The Meaning(s) of Community in Post-Disaster New York

Abstract

On August 6, 2002, as New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg announced plans for first annual commemoration of events of September 11, 2001, he praised the spirit of community that New Yorkers have shown on That spirit, he claimed, was the reason why New Yorkers have won and terrorists have lost. It has fueled our remarkable recovery from attack of 9/11. And it is why New York always will remain a beacon of freedom and opportunity to people throughout world (Bloomberg, 2002). The reference to New York's resilience and solidarity was by then familiar, of course. In weeks and months following September 11, city's recovery from attacks on World Trade Center functioned for many Americans as a barometer of nation's recovery. In addition to sustaining by far most profound damage from attacks, New York City occupies a singular place in America's collective consciousness: a city both cosmopolitan and provincial, old and new, it famously represents both struggling immigrant and Manhattan millionaire, two extremes of social mobility that is so central to America's conception of itself. And so behaviors of New Yorkers in immediate post-disaster period were seen (and needed to be seen) as especially emblematic of American resilience and promise for its future.