Issue – Redevelopment Proposal

This was the last essay before my GMAT.

Although the redevelopment proposal for blighted inner-city neighborhood has promoted criticism from senior citizens, advocates of low and middle income housing, and community residents fearful of inconvenience or even displacement, it promises to create not only a number of upscale apartment buildings but also numerous construction jobs as well.

 

The issue of redevelopment of blight inner-city neighborhood is often seen as controversial and has been a topic of debate in many developing areas in either developed countries or developing countries. There are some circumstances in which the criticism has truth. For example: displacement of current owners of old property without providing a new better housing. On other hand there are many circumstances which lead to redevelopment of old properties. For instance: when a city is undergoing a makeover to provide better infrastructure. However, after careful consideration, in my opinion, the redevelopment often brings more benefits than problems. I have mentioned two points in following paragraphs to support my opinion.

With ever growing human population and expanding global economy bigger and better infrastructure needs are seen. Since a city can not grow beyond the available land space it has and people often want to stay close to heart of city as much as they can, it presents a strong case to redevelop the old inner-city infrastructure which may have inadequate infrastructure capacities and build upscale apartments that can house more people and more businesses. This will provide much needed infrastructure to fuel the growth. An appropriate example for this would be Sanghai redevelopment, which led to incredible growth of the city. 

Redevelopment provides not only new and better infrastructure but also new job opportunities. For example, whenever a new construction project starts a lot of construction jobs is created. A plethora of jobs of other dependent industries is also created. When bigger companies move to such infrastructures more high paying jobs are also created. So, overall new employment opportunities are also by-product of redevelopment.  

However, there are few concerns with almost each redevelopment proposal. These concerns are related to all those present owners, such as senior citizen and low-income families, which are staying at such premises since long. In many cases it is seen that a appropriate new housing facilities is not given to these people when redevelopment takes place. Many people loose their businesses on which their earnings are depended. As long as such needs are taken care while redevelopment is taking place, it will prove more beneficial to community overall. 

In a nutshell, after scrupulous deliberation, I believe redevelopment should be encouraged. While it may create some discomfort when people have to move from their current houses or businesses, in long run such redevelopment is often more beneficial than detrimental. Naturally, redevelopment proposal should be accepted.