Last week on after our field trip to Chicago we talked about watching the changes in your surroundings as you drive through an area. Just this weekend I had an interesting experience while driving near Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore. I was driving from Severna Park, next to Annapolis, to pick some one up at Johns Hopkins, and then on to the inner harbor downtown Baltimore area. Where I was staying in Severna Park was a very well off neighborhood with many aspect similar to the area in which we live. Because of this it was a bit of a shock when I first crossed into Baltimore and was quickly surrounded by boarded up, dilapidated buildings, empty lots, and spray painted symbols on every wall. This continued for only several blocks until there was a single street marking the edge of the university. Across the street was a beautiful city college. Leaving the campus from the opposite direction from which I arrived, we came to a busy, healthy looking downtown area that reminded me of downtown Chicago in many ways. All of this raised the question: Is this university actually beneficial to the city? On one hand it does provide an area that is very nice to drive through and be in. On the other hand it almost seems so act as a divider, further segregating the poorest neighborhoods from the rest of the city. I would love to hear opinions from people who have visited Johns Hopkins or have seen situations in other cities.
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