-A Collection of Data-
The Women's Empowerment Network (WEN)
About the Center Peace Neighborhood
Sherman Park is a family-orientated neighborhood located on the northwest side of the city, approximately four miles away from downtown, and less than one mile away from Washington Park. The Center Peace Community is located withing the Sherman Park Neighborhood. The neighborhood was settled in the 1890’s by German-Americans who continued to move from and through the Washington Park Neighborhood. The early settlers were entrepreneurs, doctors, and lawyers who belonged to the middle-class economic rank. They inhabited sturdy bungalows of period revival style, and the homes emphasized ornamentation and high craftsmanship.
In 1971, the Sherman Park Community Association was founded for the advocacy of the neighborhood. The 1970’s in America consisted of high racial tensions as everyday norms about race were tested. The neighborhood was facing racially discriminatory real estate practices, landlord neglect, and crime, and the association fought to combat these burdens to the community. With white flight, changing infrastructure, and the migration of African Americans, the associations focus was ensuring a smooth transition of racial integration with the current German-American residents who lived there, and the incoming African-American residents who began to settle. The association fought to prevent the I-43 freeway from being linked to I-44 at the expense of the neighborhood. Seven different neighborhoods came together and protested the demolition of homes, but 10 blocks were eventually bulldozed. |
This map represents the disparities that exist between homes in the Greater Milwaukee region, and the Center Peace Community located in the Sherman Park neighborhood. It recounts the abundance of single-mother headed households within Center Peace, and establishes the foundation of my environmental justice claim.This data helps to establish the call for action to mitigate the hardships single-mothers endure while trying to access homes in the area.
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After the 1970’s, home vacancies became more evident along Burleigh Street and Center Street, leading to issues bringing in investors. The Sherman Park Area Congregation saw these challenges as opportunities to intervene. The Protestant, Catholic, and Jewish church goers met to discuss neighborhood issues and create viable solutions. Since Sherman Park encompasses three of the city’s 38 designated historic districts—Grant Boulevard, 47th street Bungalow Historic District, and Sherman Boulevard, the neighborhood is affiliated with many partners and resources—even after white flight. The neighborhood is still filled with mostly bungalow style homes which were built prior to the 1900’s, but it also has many Cape-Cod style homes which were built during the 1940’s.
Site Analysis: Site Conditions
Neighborhood Sections
Section cut through 37th street to 39th Street between Wright and Clark. These sections analyze land value, type of ownership, type of home, and building lot size. These sections are a visual representation of multiple streets in the Center Peace Community. Human behavior was taken into consideration to determine the placement of cars, trees, human activity, and human occupancy. This information was valuable in providing insight unto where and how I would intervene with my design catalyst.
Section Summaries
Section Cut Key:
Voice of the People
While doing site visits to the Center Peace neighborhood, occasionally I would be stopped by residents and asked to explain my presence and my work agenda. We would fall into conversation about the essence of the project—to understand the daily movement of the neighborhood and document the various housing typologies. Excerpts from the conversations are quoted. These quotes influenced the thought process of working and innovating work within the community. It provided insights to what residents think, feel, and want.
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Implications of Research
The research accumulated helps to establish a basis for design. It enables an understanding of the historical context of the neighborhood, and also provides insights regarding community organizations, housing stock, and residents' opinions. It supports my environmental justice claim and fuels the next phase of this process; community engagement.
Work Cited
Desmond, Matthew. Eviction and the Reproduction of Urban Poverty. New York: Crown (2016): Print.
Hayden, Dolores. Redesigning the American Dream: The Future of Housing, Work, and Family Life / Dolores Hayden. Revised and expanded ed. New York: W.W. Norton, 2002. Print.
Williams, Peter. Building Societies and the Inner City. Transactions of the Institute of British Geographers Vol. 3, No. 1 (1978), pp. 23-34. http://www.jstor.org/stable/621809
Geenen, Paul. Sherman Park: A Legacy of Diversity in Milwaukee. The History Press, (2012), pp. 13-25, 79-89. Print.
Goldsmith, William; Blakely J. Edward; Clinton, Bill. Separate Societies: Poverty and Inequality in U.S. Cities, 2nd Edition. Temple University Press; 2nd Edition (2010), pp. 108-149. Print.
Massey, S. Douglass; Denton, A. Nancy. American Apartheid: Segregation and the Making of the Underclass. Harvard University Press; Reprint Edition (1993), Chapter 7. Print.
Hubka, Thomas C. Houses without Names: Architectural Nomenclature and the Classification of America's Common Houses / Thomas C. Hubka. First edition. ed. Knoxville: University of Tennessee Press, 2013. Print.
Madeline Riordan, Grassroots and Community Activism within Milwaukee’s Black Community: A Response to Central City Renewal and Revitalization Effort in the Walnut Street Area, 1960s to 1980s, The University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, 2016. Print.
Bell, Bryan. Good Deeds, Good Design: Community Service through Architecture / Edited by Bryan Bell. New York: Princeton Architectural Press, 2004. Print.
Hooks, Bell. "An Aesthetic of Blackness: Strange and Oppositional." Lenox Avenue: A Journal of Interarts Inquiry 1 (1995): 65-72. Print.
Hayden, Dolores. Redesigning the American Dream: The Future of Housing, Work, and Family Life / Dolores Hayden. Revised and expanded ed. New York: W.W. Norton, 2002. Print.
Williams, Peter. Building Societies and the Inner City. Transactions of the Institute of British Geographers Vol. 3, No. 1 (1978), pp. 23-34. http://www.jstor.org/stable/621809
Geenen, Paul. Sherman Park: A Legacy of Diversity in Milwaukee. The History Press, (2012), pp. 13-25, 79-89. Print.
Goldsmith, William; Blakely J. Edward; Clinton, Bill. Separate Societies: Poverty and Inequality in U.S. Cities, 2nd Edition. Temple University Press; 2nd Edition (2010), pp. 108-149. Print.
Massey, S. Douglass; Denton, A. Nancy. American Apartheid: Segregation and the Making of the Underclass. Harvard University Press; Reprint Edition (1993), Chapter 7. Print.
Hubka, Thomas C. Houses without Names: Architectural Nomenclature and the Classification of America's Common Houses / Thomas C. Hubka. First edition. ed. Knoxville: University of Tennessee Press, 2013. Print.
Madeline Riordan, Grassroots and Community Activism within Milwaukee’s Black Community: A Response to Central City Renewal and Revitalization Effort in the Walnut Street Area, 1960s to 1980s, The University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, 2016. Print.
Bell, Bryan. Good Deeds, Good Design: Community Service through Architecture / Edited by Bryan Bell. New York: Princeton Architectural Press, 2004. Print.
Hooks, Bell. "An Aesthetic of Blackness: Strange and Oppositional." Lenox Avenue: A Journal of Interarts Inquiry 1 (1995): 65-72. Print.