Contextualizing Local Dynamics of Place in San Antonio, Texas

Elisa Avila, University of Wisconsin-Madison

The development of an urban landscape occurs through complex processes of policy, history, migration, and environment. This project investigates the dynamics of an urban region within the context of place-based identity formation. The focal point of this study is the Southside of San Antonio, TX. San Antonio as we know it today is the product of colonization of Yanaguana, home of the Payaya of the Tap Pilam Coahuiltecan Nation. The city, now over 300 years old, retains a connection to this history through the preservation of the San Antonio Missions, early sites of European colonization in the area, most of which are in the Southside. San Antonio has also been a military city, having had 3 of the 6 major military installations located on the Southside; two of these were decommissioned in 2001 and 2011-the sites have been repurposed within the private sector. The current dynamic changes are thus shaped and embedded in this place’s history. As part of a larger multi-method study about the construction of race in the context of place, this paper will specifically contextualize a racialized place within historical population and housing development trends. Using spatial demographic data including racial identity, age, housing, and key landmark institutions, this project will identify threshold moments in the formation of the Southside as a place and shaped subsequent changes–whether that is increase, stability, or decrease in population size. While the long history of the place contextualizes the research site, more recent dynamics are affecting the community today. This study will focus on late 20th-century patterns as they lead up to current times, identifying notable shifts from 1990 to 2020 and focusing on the Southside.

No extended abstract or paper available

 Presented in Session 103. Place/Space/Race