Many places claim the title "the city of neighborhoods." - New York, Boston, Chicago, St. Louis, Portland Maine and Roanoke Virginia - to name a few. By emphasizing the neighborhood as their building blocks, these cities celebrate community as well as the diversity of both their residents and living environments. Many Milwaukeans share similar sentiments and, although the title has not been adopted for any official purpose, few Milwaukeans can describe their city without detailing the variety and significance of their hometown's neighborhoods. In the positive story, we hear of the value of traditional, walkable, mixed-use, and human scaled-neighborhoods with shops and meeting-places suited to various life-styles. The negative side of the story involves uneven development and a separation of residents defined by segregation. Taken together, the positive and negative suggest why Milwaukee has been labeled both "Genuine American" and a microcosm of America's economic and social malaise.

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