The ways in which cities are designed impacts the experience of the residents who live there. In particular, the availability of safe and easily accessible public spaces can have enormous benefits in urban areas, serving as centers of social interaction, economic activity, and often provide one of the few green spaces residents have access to. Well-designed public spaces have been found to make cities more people oriented, as well as foster closer community ties. In addition, research shows that parks and green space are associated with healthier neighborhoods for residents. However, not all communities benefit equally from public spaces. Particularly in low income and/or minority communities, due to concentrated poverty, segregation, intentional urban design policies, and other geographic inequalities, there are oftentimes no safe public spaces available for residential use. What’s more, when public spaces are revitalized in poor and minority communities this often leads to gentrification, which in turn can cause the displacement of longtime residents due to the increasing property values. In this assignment, you will investigate the benefits of public space in urban areas, how the regulation of public spaces impacts different communities, and the consequences of urban renewal projects (i.e., gentrification) on racial and class-based inequalities.

In your paper, include the following sections/components:

The Benefits of Public Space (One to two pages)

Describe the reasons why safe and accessible public spaces are important.

Discuss the social, cultural, and economic benefits that occur when urban residents have access to public spaces.

Regulating Public Spaces (Two pages)

Discuss how public spaces are regulated.

Explain how the regulation of public spaces can lead to racial and class inequalities in urban areas. In particular, address why some scholars argue that public spaces are regulated in line with the preferences of middle- and upper-class citizens and at the exclusion of the urban poor.

Gentrification, Race, and Class (Two pages)

Define gentrification and explain why it has negative impacts on low income and minority communities.

Justify, using your informed opinion, whether urban renewal projects such as creating parks and other public spaces lead to gentrification and whether you think it is a positive or negative development (or a little of both).

Social Action Policy (One to two pages)

Propose a policy solution that would address the social problem of low income and minority communities not having access to public spaces in the same way that middle- and upper-class urban neighborhoods do.

Defend the impact of this policy proposal on low income and minority urban communities. Is it likely to lead to gentrification? Why or why not?

The Regulating Public Space: Race, Class, and Gentrification paper

Must be six pages in length (not including title and references pages) and formatted according to APA style as outlined in the Ashford Writing Center’s APA Style (Links to an external site.) resource.

Must include a separate title page with the following:

oTitle of paper

oStudent’s name

oCourse name and number

oInstructor’s name

oDate submitted

For further assistance with the formatting and the title page, refer to APA Formatting for Word 2013 (Links to an external site.).

Must utilize academic voice. See the Academic Voice (Links to an external site.) resource for additional guidance.

Must include an introduction and conclusion paragraph. Your introduction paragraph needs to end with a clear thesis statement that indicates the purpose of your paper.

oFor assistance on writing Introductions & Conclusions (Links to an external site.) as well as Writing a Thesis Statement (Links to an external site.), refer to the Ashford Writing Center resources.

Must use at least two scholarly sources in addition to the course text.

oThe Scholarly, Peer-Reviewed, and Other Credible Sources (Links to an external site.) table offers additional guidance on appropriate source types. If you have questions about whether a specific source is appropriate for this assignment, please contact your instructor. Your instructor has the final say about the appropriateness of a specific source for a particular assignment.

oTo assist you in completing the research required for this assignment, view this Ashford University Library Quick ‘n’ Dirty (Links to an external site.) tutorial, which introduces the Ashford University Library and the research process, and provides some library search tips.

Must document any information used from sources in APA style as outlined in the Ashford Writing Center’s Citing Within Your Paper (Links to an external site.) guide.

Must include a separate references page that is formatted according to APA style as outlined in the Ashford Writing Center.