Publication Date

Spring 2005

Degree Type

Master's Project

Degree Name

Master of Urban Planning (MUP)

Department

Urban and Regional Planning

First Advisor

Asha Weinstein Agrawal

Abstract

Tucked away in some of the largest metropolitan cities of America, residents live in overcrowded, unsanitary, and high crime areas known as “urban Urban ghettos are composed of working-class poor communities, usually with a large number of recent immigrants. The City of San Jose, once known for its rich agriculture and now the 11th largest city in the country and the birth place of “Silicon Valley,” has also experienced its share of urban deprived neighborhoods.

During San Jose’s rapid growth era from 1950 to 1970, many of the city’s older neighborhoods suffered from a lack of investment as city staff chose to allocate resource to newer developments on the outskirts of town. San Jose’s older neighborhoods on the East Side suffered tremendously and were in desperate need of revitalization, including the Poco Way neighborhood. The Poco Way neighborhood was a small, primarily immigrant neighborhood composed of 246 multi-family units built in the early 1960s. During the early 1980s, Poco Way began to slowly develop the characteristics of an urban ghetto. Later, throughout the early 1990s, Poco Way became a war zone for crime and violence toppled by public health concerns and unsanitary living conditions.

Download

Share

COinS