Pittsburgh is one of the oldest cities in the US with relatively high level of population that estimated to be 304,391. It is a city based in the commonwealths of Pennsylvania, and it is the capital city of Allegheny County. Pittsburgh is the 63 rd largest city in the whole of US. In addition, due to a large number of steel-related businesses, it is popularly known as “the steel city”. Therefore, the city under the discussion in this paper is Pittsburgh (Wilson, 2014).
Like a large number of American cities, Pittsburgh is also experiencing gentrification with the aim of making it sustainable. Currently, there is the development of fancy eateries and the construction of shiny high rises in areas that are predominantly black neighborhoods such as the East Liberty (Wilson, 2014). According to census data that was analyzed by Hartley, about 7% about low price houses in the city had been experiencing gentrification between 2000 and 2007. Therefore, there is gentrification in Pittsburgh city (Wilson, 2014).
Delegate your assignment to our experts and they will do the rest.
Pittsburgh was initially known as “the city of champions” due to the excellent performance of some of its teams such as Pittsburgh Pirates. The city is still dominated by a number of sports and teams. However, the major sports teams in the city are Pirates, Steelers, and Penguins. Due to the good performance of the three, Pittsburgh is still identified as the city of champions. At the same time, it is referred to as “best sports city”, especially after Steelers and Penguins won the NFL and NHL champions respectively in 2009 (Wilson, 2014).
The main rivalry in Pittsburgh is between Philadelphia Flyers and Pittsburgh Penguins. The rivalry has been nicknamed the Battle of Pennsylvania, as both teams play in the National Hockey League (NHL). The still competition between the two teams can be traced back in 1967 when they were both introduced into the NHL. The divisional alignment, as well as the geographical location of the teams, is the main factors fueling the rivalry. It is believed that the rivalry between the teams was not tense until the arrival of Mario Lemieux in 1985 who enhanced the performance of the Penguins. It is the most intense rivalry in the NHL in the US.
Pittsburgh has evolved over the years, and it has experienced a high rate of suburbanization for the last years. The suburbanization has led to both positive and negative effects in the city. One of the main effects is the inequality in the development, particularly between post-urban and suburbs and technoburbs ( Mieszkowski & Mills, 2000). The techno burbs and suburbs have experienced the development of quality infrastructure and service facilities while post-suburb areas are left behind in terms of infrastructural development. It has also led to social class discrimination, as the poor people who are majorly blacks are not expected to live in suburbs and technoburbs, which have also led to racial segregation in the city (Boustan, 2007). Therefore, suburbanization has led to both social and economic inequality in the city.
Therefore, suburbanization has divided people along racial lines in Pittsburgh city. About 76% of people living in the central city of Pittsburgh are blacks while the majority of whites live in suburbs. Consequently, there is acute racial segregation in the city, which is characterized by the types of infrastructures and social amenities. Suburbs have quality infrastructure and social amenities such as housing compared to a central city dominated by poor and marginalized people. As a result, apart from racial segregation, suburbanization has led to the deterioration of central city (Boustan, 2007).
References
Boustan, L. P. (2007). Was postwar suburbanization" White Flight"? Evidence from the black migration . National Bureau of Economic Research.
Mieszkowski, P., & Mills, E. S. (2000). The causes of metropolitan suburbanization. The Journal of Economic Perspectives , 7 (3), 135-147.
Wilson, B. (2014, November 13). Neighborhoods in transition: Gentrification hits Pittsburgh . THEPITTSNEWS . Retrieved from http://pittnews.com/article/3509/news/neighborhoods-in-transition-gentrification-hits-Pittsburgh/
