Do you think that Urban Renewal helped or hurt your city? (Baltimore, freeways)

[DeaconJ]

Urban renewal was successful at the time it was happening...weren't the goals to wipe out urban decay with suburban-like construction that would attract former residents back the shiny new city?

Of course, years later we can easily see that historic structures and distrticts were often labeled as "urban decay" as they were demolished...and how nice it would have been if those structures and districts had been worked into the plan and saved as part of urban renewal.

[creeksitter]

Nikki Giovanni writes poetically of her old neighborhood which had since been detroyed by urban renewal in the 60's. A functioning neighborhood is like a souflee. There's a cohesiveness and it provides support for marginal members. Disrupt the souflee and all you have is a pile of goo. It can also be disruptive to the neighborhoods where former residents wind up without their support systems.

Nikki G's neighborhood got turned into a parkinf garage and some modernist apartments modeled after the "habitat" in Montreal. They started out as middle class housing but have since degenerated into one of the worst housing complexes in town.

[brubaker]

It's what happens when you have the myopic monkey called Capitalism on your back.

As opposed to the wise and progressive monkey who sees it's much cheaper and cost effective in the long run to put in place mixed use developments and have a larger underlying structure to the city. To invest in people and neighborhoods and not just cheap, ugly buildings that have no relationship to or awareness of their surroundings.

[Ben Around]

Originally Posted by DeaconJ

Urban renewal was successful at the time it was happening...weren't the goals to wipe out urban decay with suburban-like construction that would attract former residents back the shiny new city?

Well, it's arguable that it was successful even at the time it was happening. American-style urban renewal (usually large scale destruction of entire city blocks) resulted in major disruption of long-established communities. Businesses were lost, neighbors were scattered, schools were downsized, only to be abandoned. On blocks where small businesses and apartments were located, UR resulted in a single office building or parking garage or empty lot. "Slum clearance" resulted in the creation of new slums in formerly middle class neighborhoods (South Bronx any one?) Those who benefitted the most from UR were the "developers" They and their stooges the politicians branded anyone who objected as anti-progress.

BTW, another poster cited books examining the effects of UR and suburbanization on city people. To those I would add "The Levittowners" (don't remember the author). Not sure if it is still in print, but it has some interviews with people who moved out of their city neighborhoods to the Levittowns near NYC and Philly in the 1950-60s. What is striking is a common theme among many of how they believed they were improving their lives by moving, only to be disappointed by life in the suburbs. Many pined for the neighborhoods they had left behind, some of which had been destroyed.

[garmin239]

Originally Posted by Ben Around

BTW, another poster cited books examining the effects of UR and suburbanization on city people. To those I would add "The Levittowners" (don't remember the author). Not sure if it is still in print, but it has some interviews with people who moved out of their city neighborhoods to the Levittowns near NYC and Philly in the 1950-60s. What is striking is a common theme among many of how they believed they were improving their lives by moving, only to be disappointed by life in the suburbs. Many pined for the neighborhoods they had left behind, some of which had been destroyed.

I was reading something on the livittowns and they said that drug use increased dramaticly among house wives during this time. Bored house wives would begin to pop pills and get addicted.

[OyCrumbler]

Originally Posted by garmin239

I was reading something on the livittowns and they said that drug use increased dramaticly among house wives during this time. Bored house wives would begin to pop pills and get addicted.

There's nothing wrong with better living through modern chemistry!

[ajf131]

Oh it helped St. Louis for sure. People are moving back into the city.

[ckhthankgod]

Originally Posted by ajf131

Oh it helped St. Louis for sure. People are moving back into the city.

You mean the original urban renewal programs have helped St. Louis?

[ckhthankgod]

Here's some other examples of what I'm getting at for those that don't know: Africville, Nova Scotia - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Africville: Expropriating Black Nova Scotians | CBC Archives

Halifax- Africville Documentary

Hogan's Alley, Vancouver - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Hogan's Alley Memorial Project

Wylie Avenue Days (http://www.wqed.org/education/pghist/logs/wylie.shtml - broken link)

The Hill District: History

Hill District - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Urban renewal - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

[Rob Allen]

In the early 1960's, "urban renewal" demolished a vibrant, active block in the middle of Plainfield, NJ. Dozens of businesses were displaced. The block was made into a parking lot temporarily, while they waited for developers to build something new and wonderful.

That block was a parking lot for the next forty years. The city of Plainfield never recovered.