Five Ways to Kill the Inferiority Complex in Community Building | The Black Urbanist

I think a major layer of community building is the inferiority complex. I’m seeing it again as we are preparing to welcome Trader Joes into our community. We spend too much time thinking we need to spend money on expensive stadiums and art centers to be more urbane. If we are over that demon, we bemoan not having an H&M, Shake Shack, Trader Joes or whatever chain store, restaurant or “hot new establishment” that likes to over-hype themselves and make us think we are less than as a city without them.

I like to break down the battle within our civic psyches as the recognition of the setting and the unknown lights. I define the setting as the physical, cultural and emotional space of our cities, that other people compare and judge. It’s what already exists, but we see as being mundane or even demeaning. The unknown lights can also be mundane for some, but they are more positive activities. They are also activities that would be celebrated, if they were in a different form or from a different place.

For my hometown of Greensboro, the setting is: -A mid sized city (270,000) in the traditional United States South (North Carolina) -Economic devastation, brought on by the loss of textile manufacturing, something that established Greensboro as a worldwide leader. -Racial polarization, from key incidents in 1960, 1979 and as city residents have lost jobs and look for explanations -A shifting center of wealth to the northwest quadrant and outside of the city limits into townships that now serve as bedroom community suburbs. -A lack of vision for many poor and middle class inner-city neighborhoods, including residential downtown

-An airport that is only a connector and not a hub