The Young Childless Couple..from my prospective of course lol : ]

At face-value the writing prompt for this week seemed very simple—decide where you would live if you were (insert chosen scenario here) and why.  Coming from the city of Detroit, I have strong feelings about both the gentrification of inner city or downtown area and the politics of the suburbs.  For the purposes of this assignment, I chose to be a childless couple because a.) it is was the closet option to my demographic and b.)  this a decision I someday hope (**crosses fingers for husband) to make. The question is rather vague, so I will use hypotheticals to create a framework for answering the question.  According to the Burgess Land Use Model, my significant other and I would likely find ourselves somewhere between zones 4 and 5. Most likely falling somewhere in the middle to upper middle class population, we would have the economic means to live beyond the woes that plagues zones 2 and 3. As we discussed in class gentrification and reconversion of land uses begins to sort of reconfigure these zones. They begin to expand into on another and zone lines become blurred. It would ultimately depend on the city we decided to settle in, but as a childless couple I would prefer to live in the city. In cities like Atlanta and Dallas however, suburbs are well developed enough to be relatively self-sustaining, offering all of the same if not more features than downtown areas. Again, I would prefer to live downtown. While I’m against the idea that gentrification benefits a specific population, the result of a gentrified area are often beautiful. As stated in the readings, gentrification is not simply the redevelopment of housing, but a reconfiguration of an entire area.  Thus, once vacant cities are transformed into lively, creative hubs for the young and mobile. All of these things lend themselves to a modern and creative environment.  For that reason, I would go against Burgess’ assertion and live in zone one. My vision would be to own a brownstone in a redeveloped area of Harlem, NY that would give access to immediate community and a connection to Manhattan and other boroughs via the subway. Living in the city provides the opportunity to be in the mix, and I enjoy the fast life. I want to work somewhere within the city or state government and thus being downtown would offer proximity to work in addition to the benefits already mentioned.