| Session Title: Case Studies in Urban Marginality, Renewal and Gentrification on the Poor and Vulnerable in Chicago, Illinois, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and Portsmouth, Virginia |
| Multipaper Session 136 to be held in San Clemente on Wednesday, Nov 2, 4:30 PM to 6:00 PM |
| Sponsored by the Advocacy and Policy Change TIG |
| Chair(s): |
| Carol Camp Yeakey, Washington University, St. Louis, cyeakey@artsci.wustl.edu |
| Abstract: The purpose of this symposium is to examine the impact of urban renewal and gentrification on the poor, in three cities in the U.S.: Pittsburgh (Pennsylvania), Portsmouth (Virginia), Chicago (Illinois). The symposium draws upon the urban haves and have-nots to dramatically portray the intended and unintended consequences of urban renewal. All presentations will seek to answer the critical question, who benefits? These multi-city studies contribute further to our understanding of urban inequality and urban marginality based on original city wide data. Examination of federal, state and city public policies pertinent to urban renewal in each site will be analyzed, as well as relevant site based census data. |
| A Case Study of Urban Renewal and Gentrification in Portsmouth, VA, 2000-2010 |
| Judith Brooks Buck, Virginia State University, jbec2000@msn.com |
| This paper examines the unique plan to support the revitalization of the city of Portsmouth, Virginia, funded by a Hope VI grant under the auspices of the U.S. Office of Housing and Urban Development. The twenty four million dollar grant award was to be used to change conditions for public housing residents, as well as individuals and properties in other impoverished regions of the city. The theme of the grant included the notion of moving the residents from "GǪhopelessness to hope" by providing living wage employment, home ownership, education and training and safe environments. Although such plans were said to include resident input, the hopes and dreams of a substantial portion of the persons for whom the grant proposal was designed left the project without fulfilling their unique aspirations. Some hopes were thwarted by grant design and implementation flaws; while others were interrupted when the primary issue entrepreneur lost a city election. While the crumbling stock of substandard public housing was demolished and new homes were built, the former public housing residents were dispersed to a variety of different areas. Some moved to homes, and some to homelessness. Bankers, builders, and businesses left the project financially enriched. Preliminary findings suggest that the policy and the structures for service provision created incentives for the maintenance of urban inequality and marginality. |
| A Case Study of Urban Promise and Neglect in Post-Industrial Pittsburgh, 1990 - 2010 |
| Rodney Hopson, Duquesne University, hopson@duq.edu |
| In several independent surveys over the last decade, the city of Pittsburgh has ranked among the top 25-50 cities in the world in terms of stability, health care, culture, environment, education and infrastructure (Carpenter 2010). However, another revealing set of studies which provide indicators of quality of life by race and ethnicity in the Pittsburgh region, suggest that the city is one of the most racially segregated communities of its size in the country (Center on Race and Social Problems, 2007). How could this be, Pittsburgh as most livable but among the most racially segregated? To explain the extent to which Pittsburgh's promise and neglect are portrayed, this paper will analyze a plethora of data points relevant to the changes in one particular neighborhood in post-industrial Pittsburgh through closer study of income distribution, schooling populations, poverty, underachievement, crime, housing, joblessness, and other social, political and economic indicators over the last 20 years. Building on the conceptual frameworks of urban inequality in major U.S. metropolises (O'Connor, Tilly & Bobo 2001; Orfield, 2002; Varady, 2005), the paper provides a poignant picture of the causes and consequences of urban promise and urban neglect in Pittsburgh. Compelling vignettes of those residents for whom urban renewal provides and provided promise are presented, as well as vignettes from those for whom urban renewal provides and provided urban neglect, across generational lines. |
| A Case Study of the Demise of Public Housing Through Urban Renewal in Chicago, Illinois, 1990-2010 |
| Carol Camp Yeakey, Washington University, St Louis, cyeakey@artsci.wustl.edu |
| Because of problems associated with high density poverty, the demise of large scale, high density, public housing for the poor, through urban renewal, has been a goal of national public policy for several decades. For purposes of this presentation, urban renewal is defined as the politics of contested space (Todd & Swanstrom 2009). This study is a preliminary investigation of the demise of public housing, through urban renewal, in Chicago, Illinois, from the period l990-2010, utilizing Chicago's Plan of Transformation as a key point of departure. In particular, this research seeks to examine the dislocation of the public housing residents in the largest public housing experiment in Chicago and in the country, the Robert Taylor projects. The Robert Taylor Projects consisted of twenty-eight high rise buildings built in l962 between 39th Street, on the northern boundary and 57th Street on the southern boundary, stretching for two miles. The last residents moved out in 2005. Utilizing the multi-layered theoretical framework of Hyra (2008), Popkin (2005), Freeman (2006), Gordon (2008), Bradford (2009), and Koval et.al.(2006), the study is guided by the intersect of local (community),city, state, federal and international policies which impact the decisions and non-decisions that cities make to ensure their ability to not just survive, but to thrive in a competitive global economy. This research investigation is designed to answer the generic question, what have been the residential and relocation housing patterns for residents from the Robert Taylor Housing Projects in Chicago? What have been the neighborhood impacts of urban renewal and gentrification on former residents of the Robert Taylor Housing Projects? Preliminary findings suggest disturbing trends. The first trend observed, from preliminary data analysis, suggests that neighborhood poverty may have as strong an impact on future social mobility of children as parents' education, employment status or marital status. A second disturbing trend is the suburbanization of poverty, a geographic re-clustering based on race and class leading to dramatic increases in re-segregation, neighborhood deterioration, crime, poor schools and a host of urban ills formerly associated with public housing projects. |