Conflict over Urban Land Use - Case Study Example

Conflict over urban land use Conflict over Glen Cove Introduction Located in the Carquinez Strait is a fifteen-acre shallow recess that is home to variety of both plants and wild animals. The area has numerous native plant species including pickle weed and bulrush among many others. The shallow recess has a beautiful shore life that teams with diverse aqua life a feature that makes the strait a lucrative business potential for urban planners. The business potential the area possesses has been a major cause of conflict with the local communities. The Greater Vallejo Recreation District decided to tap on the business potential by setting up a recreational park in the area much to the chagrin of the local community that comprises of Native American people who have valuable cultural attachment to the place. The conflict between the two culminated to a standoff that lasted 109 days thereby embodied a typical conflict over urban land use as the discussion below portrays. The two groups, The Greater Vallejo Recreation District and the Native American people, both had claims that appeared legitimate to them. To the Native American people, the land was their sacred ground. They gathered in the land for spiritual functions including burial. As such, the place was the resting ground for their ancestors thus was of immense cultural values. They had decorated the land with numerous valuable cultural products and maintained its gardens. Also known to them as the Sogorea Te, the Native people claim that the ground has been their burial and religious site for more than 3,000 years. As such, the people have a historical and cultural attachment to the place that makes it impossible for them to surrender the land to the Greater Vallejo Recreation District (Parrish, 2015). The Greater Vallejo Recreation District on the other hand views the business potential of the strait. The district embodies the modern day urban economy, which continues to foster changes in land use throughout the world. Recreational parks are significant facilities in the modern societies. They offer city residents with great outdoor activities as they walk with their children in the parks and get away from the busy life of the urban settings. To the city planners, recreational parks do not only beautify the scenery of a town but also adds an aesthetic value to the place. The Greater Vallejo Recreation District therefore viewed the business potential of the strait. They sought to rehabilitate the land by planting new plant species and providing reliable sanctuary to the rare animals in the area. Additionally, they would construct watering points and vendor kiosks among other business premises thereby transforming the otherwise idle strait into a busy business center for the residents of the urban setting. The conflict between the two groups has raged on for a number of years each ending up in a form of compromise for either party a feature that continues to portrayal a deeper conflict than the issues the Native Americans continue to raise in their protests. Firstly, the Native Americans have embraced modernity. They live in ordered neighborhoods in the urban settings and acknowledge the existence of the secular authorities. They enjoy the clean streets among other basic amenities including the shopping malls and health facilities among others. They have even permitted the development of some sections of some of their lands to modern recreational centers. Furthermore, the infiltration of Christianity and Islam among other contemporary religions among the Native populations continues disregard their cultural attachment to the land thereby portraying an important reason for the land conflict besides the cultural attachments they continue to site. The conflict between the two portrays the rivaling interests that numerous parties possess during the urbanization process since the land has an intrinsic value which every group in a community seeks to tap. The Greater Vallejo Recreation District is a significant representation of the modern way of life. The spread of urbanization demands new land uses. Urbanization attracts large populations to small geographic locations a feature that validates the changing land uses in order to accommodate the increasing population. In most urban centers, residential estates and business districts are always busy with large human traffics. However, the residents of the urban centers often demand peace and tranquility of recreational parks. Recreational parks are therefore important in urban centers since they enhance the beauty of the city besides providing the significant reaction to the residents of the city. in most cases, the state control the use of the land thereby designating specific areas for the creation of appropriate recreational parks among other facilities. The attempt by The Greater Vallejo Recreation District to construct a parking lot and a recreational park in the region was therefore a justifiable claim after all; the Native American people currently live in urban centers. The conflict between the two groups arose from a group’s resistance to change. The resistance arises from the group’s desire to have a larger financial control of the land. Lands have immense economic value. The changing land use given the spread of urbanization increases the value of land. In resolving the conflict between the two, the city council of Vallejo authorized a Cultural Easement and Settlement Agreement that gave the Native American Community, through the Yocha Dehe Wintum Nation, the authority to protect and develop the land. With such a unique agreement, the community permitted the development of a parking lot and the rehabilitation of a section of the land. The settlement underscores the fact that the conflict arose from the community’s desire to enjoy financial benefits from the land (United States & Stoughton, 1867). The community lacked a structured cultural organization that would legitimize their claim to the land. Communal land does not have any controlled form of ownership given the difficulty of acquiring a title deed for such land. The government therefore possesses such lands making them public land. With such an understanding, the Greater Vallejo Recreation District sought the authority of the city authorities to develop a recreational park in the land while the Native American people believed that thy owned the land since it was their communal property. The Native American people, through their mundane leadership, organized demos and lit fires in protest thereby stalling any development of the land while they lacked any formal ownership to the land. The people believed that they owned the land since they had buried their ancestors and held prayers in the land before. When The Greater Vallejo Recreation District retreated in their move to create a recreational park in the Strait, they did so in respect of human rights. However, the Native Americans who took part in the protest lacked basic federal recognition. The local communities including the Muwekma Ohlone who occupy the Bay Area are yet to receive the official federal recognition as Native American people. The process of receiving the recognition by the Bureau of Indian Affairs, the body mandated with identifying indigenous communities, is clumsy and bureaucratic thereby creating a number of holdups in such vital processes. This implied that the local government had the right to use the land as it wished with the creation of a recreational park being among the most justifiable uses of the urban land. In order to enhance safeguard their land rights, the defenders of the Sogorea Te have since formed an urban indigenous land trust and elected a women to head the trust. The trust legitimizes their claim to the land since it settles the previous conflicts that arose from the ownership of the land. The Sogorea Te now belongs to the trust, which controls any investment or development of the land. If the community had created the trust earlier, they would have formed the partnership with the city council instead of the Yocha Dehe, which had no relation to the communities claiming the ownership of the strait. The trust will therefore care for the land on behalf of the community. With such a systematic organization, the community would retain the ownership of the land and enjoy immense economic benefits it promises to bring. By developing a parking lot and the park for example, the trust would charge fees thereby making immense profits. The land trust would take care of the management, sale and the development of the land a feature that will ensure that the community enjoys economic profits from the utilization of the land (Dixon, 2014). In retrospect, the land conflict between the Greater Vallejo Recreation District and the Native American community habiting the Bay Area in Glen Cove over the development of the cove exemplifies the land conflicts that arise in urban utilization of land. Urbanization conflicts with traditional ways of life a feature that validates the types of conflicts. The Native American people valued their cultural and religious practices but had ignored the fact that they were systematically blending with an urban set up. The conflicts arose naturally with the management of the city demanding to beautify the setting and to provide to the demands of the residents of the urban setting. The Native community on the other hand failed to recognize the changes in their environment and had not legalized their ownership of a communal land which had since become part of government land. The key to eliminating such conflicts in other regions even as the United States continues to develop is to resolve the issues that surround land ownership in the country. The formation of a land trust was a welcome idea though late since the two parties had fought and staged demos for tens of days. With clear ownership and management of communal land, the parties avoid such conflicts thereby engage each other on the proper management of the land to the benefit of everyone. References Dixon, M. (2014). Modern land laws. New York: Routledge. Parrish, W. (2015). Protecting Ohlone Heritage. East Bay Express http://www.eastbayexpress.com/oakland/protecting-ohlone heritage/Content?oid=4210490 United States & Stoughton, L. W. (1867). Laws of the United States, Granting Lands to the State of Michigan: For Roads, Railroads, Harbors, and Other Purposes, Collected and Arranged in Pursuance of a Resolution of the Senate of January 9, 1867. New York: J.A. Kerr & Company. Read More