Oral Abstract Details

Author(s):
Olon F. Dotson

Affiliation:
Ball State UNiversity, Purdue University

Presentation Type:
Oral

Topic Area:
The relationship(s) between land-use policies and ecological processes/disturbances along urban-rural interfaces

Abstract Text:
Despite the fact that the United States describes itself as the most developed and industrialized nation in the world, many of its citizens reside in conditions comparable to what can be found in the most distressed areas of so-called “Third World” or “Developing” countries. I have chosen the term “Fourth World” to describe the phenomena of “Third World” conditions in a so-called “First World” environment. As with the Kerner Commission Report of 1968, and the Millennium Breach Report of 1998, it is once again imperative that these concerns be formally identified, researched, and addressed in order for the United States to avoid ultimate collapse as a direct result of its inability to confront the challenges associated with its institutional abandonment and denial of same. Sustainability is currently at the forefront of discussion as part of a larger global imperative; however, the value of ‘green’ is inconsequential when continued sprawling development practices are dictated by historic discrimination and segregation patterns and societal ills. We have documented and reinforced evidence of the United States’ position as the wealthiest and most powerful country on earth, but have limited knowledge of the scale and magnitude of its poverty and degradation. The extent of the distress and abandonment commonly present in the cores of U.S. cities resulting from de-industrialization, historic segregation and discrimination patterns, suburban sprawl, erosion of a viable tax base, racism, inability to embrace the concept desegregation and civil rights legislation, fear, despair, crumbling infrastructure systems, disinvestment in urban school systems, and environmental justice issues, define the Fourth World circumstance within the U.S. The primary objectives of the establishment of the Fourth World position are to explore the institutional abandonment of inner-cities throughout the U.S., investigate the causes which have led to the massive disinvestment, attempt to develop a sense of empathy for the citizens who choose or are forced to remain in these environments, and conduct inquiry which may better qualify interested parties to be engaged in improving the conditions of inner-cities and as to society as a whole. The principal goals of this introductory paper are to define the Fourth World term, discuss the historical evolution of the Fourth World, and describe the condition and current state of the Fourth World.