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| A run down area is now the centre of a large event |
What is the most used way to convince a kid to behave the
way it should? Yes, to promise him/her some sweets as a compensation. This
method doesn’t only work for young people. Adults also accept food as a reward
for their efforts.
You probably have read fairytales. When long trips had to be
made horses were used to pull the carts. Stubborn or lazy horses needed to be
pushed forward. The story goes that the driver attached a carrot to a rod and
held this carrot in front of its eyes. The animal (stupid as they can be) kept
walking behind the carrot hoping to be rewarded for his effort sooner or later.
People don’t like to go to areas which have a bad reputation.
It could be dangerous and usually there is nothing to do except hanging around
with the local groups of youngsters. Because no one likes to go there - and
even more like to leave - shops have hard times and houses become difficult to
sell. This makes the situation even worse.
Policy makers and (local) governments don’t like to have
these areas in their cities. They try as hard as possible to prevent an area to
become problematic but it isn’t always possible to avoid it to occur. So at the
point there seems to be no way back the government needs to work as hard as it
can to make a 180 degrees turnover: the area sooner or later will be good
again.
Place making. It happened in Soho, New York which used to be
an industrial area but is now filled with artists and Chinese shops and very
popular by tourists. It also happened in the Jordaan in Amsterdam, once filled
with workmen, now only affordable by the rich. And one example we have in the Józsefváros area in Budapest
which has gone through a long but successful process of transformation and is loved by young, creative en well-educated people.
The problem with place making is that it usually sends the
present inhabitants of the area away and replaces them by richer and higher
educated people. This might solve the problem in one area, but definitely creates
another one somewhere else. How can this be changed?
Now food seems to be the solution for everything it is also
used to get people into difficult areas again. Policy makers also have realized
this. But what they haven’t thought of yet is that food could be the perfect
way to bring present en future inhabitants together. It can help to bring them
closer; food is something we all need. When we share a meal, we share a
culture, a history and a future. So let’s make some place and meet your new
neighbors!
