As middle and upper class black families increasingly move to the suburbs of Phoenix, they must cope with the loss of cultural connections that existed in historically black neighborhoods.
"Bari-Ellen Ross moved to a gated neighborhood in the Phoenix suburb of Litchfield Park from the East Coast four years ago. Newly married and adventurous, she and her husband, Charles, left their corporate jobs to start a new life.
But once the moving boxes were unpacked, culture shock set in for the black couple. It was rare to run into people who looked like them. And where were the jazz clubs, the soul-food restaurants and black beauty salons?"
" 'I've settled into the mentality that that part of my life, that intimacy with my culture, is gone,' Bari-Ellen, 54, said."
"The Rosses' experience is beginning to define what it's like to be black in metropolitan Phoenix as the area's growing black population evolves from a tight-knit community concentrated mostly in south Phoenix into a patchwork scattered throughout the area."
FULL STORY: Longing for a sense of place
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Urban Design for Planners 1: Software Tools
This six-course series explores essential urban design concepts using open source software and equips planners with the tools they need to participate fully in the urban design process.
Planning for Universal Design
Learn the tools for implementing Universal Design in planning regulations.
Placer County
Mayors' Institute on City Design
City of Sunnyvale
HUDs Office of Policy Development and Research
Mpact (formerly Rail~Volution)
Cornell University's College of Architecture, Art, and Planning (AAP), the Department of City and Regional Planning (CRP)
Lehigh Valley Planning Commission
City of Portland, ME
Baton Rouge Area Foundation