Educational Media Reviews Online

Neighbors is the re-release of a documentary that focuses on Boston’s South End neighborhood. Boston’s South End may be a specific location, yet here is seen as a case study that can yield solutions to be replicated in other urban cities. The original documentary was filmed during the late 1970’s and in this re-release there is an additional footage revisiting the same area, 30 years later. Many of the urban issues tackled here are not new—such as affordability, safety, crime, rodents, class issues, and diversity. The catalyst is the failure of the housing projects’ structure. Housing conservation and mixed housing became a solution to the survival of a community. Though the South End neighborhood now has become quite gentrified, one thing is quite clear—the presence of a vibrant community still in the area. In Boston, there is a building known as Tent City that is an urban housing model for mixed incoming housing. This model is replicated for the affordable housing lottery system in New York City.

In the 1978 documentary there are interviews with residents, community advocates and leaders. There is even the mention of a community special interest group. In the short revisit, people who are interviewed were the 1978 advocates who moved away or children who grew up in mixed income housing and have returned to become leaders.

This is a documentary I recommend for public libraries or for collections where there is an emphasis on community involvement, urban living and where diversity is embraced. For those interested in watching a trailer of the original 1970’s documentary, one can be found on YouTube.

Awards

• Best Conservation Film of the Year, Awarded by National Trust for Historic Preservation, 1978