Week 6 - A Response on Beverly Hills

 The following is a response to a fellow classmate's blog, which can be found here: http://uclageo.blogspot.com/

Hi Itay! I totally agree with your analysis of Beverly Hills as a carceral enclave, or "island" in which it attempts to exclude people of lesser socio-economic status. I also, however, wanted to point out that Beverly Hills, as a central business district with economic importance for the region, also tries to encourage people with the desired socio-economic status to visit and consume/spend money in the region.

For example, when comparing Beverly Hills to Bel Air, Beverly Hills has wide streets, sidewalks that you said "gave a pleasant feeling to walk around," and high-end restaurants and shops lining both sides of the streets (especially on Wilshire and Rodeo). In contrast, Bel Air has extremely narrow, winding streets with no sidewalks and walls and/or lush landscapes hiding most views of the buildings/housing from the street. While both of these areas have high-end security, the Bel Air security guards drive inexpensive yellow cars (see my Week 4 entry for pictures) while Beverly Hills police officers own a fleet of SUV Escalades and Mustangs to drive around the area.

These differences exemplify the decentralization and specialization of the fourth urban revolution. While Bel Air specializes as an exclusive, serene, and highly expensive residential area, Beverly Hills specializes as an exclusive, serene and highly expensive central business district. While they both want to attract the same people, Beverly Hills wants more of them while Bel Air wants less. This plan can be seen from the way the roads are structured; the wide roads with sidewalks in Beverly Hills are meant to encourage lots of traffic and pedestrians (as long as the cars in the traffic are extremely expensive, and the people are wearing the latest high-end fashion) while the narrow roads without sidewalks present in Bel Air discourage large amounts of pedestrians or cars to enter. Beverly Hills specializes in money - attracting business and investment for the region while Bel Air specializes in residential housing - keeping homeowners provided with the privacy and safety they desire.  These different specializations are exemplified through urban design.