Urban poverty is not an issue unique to a particular nation or continent. There are incredibly poor cities all over the world because poverty does not discriminate, and even locations that may seem like polar opposites can have a lot in common in this regard. The poverty prevalent in Johannesburg, South Africa versus Baltimore, Maryland in the United States serve as modern examples of this. Roots of class and race inequality in a country, opportunities in the formal sector, as well as the role of municipal authorities are significant factors to consider when making such a comparison. Baltimore has a long history of racial and class inequality at the local, state, and federal levels (Rosenthal 1). For over a century, these government structures
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In Chapter 4 of Martin J. Murray’s City of Extremes he outlines similar intentions to that of Baltimore city planners over the past century (Murray). Murray explains that from the very beginning, builders were aiming to physically separate spaces for the black population, most of whom were very poor and the white, most of whom were significantly more financially stable (Murray 503). Murray explains that “these city-building processes produced highly uneven, irregular, and unequal patterns of residential accommodation, characterized at the bottom end by extreme poverty, poor-quality housing, and deeply entrenched racial segregation” (503-504). Though georgraphical differences may cause one to believe that Baltimore and Johannesburg could not be more alike, the truth is that they both share a common history and foundation of racism and class division that still (at least in part) support them …show more content…
These authorities along with other local powers often make excuses to explain why poverty exists in their communities as to distract the public from what their role is in this oppression, which does not allow room for progress and illustrates a highly misleading fallacy to those who do not think to question their authority. Murray believes that in South Africa’s case, “the use of these evocative images of distorted urbanism runs the risk of oversimplifying the complexities of ghetto making in the Johannesburg inner city” (Murray
In Chapter 4 of Martin J. Murray’s City of Extremes he outlines similar intentions to that of Baltimore city planners over the past century (Murray). Murray explains that from the very beginning, builders were aiming to physically separate spaces for the black population, most of whom were very poor and the white, most of whom were significantly more financially stable (Murray 503). Murray explains that “these city-building processes produced highly uneven, irregular, and unequal patterns of residential accommodation, characterized at the bottom end by extreme poverty, poor-quality housing, and deeply entrenched racial segregation” (503-504). Though georgraphical differences may cause one to believe that Baltimore and Johannesburg could not be more alike, the truth is that they both share a common history and foundation of racism and class division that still (at least in part) support them …show more content…
These authorities along with other local powers often make excuses to explain why poverty exists in their communities as to distract the public from what their role is in this oppression, which does not allow room for progress and illustrates a highly misleading fallacy to those who do not think to question their authority. Murray believes that in South Africa’s case, “the use of these evocative images of distorted urbanism runs the risk of oversimplifying the complexities of ghetto making in the Johannesburg inner city” (Murray