The Practices and Process of Neighborhood: the (Re)Production of Riverwest,Milwaukee, Wisconsin

This article examines the practices and process that (re)produce neighborhoods. I argue that the practices producing neighborhoods in the 1970s inform the practices (re)producing neighborhoods today. Drawing upon Lefebvre's concepts of social space and spatial practice, Bourdieu's concepts of practice and habitus, and Pred's concept of place as a historically contingent process, I examine the (re)production of Milwaukee's Riverwest neighborhood as a process. Practices of institution building and protest were central to the production of this relatively socially inclusive and activist neighborhood. Over the past 30 years, through what could be defined as the habitus of place, the process of neighborhood (re)production continued many of the practices first established in the 1970s, as new practices addressed social and cultural changes. A focus on practices and process draws our attention to the (re)production of a relatively stable, consistent, long-term neighborhood identity.