Ecological Urbanism: A Charleston, SC Case Study

Image above: aerial view of Charleston's "public" waterfront park, wrapped by multi-million dollar condominiums 

Since the term sustainability has risen in popularity as a buzz word for marketing and selling projects, the true definition of sustainability has been diluted. Many developers use this as a selling term but only impact the buildings they are developing (if that) and forget the neighborhood as a cohesive whole. In Mostafavi's "Introduction to Ecological Urbanism", he elaborates how societies that have been dominated by capitalism do not have a cohesive and sustainable urban design for all. As quoted from the reading: "The 'informality' of many African cities points to the importance and value of participatory and activist planning by citizens. This type of bottom-up, 'extraterritorial' urbanism, developed outside conventional legal and regulatory frame-works, often produces novel and ingenious solutions to urban life..."

One may say that the United States is going into a bad direction in regards to wealthy home owners purchasing up land and luxury apartments within the downtown fabric of our dense cities, only to vacation there a couple weeks of the year. This makes it even harder for the less fortunate to find their way into the city. Creating an urbanism that incentivizes opinions, freedom, access to all different parties is a positive way for things to change and benefit all users for generations to come. Diversity of spaces, would create diversity of people, diversity of people create a stronger economy, a stronger economy creates a better life for all. The domino effect. 

Considering many would rather become isolated and ignore the pleas of concern from their fellow citizens is frightening. One may agree that America is becoming more and more aggressive, stuck in their ways, or ignorant of the struggles others need to overcome. Not everyone has the same opportunities, but it seems if allowing others to have similar opportunities as the fortunate is such a burden (allowing minorities to live in close proximity to 'you', giving taxes to help public schools, not wanting public transportation systems to become implemented, etc.) I don't believe we will headed in the right direction for a long time. My wealthy uncle in law who lives outside of  D.C. is upset a train station has become built near his house, he now has to deal with homeless people and minorities walking down the road of their luxurious multi-million dollar home; a burden to him. 

Charleston, SC as a case study for Ecological Urbanism

A prime example is Charleston, SC. prices soar in the city, rent is outrageous, no young professionals can afford to live on the peninsula. Extremely wealthy home owners live a couple weeks a year in the most luxurious houses on the small bit of land, taking up massive amounts of real-estate. Public transportation is an after thought while many are trying to create a bus transit system to allow users in North Charleston and beyond to have access to their city, there is so much backlash on this idea. Charlestonians would rather the city become a 'Disney world' for tourists and wealthy visitors than allow a mix-up of low-income and middle income classes. Preserving a fake history in many instants or a re-interpreted history for story telling to those tourists is a desired route for many while helping those impacted by said history is irrelevant and a burden. 

Traffic is now backed up for miles because anyone who works on the peninsula doesn't live there. Minorities have been pushed and pushed out of the area and it's become 'white washed'. Condominiums keep popping up more and more with massive public parks directly adjacent that say 'these are for public use'. How is it for the public when it is not directly accessible to all citizens? You must have a car to get to the area, then pay 7+ dollars an hour for parking. Only a fraction of people who live in the area use the space or want to pay this type of money to activate the space. 90%+ of the people who visit the space are tourists or people who pay hundreds if not millions of dollars for the waterfront condo adjacent to the park. This is not ecological urbanism, this is capitalism.