Because of the way our neighborhoods are shaped. As mentioned in the Cahill text, people of color and minorities are constantly being targeted , more now so than before due to the increase of gentrification in certain neighborhoods. Sidewalks are supposed to be an extension of home, outdoor living room. Gentrification gives the struggle of sidewalks a bigger significance. Minorities are constantly being stopped just for accessing sidewalks. As mentioned in the article without people, sidewalks are just abstractions. The issue with the broken widow strategy is the way that it is being used, just do target a specific group of people without having any concrete evidence. The only way for the open window policy to work and serve its purpose as mentioned in the article is to address the structural issues within the communities, calling a complete reorganization of states relationship to communities of color.
I don’t personally think that it’s possible for cities to share public space that literally serves the public because of the segregation of neighborhood, gentrification and the stigma that is placed on people of color. As mentioned in the Cahill article the way only for that to work is to call a complete reorganization of state relationship to communities of color. A different picture needs to be painted and projected starting from the government, to the media and communities. Structural issues needs to be addressed within communities, so that people can know how to be the eyes and ears of their community without targeting a specific group based on stereotypes.
The idea behind fallen fruit is to teach communities how to share a public space. I like the way fallen fruit is teaching communities how to come together by working together therefore learning to know each other. But most importantly teaching neighborhood how to share public space by planting trees that are close to their fences so that when it start making fruits can serves as both a public and private space.

site report template

site report template