VIRTUAL Manchester Livable Cities

Abstract

The United States’ diverse DNA composition reflects a rich tapestry of identities coexisting as a melting pot. Our cultural backgrounds significantly influence how we adapt our domestic spaces, making them extensions of our identity and sense of belonging in a community. The modification of domestic spaces, along with their location within the neighborhood and urban fabric, often blurs the threshold and extends the private domestic into the public urban space. The social hierarchy in the country is shaped by racial theories that have been created to maintain a structure that othered individuals. These have heavily influenced historical initiatives, such as redlining, in contemporary urban planning and community distribution, leading to the formation of enclaves within the urban fabric. Past urban planning projects often favored specific communities due to a predetermined social hierarchy, leading to a lack of amenities in certain areas and prompting individuals to activate urban spaces in non-traditional ways. The research will analyze diverse U.S. communities through multiple data approaches to explore how different communities adapt their homes to reflect their cultural identities—aiming to understand the dynamic relationships that exist among enclaves, historical endeavors, and the overarching urban fabric, which allow the enclaves to thrive or fail, creating an urban tapestry, and revealing the layers within these ecosystems.