The Urban Puzzle

(Illustration/Christophe Vorlet Graphic)

The above graphic accompanied an interesting article in the Boston Globe regarding neighborhoods and gentrification. Click on the image to link to the article. I think it is relevant to so many of the issues that face our urban core neighborhoods. In reading it you can hear some of the same challenges we face in Seminole Heights. Commercial redevelopment. Blight and renovation. Economic stratification and who was here first. Preserving what first attracted us to the area yet trying to move forward without changing that character. Bridging the diversity that too often seems to be a bridge to no where. The generational divides between those who have lived here for decades and are not so sure what to make of change. Throw into the mix that the bursting of the real estate bubble seems to have taken us backward rather than forward. Those that thought we had moved past the urban pioneer stage may find this set back more than they bargained.