"What difference does difference make in the landscapes of the contemporary, metropolitan Los Angeles region?"
Introduction
For the next 10
weeks I will strive to answer the question above to the best of my
ability. I will travel across the city
to do physical research in order to further understand and analyze the social
differences that partake within this metropolitan region.
I was born and
raised in the beautiful city of L.A., but what I realized last summer is that I
barely know this city I call my home. And
what made me have this epiphany was the geography course I took over the
summer. Geography 156 Metropolitan L.A.
and the professor Rick Miller were ultimately what opened my eyes to the things
of L.A. I’ve never seen before. For
starters, L.A.’s history is unique to the East Coast cities’ long and
homogenous histories beginning in colonial times. Also it is interesting to note that L.A.
became a metropolitan city with the idea of defensibility surrounding it, for
it was WWII that really put L.A. on the map.
I wrote a final research paper for the course detailing the recent spike
in racial tensions due to the question of assimilation and social defensive
barriers to prevent integration and how it affects the future social, cultural
and human geographies of L.A. While that
thesis may not be the main focus of this course, I think it the ideas of
defensibility and social differences are closely related when referring to
L.A.
What I am looking
forward to most is to learn the social logistics of L.A. and how they have
interacted with each other to create the City of Angels I know fairly well
today. I am excited to visit both places in L.A. I’ve never been
before as well as revisit the areas I have been but with a geographic
perspective in mind. I can hardly await
the adventurous trips that are sure to come in the next couple of weeks!
-Britt
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