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Dylan TrittDr. MEnglish CompSeptember 15, 2016Gentrification and PanopticismThere are many examples in the greater city of Cincinnati of gentrification and panopticism. I believe that both of these concepts are more of a worse idea than for the better. Cincinnati has examples of the concepts in some areas a lot more than others. Gentrification has been a bigger problem for a longer time than panopticism. I believe panopticism has only been a progressing problem over the course of many centuries and will continue to progress both negatively and positively. Gentrification is a term for the arrival of wealthier people in an existing urban area, increase in rents and property values, and changes to an area’s character and culture. The concept has been a problem in Cincinnati for many decades and has been a deriving problem all the way from the African American civil rights movement. The civil rights has experienced negative effects from gentrification a lot more than white people have experienced at anytime in my opinion. In the period of the civil rights movement, there was a downfall of everything for African Americans. The way this ties in with gentrification is the housing and schooling were big downsides for African American communities which made the areas a rundown place that no one wanted to live. This really affected values of areas and played a part in how gentrification is also in effect today. Many white families abandoned the downtown areas around or in over the rhine and left it for the working poor. The city has blamed this on low occupancy and high crime rates on the moral corruption and depravity of the poor. The city council gave 3 million dollars to the over the rhine are but then gave 600 million to the banks. "If it takes $600 million to build a brand new community on the river- -where nobody lives--to be a place of fun," remarked African-American community leader, Rev. Damon Lynch III, "it will probably take that much to fix up Over-the-Rhine." Gentrification has also caused nicer places close to downtown like mount adams to build barbed wire fences to keep the downtown people out. The city council has also taken actions to try to eliminate the drop-inn center which is the only shelter that takes all comers. This is why I believe gentrification is a disgusting concept overall.Gentrification has affected areas like over the rhine in Cincinnati in the recent years. Money has been spent to revise and lift up the area which is good that they are helping the city and making it look more preventable. The down side of spending money on areas like this is when new people go to move in and some current residents (mostly renters) experience a skyrocket in rents and can cause people to experience evictions. Other down sides are that it declines the proportion of racial minorities which makes them have to find a new pace to live. This also means that lower income families are replaced by younger couples. Gentrification can also cause the lower end of housing and rentable buildings to be changed to luxury housing and ownership only buildings like condos. This just causes more increases in home prices and drives away the lower income people from living in these areas all while the wealthier newcomers are congratulated for “improving” these areas. Gentrification also causes less industrial use and turned into more office and media uses. Many older and run down communities won’t ever be touched again because there is no more hope or money to be made for the city’s government anymore so they don’t even bother messing with the communities. Over the rhine was a lucky place to get brought into light to be fixed due to the all star game being in Cincinnati last baseball season. It is a good thing it is being touched up but it will probably never be the same as it used to be. Although there is a lot of bad in gentrification, there is some good that can come from it also. It can cause less crime due to more money being spent which means nicer and more expensive neighborhoods that many people can’t afford. It causes new investments into buildings and infrastructure which also raises the areas value. It also can bring more economic activity in the area. One example of some of these factors is the area where the Monroe outlet shopping center is located. People around that area are more wealthy than other areas around it which causes more attraction because it is a nice area where people can go to spend their money. I also realized by starting these nicer areas causes more people to invest into even more nicer places of interest and buildings of recreational use in that area. Just recently, TopGolf was built in West Chester and has resulted in many people from all over coming there. I work there and have seen mostly older white people come there and the parking lot is filled with nicer cars. This is because so much money has been invested into the West Chester area and has caused businesses to go there to receive more business because a lot of wealthier people live out there. This is good for economic views but many people can’t live there because it has caused prices of housing and activities in that area to go up a significant amount. Gentrification also changes the culture and character of areas. Usually new ideas are thought up of what is the latest trend and the most desirable that people want. These new ideas are also implemented into a building’s architecture and communities landscaping. The West Chester area has a more upbeat culture