Sitting across the Hudson River from its far larger and more affluent neighbour, the city of Newark, the nation’s third oldest, and the largest in New Jersey, is rebirthing with splendour. It is now overcoming a very troubled history thanks in part to a strong sense of pride in its growing diversity and a progressive administration.
There are lessons for our own capital city.
In many ways Newark is an extreme case of what has happened to many American cities post World War II. Federal housing and transportation policies, the mass adoption of the motor vehicle and a uniquely American embrace of home ownership converged to create an exodus from almost all cities to the suburbs. It may have also been ideologically driven: After all it was the great suburban home builder William J. Levitt who said, “No man who owns his own house and lot can be a communist. He has too much to do.” Between 1940 and 1970, the population living in suburbs grew from 20% to 47% while the city population declined by 13m between 1950 and 1980.
Many of those left behind were poor minorities red-lined for home ownership and living in neighbourhoods starved of services and safety.
But in a move many urban planners did not predict, the direction has been reversing in the past thirty years with cities once abandoned by big industry being repopulated often by young professionals. City life is now back if you can afford it.
This gentrification has not always been positive for those who stayed. Apart from rising house prices and rents they have become strangers in their own neighbourhoods surrounded by artisanal coffee shops and folks pushing designer baby strollers. Take Brooklyn for example where the average rent in the neighbourhood of Williamsburg which was US$400 per month in 1980 is now US$3750.
Newark is an interesting case. It has always had a substantial African American population (34% in 1950) being one of the cities that absorbed the six million migrants who fled the South and its JIm Crow segregation. Their population rose steadily as did racial tensions and discrimination by the white dominated city administration and police force. It all came to a head in July 1967 with five days of riots protesting the police beating of a black taxi driver. Twenty six people died and many buildings were destroyed. White residents and businesses fled to the “safety of the suburbs” and by 1990, African Americans made up almost 60% of a city whose population declined from 438,000 in 1950 to only 275,000 in 1990. With the businesses went employment and the tax base to fund infrastructure and city services. Decades on, Newark continues to suffer from the effects of the riots.
But in recent years the city has been experiencing a revival and one not necessarily based on gentrification or by becoming a sterile dormitory for Manhattan worker bees. It remains remarkably diverse with significant Hispanic and Asian populations.
The recently approved Master Plan , Newark360 looks to embrace and encourage this diversity, to limit inequality and to nurture existing neighbourhoods. It is deeply informed by Newarkers who were canvassed through numerous surveys and workshops to find out what they wanted. This included 21-year-old Ana Monteiro: “You need to make spaces beautiful for people who already live here. And for people who have been here for generations and who deserve the space to look nice and clean.”
Much of the credit for Newark360 goes to a Guyanese, Christopher A. Watson, an award winning academic and national subject matter expert in the planning field, who up to recently was the City Planning Director for the City of Newark. As he states in the introduction to the plan: “It is the culmination of a process that is celebrated with over ten thousand touchpoints and informed by the people who will be the builders of Newark’s future. Newark360 is pillared by the principles of Health, Equity, and Resilience. The support from the community for these principles is translated into every page of this document, and they should be proud of their stellar insights, ground truthing, and vision they have advocated for this great American City.
The vanguard recommendations articulated in this plan will transform Newark in the new decade, and build on the foundation of progress the city has established in the past decade. Newark360 lays out goals for Newark and promotes the recommended land use changes that can get us there. With higher density recommendations, it will break down barriers for entry into the housing market which is the cradle of residential stability and wealth creation. It will increase the footprint for job opportunities through expanded residential, commercial and cottage industries, enabling Newarkers to be part of Newark’s economic success story. It mutes the conversation of the car and amplifies the advocacy for pedestrianized streets, increasing safety, economic activity, and environmental resiliency. This plan is from the people and for the people of Newark. Those who have stood the test of its storied history, and those it seeks to welcome to be part of its new chapter.”
The last sentence is very pertinent because it points to a clear and very political objective: Long time Newarkers and their neighbourhoods will be prioritised – not sidelined in any way – as part of this urban renewal.
Among the calls from residents are the building of community wealth which the plan proposes to address with a startup micro capital fund aimed at neighbourhood businesses; and to “utilize the Land Bank to promote local non-institutional ownership of commercial property and increase homeownership.”
Current public transportation goes through downtown so among the initiatives is to connect neighbourhoods directly via new bus routes. Meanwhile re-zoning these neighbourhoods will encourage the opening of businesses along commercial corridors. “Affordable housing is the most pressing need identified by Newarkers, and solutions should be tailored to each neighbourhood. Among the key actions proposed is to allow and promote accessory dwelling units for single-family households to add density without full redevelopment and to support Land Bank efforts to preserve affordable housing.”
Among other initiatives are ensuring the safety of cyclists and pedestrians and the planting of more trees to provide canopy cover and reduce heat.
Highly accomplished and relatively young, Christopher Watson is of course Georgetown’s loss. But perhaps we can still learn a thing or two about how through thoughtful and progressive urban planning we can rebuild our capital tailored to the needs and aspirations of its citizens first – not to the narrow interests of our politicians and the business class.
