City Settlement Patterns

​ I was born and raised on the south side of Providence.   Most of the houses in my neighborhood were two and three family homes, others were small one-family houses.  There were many different languages spoken on my block, and so I grew up accepting and understanding of other cultures.  For lunch I ate papo secos and kale soup with my portuguese neighbors, and for dinner, I had joloff rice and cassava leaf with my liberian comrades across the street.  It wasn't the cleanest neighborhood, nor were the people the friendliest, but we all learned to live amongst each other in harmony.  As you travel a mile or so down the main road, the houses get bigger and more beautiful.  The cars also get nicer, and the storefronts morph from liquor stores and bodegas, into pharmacies and high-end boutiques.  Trees line the litter-free sidewalks, and people travel aimlessly on them - towed by small dogs - seemingly without a care in the world.  It gets quiet at night there.  All you'd hear were crickets.  It was a far cry from what I was used to, a very different world.  What is it like in your neighborhoods?  What do the houses and businesses look like?  The people?  Are there fences?  Do folks get along?  Can you borrow sugar from your neighbor?  What do the surrounding neighborhoods look like?  Are there distinct sections determined by class status or racial classification?  Tell me all about it.  I want to know.  Be sure to comment on the stories of others, but most importantly, respect the rules of our blogosphere.