A Walkable Neighborhood?
Housing a Community on Milwaukee's North Side
|
Community in Decline
Neighborhoods like Sherman Park were initially the home of many industrial workers and their families, drawn by the proximity of factories along Milwaukee's 30th Street Industrial corridor. Many of the houses in this and other North Side neighborhoods are duplexes that originally would have been inhabited by workers and their families and then rented out to a fellow employee of the same factory. The duplex is a naturally conversational housing structure, but changes in and surrounding the community have created barriers. Homes that once housed coworkers now force two strangers to share common space, and a once walkable, conversational block now contains gaps where occupants have been evicted and homes have been foreclosed.
Wisconsin Historical Society, Wisconsin Architecture and History Inventory,
"Milwaukee", "Milwaukee", "Wisconsin", "113003". For more on the conversational nature of duplexes: How to Read A Building Facade Discriminatory housing and lending practices stemming from redlining resulted in many current occupants being left with houses in substandard condition, and living in homes that were not designed for them.
There's A Stranger in My House Demographic changes in the neighborhood, accompanied once again by discriminatory real estate practices like blockbusting, resulted in many of Sherman Park's original residents relocating to the suburbs, yet retaining ownership over the neighborhood's homes as rental properties. These duplexes are no longer inhabited by owner occupants and known renters, but by two strangers forced, often uncomfortably, to share communal space, with the added complication that many landlords are sufficiently removed that they lack investment in both the neighborhood and even the conditions of the property itself.
|
 Ms. Robinson's family on the porch.
Rebuilding Community on Milwaukee's North Side
The duplexes of Milwaukee's North Side may not have been built for the neighborhoods' current residents, but the conversational nature of the homes also create opportunities for their occupants to strengthen their communities and make the duplex work again. Aging In Place: Intergenerational Housing After encountering a strange man doing laundry in her basement, Tremerell Robinson decided she no longer wanted to rent the upper story of her duplex. Instead, her daughter has moved into the upstairs unit with her husband and grandchildren. This type of duplex occupation, known as 'intergenerational housing', offers the opportunity for families to take care of each other, with grandparents available to look out for their grandchildren, as well as children to look after their parents as they age. Rather than forcing a cohabitation by strangers, the duplex now offers a shared family dwelling that still maintains separate living spaces for nuclear family groups. Porch Culture Much like the duplexes they are attached to, many of the porches on Milwaukee's North Side no longer function as they once did, with many residents preferring the privacy and quiet of their backyards. Nevertheless, some community members in Milwaukee's Sherman Park neighborhood recognize how reoccupying the porch can be a strategy for regenerating walkability and reclaiming their streets. For More about Porch Culture and Building a Caring Community in Sherman Park:
Porch Culture Ethics of Caring Adaptive Reuse When Mr. and Mrs. Brown began refurbishing their house, they maintained the historic exterior, but opted to make changes and improvements to the interior. Adaptive reuse of houses offers the opportunity to transform these houses, not originally designed for their residents, into homes that work for the people living in them. ACTS
By helping families to purchase and rehab vacant, often vandalized foreclosures, ACTS Housing seeks to transform blocks into communities. By actively forming relationships with members of the communities it serves, the organization offers the opportunity to both empower new homeowners and cultivate neighborliness. For More about ACTS: ACTS: A Grassroots Organization ACTS Homepage |
