Memphis, America's Aerotropolis?

The City of Memphis has the advantage of being extremely accessible in relation to the rest of the nation. Because of this, the City has been known as “America’s Distribution Center” for nearly thirty years. Major distribution centers such as Federal Express and the United Parcel Service (UPS) are located in the city. According to the Greatest Memphis Chamber, Memphis boasts the busiest trucking corridor in the United States, Interstate 40. The City has the busiest air cargo airport, and is home to five Class I railroads. The Mississippi River port of Memphis is the fourth largest inland port in the U.S. Roughly 11.6 percent of the City’s workforce is employed in transportation, warehousing and utilities. Those facts show that transportation, warehousing and distribution are major markets of Memphis.

Because of this, Memphis wants to brand itself as America’s Aerotropolis. An Aerotropolis is “a city or an economic hub that A city or an economic hub that extends out from a large airport into a surrounding area that consists mostly of distribution centers, office buildings, light manufacturing firms, convention centers, and hotels, all linked to the airport via roads, expressways, and rail lines”. The City wants to use this branding to attract businesses and create jobs, among other things.

Guangzhou, China and Dubai are building their cities around airports to increase their economies, trade and tourism. Every Aerotropolis has turned the airport into the economic engine for that city and Memphis is in a position to do the same. According to Allan of the Daily News, Memphis wants to connect its other modes of transportation, roads, rail, and river to increase our economies efficiencies.

I can see the validity of branding the City as an Aerotropolis and trying to streamline transportation within the City and extending it to our regional neighbors. However, I’m not so sure we want to build the City on this single phenomenon. Memphis already provides major transportation of goods to North America. I think Memphis should not ignore its transportation and warehousing market, but the City should look for other growth industries to build its economy.

If Memphis’ economy is tied up in one or two industries, when those industries struggle, the City will feel the pressure. Additionally, there is nothing wrong with transportation and warehousing, but Memphis should want a diverse workforce. The Aerotropolis brand will only attract a certain type of businesses and labor force. Memphis should look into attracting a more creative class or industry so that Memphis has a diversified economy.

With the nation’s lagging economy, talk of a “booming” Memphis becomes exciting and hopeful. Capitalizing on Memphis’ Aerotropolis-like transportation system seems like a good idea to increase jobs and attract new businesses. We however, must look beyond the now and decide if we want to be known as the transportation capital of the world, or something much better; I vote for better.

Hope for HOPE VI? (re-post)

How excited would you be to discover that your dilapidated housing community will now be transformed into a beautiful and dynamic apartment complex?  A ceremony at Legends Park on Sept. 30 was both a grand opening and part of a grand design. This site of the former Dixie Homes public housing project is another achievement of Hope VI. The federal program has now replaced five troubled public housing areas in Memphis with mixed-income communities, detailed architecture, vibrant landscaping and several amenities (including a washer/dryer in almost every unit).

Legends Park is bounded by Poplar Avenue on the south, Ayers Street on the west, I-40 on the north and Decatur Street on the east. In 2005 the Memphis Housing Authority was awarded $20 million in federal HOPE VI funding for the project. The creation of Legends Park is taking place in conjunction with a $235 million expansion at nearby Le Bonheur Children’s Medical Center, which includes the tearing down of the Memphis Mental Health Center and formation of a new bed tower on the site at the corner of Poplar and Manassas.

Hope VI is a major HUD plan meant to revitalize the worst public housing projects into mixed-income developments. Its philosophy is predominantly based on New Urbanism and the concept of defensible space, which is the method of influencing negative social behavior through architectural and urban design. The program began in 1992, with formal recognition in law in 1998. As of 2005, the program had distributed $5.8 billion through 446 federal block grants to cities for the developments, with the highest individual grant being $50 million. HOPE VI has included a variety of grant programs including: Revitalization, Demolition, Main Street, and Planning grant programs. As of June 1, 2010 there have been 254 HOPE VI Revitalization grants awarded to 132 housing authorities since 1993, totaling more than $6.1 billion.

The apparent problem that has occurred is the displacement of former residents of the previous public housing projects in Memphis that have been awarded block grants. The Hope VI displacement has been slowly occurring in nearly all-major cities as well.  The public/private Hope VI developments are much nicer in appearance and amenities, but offer a small fraction of the public-housing apartments of the old units they replace.  Efforts to ensure that these new developments are mixed-income have raised concerns about whether families at the lowest end of the income scale will have access to these units. According to planners, Hope VI doesn't solve the critical housing problems of the very poor; it worsens them by making fewer units accessible.

The term “affordable” is used very freely; it can sometimes soar as high as 60 or 70 percent of the area median income. Hope VI is still displacing more families than there are new units being built, the remaining families will be given Section 8 vouchers, and the rest will be placed in other existing public housing units. So what do we say to the families in Memphis that had high hopes for modern housing? Oops sorry? No. Look them in the eye and explain to them why their hopes and prayers weren’t answered. As planners, our job is to establish ourselves as “the voice of the people,” connecting communities with the proper resources and organizations.

Hope VI is a great program, but while we were in awe of watching bulldozers and cranes being hoisted in the air, we failed to realize how many families we were releasing back out into poverty. They do not deserve such separation from the rest of society. There are additional federal programs that help support low-income families and neighborhoods, and we must stress to them the importance of a healthy standard of living. There are many options available, but none can even be considered until community leaders and members maximize these opportunities.

The Soul of Memphis

If it’s Memphis, it’s about music!