and many people are attracted to the activities and the whole demeanor of that area in itself. Culture has changed a lot over the decades and century in Cincinnati. Clothing has changed to more outgoing than old fashioned, buildings have became bigger and built with better technology, and all of Cincinnati’s infrastructure. Panopticism is a theory that was developed by French philosopher Michel Foucault. The book he wrote about this concept is called discipline and punish: the birth of a prison. Michel predicted surveillance which ended up becoming true. This concept is a very scary topic to look into and study because it opens your eyes more on what he explained and what is happening now in everyday life. Panopticism began as only a theory but I believe it is a true concept coming to light. Foucault explained how a new mode of disciplinary action is becoming the model for control of our entire society with schools, hospitals, and factories. This entire concept can tie in with any area but it can tie in with Cincinnati in a close way.Michel also went on to explain how certain things are built a certain way for controlling and observation of everyone. An example is the Red’s stadium was built tiered not only for spectators to see better but for security or cameras to easily observe and scan an entire area. Michel mentioned a philosopher named Jeremy Bentham from the 1700’s that came up with an institutional building design called the panopticon. The panopticon was a large circle with a single observation tower in the middle that a single guard could monitor all cells at once. Although it would be impossible to watch all cells at once, inmates would never know when they were being watched and would have to act as if they were. The panopticon design has existed and just shows how scary this concept can be when you think how these ideas are implemented. Cincinnati has a few characteristics of the panopticism concept and will continue to grow into a more complex idea and make life even less private than it already is. Ways that this concept is implemented into our society is cameras being everywhere, ID’s, addresses, phones, and social security numbers. Cameras are about literally everywhere in Cincinnati and makes it impossible to be private and makes you easily able to be observed by every movement you make. Our driver’s licenses shows our picture, address, age, and all physical feature details. Our phones are always being tracked and makes it uncomfortable knowing that we are constantly being watched and all of our livelihood and business is not really that private. Everyone has a social security number and makes it an easy identification and almost like everyone has their own stamp. Everybody in their own few ways has identification and is not hidden from the public or higher authority in any way. This is how panopticism can get very complex and complicated but it makes sense if you pay attention. Panopticism gets me thinking about how their observing and surveillance will only progress and how much more they will do to control us. Like gentrification, there are some ways that panopticism can be more of a good idea than bad. It can be used to capture terrorists threats or to solve crimes. Spying either through phones and/or media to catch such acts as terrorists attacks then that’s how it can be good nut either way it is a way of controlling and shoes that the government and each state government has a lot of power. Police and security is another way of panopticism. Police are another way of controlling and making sure that we do not get out of line. The police in Cincinnati can sometimes feel that they have more power and legal authority than that they actually do. The police are always around and monitoring everyday people to make sure they fit in to the specific laws and regulations. If people do not abide by the rules then they will be taken into custody. Security is also everywhere. Airports have security to make sure there are no terrorists attacks and they also monitor everything to make sure nothing is out of line. There are many examples of panopticism in the Cincinnati area and there are more to come.Both of these concepts are very complex and have opened my eyes on the truth and more deeply thought out ideas. As I did more and more research, I found that each concept held a lot of information and examples. Gentrification has affected a lot of the parts of Cincinnati and still is. A lot of the cultural and land changes have been introduced to Cincinnati over many decades which has helped out the communities some but it can just hurt it and make the community become a trash are that no one wants to live at or be associated around. I’ve also learned that there is a lot more complications with panopticism than I first thought. I think that panopticism is a lot more complex and harder topic to understand and tie in with our city than gentrification. Panopticism in Cincinnati is just as big as in other cities but since I live here I can really experience everything that is associated with it. The more research on the topic of panopticism that you read, the scarier it will get and the more thinking you will undergo to think outside the box and see things from different perspectives. Saying that, I now think that this concept is like a model of a prison we are undergoing that Michel Foucault had explained. There is so much that shows we have no privacy and are constantly being watched which is uncomforting.Works cited ................
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