A question for those who dislike blight

[they don't love you like i love you]

What exactly is wrong with blight? Why do you dislike blighted areas?

Serious question.

[Sensei]

because the crime is generally high, and by definition, they are neglected and unappealing.

[John Dibble]

because the crime is generally high, and by definition, they are neglected and unappealing.

That pretty much sums it up.

[MODU]

because the crime is generally high, and by definition, they are neglected and unappealing.

That pretty much sums it up.

Yup.  And let's not forget about the debris.

[Tetro Kornbluth]

Urban Blight except in parts of North and South West Inner Dublin (and that's decreasing somewhat from when the Liberties region in SW Dublin was the "heroin capital of Europe" in the 1980s) doesn't really exist anymore in Ireland, at least in the way you thinking of. (Actually it's doubtful it ever did, but that's a totally different story.)

This may be something of a nightmare for you BRTD, but most of our blight (If you can call it that) has been exported out into the suburbs. ... and the inner city is getting increasingly yuppified.

Which often have no social facilities at all or very little thanks to the corruption endemic in local goverment in the 1980s and are just magnets for the worst sort of juvenile and sometimes Gangland crime. And given that our murder rate has shot up quite dramatically over the past 25 years iirc along with these places I tend to look down on them as negative. That and I think the gangland is pretty much the opposite thing to civilisation you can imagine.

[Јas]

And given that our murder rate has shot up quite dramatically over the past 25 years

This will be a record year for the murder rate here. The jump in the rate coincides with the onset of the Celtic Tiger.

Year: #Murders
1950: 9
1955: 4
1960: 3
1965: 7
1970: 11
1975: 23
1980: 21
1985: 25
1990: 17
1995: 43
2000: 39
2001: 52
2002: 52
2003: 45
2004: 37
2005: 54
2007 (to 11 Oct): 53

We're still though nowhere near American levels, of course.

[○∙◄☻¥tπ[╪AV┼cVê└]

And given that our murder rate has shot up quite dramatically over the past 25 years

This will be a record year for the murder rate here. The jump in the rate coincides with the onset of the Celtic Tiger.

Year: #Murders
1950: 9
1955: 4
1960: 3
1965: 7
1970: 11
1975: 23
1980: 21
1985: 25
1990: 17
1995: 43
2000: 39
2001: 52
2002: 52
2003: 45
2004: 37
2005: 54
2007 (to 11 Oct): 53

We're still though nowhere near American levels, of course.

Wow, that's not that many more murders than Richmond, CA and they have only 100,000 people.

[Ban my account ffs!]

Urban blight is the result of low investment in infrastructure resulting in poor school quality, as well as letting other infrastructure crumble which lowers property values.  This was largely onset, in America, by the white flight starting in the 1950s to the suburbs, leaving behind minorities who did not have the opportunities as the rich white people took all their tax money to the 'burbs and left behind crumbling schools, further depressing opportunities.  This all results in a rise in crime which further lowers property values.

What is appealing about this?  It's simply a positive feedback loop.  Poverty and blight begets more poverty and blight and with poorly educated people, there is little incentive to invest in these areas.  This is because it is not all economically based, but socially based.  Areas of cities are not gentrifying because it's cheaper to live there and people see room for investment.. but because it's "cool" to live there again... so you see people moving into these neighborhoods, and in the short term you have a mixture of incomes in an area.  This results in some of the poors being lifted up by opportunities, but the rest are simply pushed out into the newly vacated areas of town.

I think this process will speed up because the U.S. in the last 20 years has been building everything on the cheap with a few variations of the same cookie cutter... people will quickly grow tired of this and demand something new, probably closer to downtown as gas prices skyrocket, and the suburbs of the 70s and 80s will become the new blighted areas.. except this time it will REALLY suck for the poors because the rich white people won't want to invest in public transport to the people out in the 'burbs where density is so low that it's very expensive.  The furthest exurbs will be a 'countryside' haven for the rich that can afford gas and personal transportation while the new 'working class' will move into the older parts of the city and the 'upper middle class' will live downtown.

[memphis]

We've been over this a million times, but I'll reply yet again. I come from a city with more than its fair share of blight. Aside from obvious aesthetic concerns, blight is an enormous obstacle for economic development because it is very threatening. Associating broken windows with high crime, people with the means avoid such neighborhoods, reinforcing the economic distress that caused the blight in the first place. Furthermore, I think that most people find blight quite depressing. Cities can be great places to live, but they need to be adequately well kept. There is virtually no hope for improving North or South Memphis because they look as bad as Baghdad. I'd rather not live in a war zone.

[tik 🪀✨]

They're poorly maintained and have high crime, as has been stated.

Though in a way I do think that blighted areas have an aesthetic appeal. That is to say, from maybe a photographer's view. There is a lot of richness in the chaos, a lot of dying history, and in a way it can be beautiful. But I would not want to live in it.

[Padfoot]

Though in a way I do think that blighted areas have an aesthetic appeal. That is to say, from maybe a photographer's view. There is a lot of richness in the chaos, a lot of dying history, and in a way it can be beautiful. But I would not want to live in it.

Beautiful in the same way as a sinking ship or a burning building.

As already stated, blighted areas have poor infrastructure, high crime, and poor social services (police, schools, ect.)  Poverty and all its associated evils run rampant.  No company would want to set up shop their so the poverty just continues in a vicious cycle until gay people decide to move in and renovate all the old houses.

[tik 🪀✨]

No company would want to set up shop their so the poverty just continues in a vicious cycle until gay people decide to move in and renovate all the old houses.

You can't see it but I am having a most fervent bout of eye rolling right now.

[John Dibble]

No company would want to set up shop their so the poverty just continues in a vicious cycle until gay people decide to move in and renovate all the old houses.

You can't see it but I am having a most fervent bout of eye rolling right now.

You might want to see a doctor about that.

[memphis]

No company would want to set up shop their so the poverty just continues in a vicious cycle until gay people decide to move in and renovate all the old houses.

You can't see it but I am having a most fervent bout of eye rolling right now.

Roll if you want, but it's true. Gays are frequently at the forefront of gentrification. Even here in Memphis, we have a neighborhood (Cooper-Young) that has been salvaged by the gays and is now a very mainstream area for pubs, clubs, and such.

[Padfoot]

No company would want to set up shop their so the poverty just continues in a vicious cycle until gay people decide to move in and renovate all the old houses.

You can't see it but I am having a most fervent bout of eye rolling right now.

Roll if you want, but it's true. Gays are frequently at the forefront of gentrification. Even here in Memphis, we have a neighborhood (Cooper-Young) that has been salvaged by the gays and is now a very mainstream area for pubs, clubs, and such.

Its most definitely true in Columbus where I live as well.

[Filuwaúrdjan]

...and what happend to the people that lived in the area before it was gentrified? You neither know, nor care. All that matters is that you don't have to see the poverty anymore.

[Small Business Owner of Any Repute]

No company would want to set up shop their so the poverty just continues in a vicious cycle until gay people decide to move in and renovate all the old houses.

You can't see it but I am having a most fervent bout of eye rolling right now.

Roll if you want, but it's true. Gays are frequently at the forefront of gentrification. Even here in Memphis, we have a neighborhood (Cooper-Young) that has been salvaged by the gays and is now a very mainstream area for pubs, clubs, and such.

Its most definitely true in Columbus where I live as well.

We are indeed an industrious people.  Who, uh...love living in restored victorian houses or something.