The city’s owes a lot to music and its musicians. In September of 2007, the Commercial Appeal asked readers ‘what is Memphis’ single greatest asset?’ A remarkable majority of the responses said its music and art. Music is the city’s most identifiable home-grown channel for creativity and Soulsville neighbourhood is the home to the popular Memphis Soul Music.

The Soulsville neighbourhood got its name from the marquee of the Stax recording studio, which displayed “SOULSVILLE USA” in response to Motown’s “Hitsville, USA” sign. The music at Stax recording studio was a result of group of people coming together in the evenings and circumstances which favoured people gathering for music, singing and recording their songs at the Satellite record shop. A music genre which has its roots in the early gospel music and country blues grew in the United States in the late 1950s. Stax Recording studio shaped an awe-inspiring music industry in the 1960s.The Soulsville Neighbourhood saw an economic and cultural growth through these years. The musicians lived in the neighbourhood and had the greatest opportunities of diverse musicians coming together at Stax. The Stax boomed in the 60s which along with cultural ethics brought economic development to the city as whole. The production of music at Stax not only infused strong music values but helped people of all races come together to create music. But Stax went bankrupt early 70s and it had to be shut down. Also, assassination of Martin Luther King in 1968,and the suburban sprawl phenomenon in mid 70’s which left American inner cities in shadows, left Soulsville in a waning condition.

After the 1970s Soulsville decline saw major changes in its music culture along with unemployment and poverty. Before the decline Memphis was amongst the top music recording centres in the world. The closing of Stax shut down the Memphis Soul. Poverty increased with an increase in crime rates. All these factors contributed to the decline of neighbourhood. Soulsville thus got an image if one of the poorest neighbourhood with highest rate of unemployment and crime in the city. It lost its ideals of music and culture with the civil rights movement and closing of Stax. There was a need to look into this rundown neighbourhood and rebuild, refurbish the city’s ethics. Memphians did propose to rebuild the Stax Studio as a museum again. Stax museum was built in 2005 as an exact replica of the Stax recording studio at the same spot. A visit to the Stax gives a deep insight of city’s rich music heritage. The Stax Music Academy at the adjacent plot takes classes on music. The rebuilding of Stax is helping the present day poor conditions in the neighbourhood. Still, many plots remain vacant and structures to be revitalised.

The Memphis Music Magnet organization has taken initiative to revitalize some areas. The Memphis Music magnet group originated in the Graduate Program in City and Regional Planning at the University of Memphis among a group of students and faculty exploring the relationship between creativity, culture, and community development. They are also giving incentives for home ownerships and have housing programs for musicians who would like to stay in Soulsville. Memphis Housing authority developed the college park which was once a low-income torn down area into a Hope VI project which focuses on mixed income housing group.

There is a substantial potential of looking into the Music industry in Memphis to take a rebirth and celebrate its heritage with present day musicians. There is a chance of revitalising not only the physical aspects in the neighbourhood, but gives a huge opportunity for creative economy. Also, it is important to connect other neighbourhoods with Soulsville and create gateways which attract musicians to display and discover their talents here. Not as much is known to Memphians about their rich heritage. This calls for active participants from student bodies, musicians, music organisations to inculcate awareness and interests for soul music. There should be strong belief that this can change the state of the neighbourhood and the city as a whole. It is important to look into abandoned houses, warehouses which give an opportunity to reuse those spaces in the city as keys to attract people to the neighbourhood. One of the important aspects about the Soulsville neighbourhood is its location. It is not more than 1.5mile from downtown. It is in close proximity to the job areas, National Museum and civil right icons, sports and entertainment district.

It just needs the right soul again to be the neighbourhood it was in its 50’s.With today’s technology in the  music industry, along with the musicians from around the city can contribute to make Memphis what it was!!

Data courtesy: The Memphis Music Magnet foundation. 

Reality TV Fixes All Problems

Many people in the Memphis area are sheltered from the realities of the city’s failing school system while others are forced to cope with it. The plight of the Memphis City Schools plays out every day as underperforming facilities serve swaths of students that are not receiving the educational environment they deserve. These students should be recognized as a currently untapped source of long term positive social change for our city.

Can educating the public about this problem in a unique way finally lead to better understanding and possibly a shift in thinking about this problem? If so, how could we bring this issue to the limelight and stop letting it be effectively ignored by the masses? Obviously, the answer is reality TV! A new reality TV series titled “School Pride” recently started. The show aims to unite communities to renovate aging school buildings that brings a resulting boost in local confidence and pride. A quick look at the commentary on a few websites reveals that students, parents, and faculty are all clamoring for a chance to be on the show- and their focus is much less on being in front of a camera and much more focused on helping out their community. I think it could actually be an encouraging endeavor if it came to Memphis to work in one of our schools but, unfortunately, we aren’t on the list for this season.

Reality TV probably is not a truly useful solution to many problems, if any, but we could take a lesson from this: given the opportunity and the right coordination, people want to make a difference in their community- especially when it concerns education and youth. Social service marketing campaigns reach out to find those who have a specific need for their efforts, but how do we reach out to citizens that are not in need but are still profoundly affected by the problems of the city? Residents may not realize how they are ultimately affected by a poor school system and the ways an undereducated community can lead the entire city to miss out on economic opportunities. If we can thoroughly expose our current public education problem to the masses AND effectively tie their success to the future health of our city then changes in perceptions and in policies may become possible. City and county consolidation may be a lousy bet, but with the proper marketing to our general public we could at least set the record straight about the discrepancies in quality of education between the urban and rural areas. Perhaps then we could begin engaged discussions of how bettering a problem in Memphis could benefit the region as a whole.