobiles were burned before the before the disturbances subsided
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Notes
- 1.
In his newspaper columns on New York architecture, Mumford (1998) discussed the lack of sunlight and proper ventilation in many of the Upper East Side’s priciest apartments.
- 2.
Interestingly, Michelson (1977), in one of the few studies with a balanced research design, finds general satisfaction among those who live in tall private-sector residential buildings.
- 3.
Biases also affect our understanding of public places with critical looks being cast towards those occupied by those with less income and celebratory looks towards those intended for an up-scale clientele.
- 4.
Singapore is a multi-ethnic city-state in Southeast Asia. Approximately 77% of the Singaporean resident population (citizens and permanent residents) are Chinese, 14% are Malay, 8% are Indian, and 1% are “other” (Department of Statistics, 2001). Objective measurement is difficult but it is probably fair to say that Singapore is heavily racialized (behaviours and characteristics are routinely imputed to ethnic background) but not excessively racist (expressions of out-group disdain are modest). Residential segregation in Singapore is relatively low with an index of dissimilarity of 23.4 in 2000 for the two major ethnic groups, Chinese and Malays (using districts averaging 95,977 each; using sub-districts averaging 23,819 each, the measure is 26.9). Although the spatial units used are not comparable, the index of dissimilarity for blacks and whites in Atlanta – a city of roughly equivalent size – was 68.8. (Atlanta’s index of dissimilarity is itself moderate by American standards which range from a high of 87.9 for Gary IN down to 31.7 for Jacksonville NC). Singapore’s low level of residential segregation has been achieved, in large part, because the public housing authority mandated ethnic integration, sometimes down to the level of the housing block.
- 5.
The flats themselves are relatively large by international standards – 85 m2 (900 ft2) for a new four-room (three bedroom) flat and 110 m2 (1,200 ft2) for a new five-room (four bedroom) flat, accommodating households that averaged 3.7 members in 2000. The public housing mix has continued to shift towards flat types with a larger number of rooms, resulting in only 89% of the flats housing no more than one more person than the number of bedrooms, relieving domestic density concerns. As a point of comparison, the median size of US detached and mobile homes was approximately 160 m2 (1,685 ft2) in 1999 (US Census Bureau, 2001, Table 954).
- 6.
While Queenstown, built after Singaporean independence from British plans, was technically the first “new town,” it design lacked a coherent plan incorporating many of the amenities that have become standard in Singaporean new towns, including an architecturally-distinct town centre, a full range of commercial and other services, and relatively balanced employment-residence opportunities. Toa Payoh, begun in 1964, is considered by some to be the first complete new town. Today, there are more 20 new towns and several additional housing estates in Singapore.
- 7.
The Bijlmermeer, cited above, is located on the fringe of the city with by far the highest concentration of restaurants and bars in the Netherlands, yet it is one of the most under-served areas in the country.
- 8.
Victor Gruen, who became famous by developing suburban shopping malls, was present at the 1956 seminar that formed the basis for urban design as a professional field (Krieger, 2006). Ironically, the field’s concerns and applications have shrunk so far that some question the relevancy of the field (Lloyd-Jones, 2006).
- 9.
Interestingly, Singaporeans appear to engage in passive leisure to a degree similar to television-addicted Americans. Americans, in fact, took part in active leisure to a greater degree than Singaporeans. This was not for want of facilities which are available near the research sites.
- 10.
Public housing can be bought directly from the Housing Development Board or in a resale market. Subsidy is available from the housing authority and from the national savings program for first-time and low-income households. New flats are valued in accordance with market prices. Prices in the private market are strongly influenced by prices for public housing because public housing is an alternative for almost all Singaporeans. The Housing Development Board has adjusted the construction and release of new and renovated housing in order to maintain the value of the available housing stock.
- 11.
This is significantly more often than random but substantially lower than often implied in many discussions about community.
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Appold, S.J. (2011). Community Development in Tall Residential Buildings. In: Yuen, B., Yeh, A. (eds) High-Rise Living in Asian Cities. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-90-481-9738-5_9
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