Community and the Built Form

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monalities shared among a group of people that distinguishes them from other networks or regions. Generally, this term is used to define a network of people who share some common belief value or attachment to a specific place that does not exist within other networks in the same capacity (Cohen 1985, p.12) Strong communities are ones that possess a s ense of cohesion, common spaces and a degree of comfort with neigh bors which residents can use to resolve internal differences and confront external threats to their way of life. Neighborhoods with high levels of collective efficacy show lower rates of gen eral disorder, a greater residential investment i n their surrounding environment and stronger ties with neighbors and their community as a whole (Sampson & Raudenbush 1998 Leyden 2003). Despite a general recognition of the se fact ors that are critical to c ivic life within a community, the ability to cultivate those factors do es not emerge in a vacuum. Neighborhoods have differing levels of access to critical resources such as food, as well as noncritical resources such as parks, community centers and other public spaces where that sense of community can be confirmed and celebrated. Neighborhoods where residents do not have consistent access to public institutions and basic resources such as fresh food providers tend to be t hose with the lowest levels of community cohesion (Warren Thompson and Saegert 2001, p. 2) They are also commonly less capable of rejecting those basic resources when they arrive in an un sustainable and otherwise un welcomed manner During the 1960s, when a number of toxic pollutant producing industries located near poor communities in the south to take advantage of the cheap labor force, then governor of Alabama

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sentiment echoed by some com munity leaders who had little choice but to accept the industry in the downtrodden region (Bullard 1987, p. 29) The ability to cultivate a sense of community is intimately linked to the ability to slowly develop the built for m and local network s and to resist external influence when it threatens the social o r cultural cohesion of the community In the modern spatially separate and a utomobile dependent society often this ability is a corre la te of socioeconomic privilege: to pay more to live in neighborhoods developed at the pedestrian scale, to pay more to keep local businesses alive and prosperous, and most importantly to possess the resources to oppose external threats to the carefully craf ted built environment. This thesis looks at two neighborhoods in Northern Sarasota, Bayou Oaks and Indian Beach Sapphire Shores, in regard to their reaction to the opening of a WalMart Neighborhood S upermarket The retailer, a full scale grocery store, opened in September of 2012 and brought resource s to the communities that had been non existent in the region for two years. The central question seeks to establish whether residents of these neighborhoo ds differ, either between neighborhoods or along stan dard demographic variables, in their reaction to this store as a community resource. While both neighborhoods have similar population makeup and densities they differ greatly on factors of income, age, family type and other integral variables that may aff ect the types of development they support in their neighborhoods Information on w hether t hey support or reject this WalMart as a resource provider or a sign of positive growth for their com munities may relay information abou t whether either communit y has a cohesive vision for their neighborhood, and what role this store plays in progressing, regressing or maintaining that ideal.

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1 0.0% 5.0% 10.0% 15.0% 20.0% 25.0% Less than $10,000 $10,000 to $14,999 $15,000 to $24,999 $25,000 to $34,999 $35,000 to $49,999 $50,000 to $74,999 $75,000 to $99,999 $100,000 to $149,999 $150,000 to $199,999 $200,000 or more Income Distribution in Each Neighborhood (Bracketed) IB-SS Bayou Oaks Mean Median Indian Beach Sapphire Shores $85,139 $52,952 Bayou Oaks $42,970 $35,613 0.00% 10.00% 20.00% 30.00% 0 to 9 10 to 19 20 to 29 30 to 39 40 to 49 50 to 59 60 to 69 70 to 79 80 or older Percentage of Neighborhood Age by ten years Age Distribution as a Percentage of Total Neighborhood Indian Beach-Sapphire Shores Bayou Oaks 0.0% 10.0% 20.0% 30.0% 40.0% 50.0% 60.0% 70.0% Owned Rented Households By Type of Occupancy Indian Beach-Sapphire Shores Bayou Oaks

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0 2 4 6 8 10 Number of Respondents Support Relationship between Length of Time in Neighborhood and WalMart as Positive Growth Long-term Short-term 0 2 4 6 8 10 Number of Respondents Support Relationship Between Homeownership and WalMart as Positive Growth Homeowners Renters

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-1 0 1 Comparison Between Length of Time in Neighborhood in Regard to WalMart as Positive Growth Short-term Long-term Best use (average) -1 0 1 Comparison Between Homeowners and Renters in Regard to WalMart as Positive Growth Renters Homeowners

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0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% Homeowners Renters Homeowners Renters Indian Beach-Sapphire Shores Bayou Oaks Homeownership Distribution Within Study as Compared to Actual Distribution Actual Study 0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% Low Middle High Low Middle High Indian BeachSapphire Shores Bayou Oaks Income Distribution Within Study as Compared to Actual Distribution Actual Study