“[s]idewalks and bike paths are rare and do not connect to those in other communities inhabited by residents of lower social and racial status.”87
Staying on Georgia State campus I witness certain areas in Atlanta do not include bike lanes when you are not right next to a GSU building. This is problematic because the campus is so spread out that it is difficult tom maneuver when some streets have the lanes and the connecting one doesn't.
“One consequence was to limit access of racial minorities and low-income groups”
I think it is interesting how before the use of public transportation was seen as a burden and only for the poor; however, now it is seen as an convenience for all people of different social class and racial identity.
places have racial identities based on their history of or reputation for exclusion,
This is problematic because instead of helping these communities rebuild or be successful, they exclude the entire community from others because of history that may have not been any of the people living their faults. Or the person/ people have already been convicted of their crimes such as gang activity or theft, the rest of the community should not be judged.
Yet the bench may have been created this way to prevent people—often homeless people—from lying down and taking naps
I've never thought about this consciously; however, I see now why they would build benches with divided arm rest so the homeless people won't be stretched out on a local park bench or train car.
People used the law by passing ordinances saying that certain individuals could not access certain locations
Constraint: Law that prevents people from one social class from the other.
Wealthy, mostly white residents of the northern Atlanta suburbs have vocally opposed efforts to expand MARTA into their neighborhoods for the reason that doing so would give people of color easy access to suburban communities
Not allowing MARTA to expand shows how the suburban areas have an higher power dynamic than the cities. However, they made MARTA, so the wealthy can stay wealthy with their jobs in Atlanta, but the people in the city are not allowed an easy way to expand their resume.
Street grid layouts, one-way streets, the absence of sidewalks and crosswalks, and other design elements can shape the demographics of a city and isolate a neighborhood from those surrounding it. In this way, the exclusionary built environment—the architecture of a place—functions as a form of regulation; it constrains the behavior of those who interact with it, often without their even realizing it.
Schindler list another constraint of architecture preventing others from going from one place to another.
This is where the Schindler establishes her credit ability by stating her education and profession. Also, Schindler stating how this article received credible feedback is a great way for audience to identify the knowledge behind it.
The built environment is characterized by man-made physical features that make it difficult for certain individuals—often poor people and people of color—to access certain places. Bridges were designed to be so low that buses could not pass under them in order to prevent people of color from accessing a public beach. Walls, fences, and highways separate historically white neighborhoods from historically black ones. Wealthy communities have declined to be served by public transit so as to make it difficult for individuals from poorer areas to access their neighborhoods.
Schindler starts the article by listing the constraints of the lower class and African Americans by the wealthy and Caucasian community.