Alienation and Communication Among Urban Renovators

• Published in: Human organization 1966-12, Vol.25 (4), p.352-358
• Main Authors: NEW, PETER KONG-MING, MAY, J. THOMAS
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Alienation/Alienated; City planning; Clergy; Communication/Communications/ Communicative/ Communicating/ Communicator/ Communicational; Housing; Local politics; Neighborhoods; Political philosophy; Politicians; Priests; Social work; Urban (see also Ru/Ur); Urban renewal
• ISSN: 0018-7259; 1938-3525
• DOI: 10.17730/humo.25.4.a745565223122369

A study of 4 groups of Ur renovators-local ward politicians, Ur planners, the clergy, & soc workers-as they view the outcome of planning in 8 gray areas in Pittsburgh, Pa. Interviews were conducted with 32 individuals representing the 4 groups. It was found that there is a lack of COMM among these individuals, esp on the assumptions re their functions in Ur renewal. Each of these groups has vested interests, but beyond this, they feel that their particular skills & their philosophies are not compatible with each other. Another crucial problem is that some of these groups see their traditional power slipping away. The Coll-trained Ur planner or the soc worker is making real inroads in an area where politicians & clergy had complete control yrs ago. A real shift in functions is occurring from a traditional internal caretaker approach to a secular external caretaker approach. The old well-delineated sectors of Ur planning can no longer operate in a world where team or multi-discipline action programs dominate. This shift of goals, however, is at the expense of COMM among the 4 relevant groups; the ultimate losers are the residents of the neighborhood. Any protest groups which form have no target for protest because each Ur renovator group presents diff stories to the residents. Some of the ills of the city, as far as Ur redevelopment is concerned, are brought about because the various groups communicate & interact more within each stratum & less across various strata. Although COMM among diff segments of the Ur workers does of course take place, this discourse goes on at diff levels. The common meeting ground may be a recognition that each group's prior assumptions need to be re-examined & reformulated. Mndifiad A A.