Evolution from Urban Renewal to Community Development: Implications for Shrinking Cities - 5 views

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  #1 Metropolitan Institute on 04 Jan 12

   

  Farris, J. Terrence. "Evolution from Urban Renewal to Community Development- Implications for Shrinking Cities." Paper to be presented at the annual conference for the Association of Collegiate Schools of Planning, Salt Lake City, Utah, October 13-16, 2011.
  
  Abstract: Urban redevelopment policy continues to evolve based on the experience of many programs and attempts at revitalization, primarily since the 1949 Housing Act. Various programs have created building blocks to learn successful approaches. We have learned many of the key issues, and yet there are still competing and conflicting strategies as to how to approach urban revitalization, especially in Shrinking Cities. Strategies need to vary based on the market potential of the community and individual neighborhoods within that community. Many public-private partnerships of today are urban renewal under a new name.
  
  I will focus on various key historical aspects from 1949 (start of slum clearance program) through 1990 (Cranston Gonzalez Act) pertaining to conflicting goals and strategies. Specifically, I will discuss perspectives on clearance vs. rehab and conservation, displacement, citizen participation, local administrative organization, housing strategies, triage concepts/site selection, evolution of public private partnerships from land assembly through direct finance, national urban market trends, integration, and related political debates on the nature of community organization. I intend to show the weaving of ideas that truly started with our experiences in urban renewal-that program laid the foundation of experiences that have affected policy ever since-positively and negatively.
  
  I intend to lay out key strategies for Shrinking Cities to pursue or consider based on this historical evolution, including the possibility that the urban renewal program concepts might be more workable today, given the level of abandonment, than when they were originally pursued in crowded cities of the 1950s.
  
  I am presently on sabbatical researching urban renewal history focusing on St. Louis within a national context. I will be analyzing peer reviewed literature; recent books on renewal history in Boston, New York City, Detroit, Baltimore, Atlanta, Pittsburgh, San Francisco and St. Louis; renewal archives in St. Louis; early HHFA archives regarding early policy deliberations; and early ASPO and NAHRO documents on urban renewal.
  
  I have a unique understanding of renewal history. My father was the Deputy Director of urban renewal nationally for the Housing and Home Finance Agency (predecessor to HUD) when the program was founded in the 1949 Housing Act and served as Executive Director for redevelopment in St. Louis from 1953-1966 and 1969-1988 for five mayors and for the St. Louis Housing Authority from 1955-1966-he was a national leader in the redevelopment arena. And I had a 17-year professional career in public-private partnerships prior to joining academia in 1991, working in over 40 communities in ten states on urban renewal and community development. I worked on national HUD studies on closing out the urban renewal program and the start-up of the CDBG program as a consultant with Real Estate Research Corporation under Dr. Anthony Downs. I was also Director of Development supervising 40 staff for the St. Louis Development Corporation for five years.
  
  References
  Ballon, Hillary and Kenneth T. Jackson, ed. 2007. Robert Moses and the Modern City: The Transformation of New York. W.W. Norton and Company.von Hoffman, Alexander. 2000. "A Study in Contradictions: The Origins and Legacy of the Housing Act of 1949." Housing Policy Debate, 11 (2), 299-326
  Farris, J. Terrence. 2001. "The Barriers to Using Urban Infill Development to Achieve Smart Growth," Housing Policy Debate, 12 (1), 1-30.
  Teaford, Jon C. 2000. "Urban Renewal and Its Aftermath." Housing Policy Debate, 11(2), 443-465
  Thomas, June Manning. 1997. Redevelopment and Race: Planning A Finer City in Postwar Detroit. The Johns Hopkins University Press.
  von Hoffman, Alexander. 2000. "A Study in Contradictions: The Origins and Legacy of the Housing Act of 1949." Housing Policy Debate, 11 (2), 299-326

   

  <div class="cArrow"> </div><div class="cContentInner">Farris, J. Terrence. "Evolution from Urban Renewal to Community Development- Implications for Shrinking Cities." Paper to be presented at the annual conference for the Association of Collegiate Schools of Planning, Salt Lake City, Utah, October 13-16, 2011. <br /> <br /> Abstract: Urban redevelopment policy continues to evolve based on the experience of many programs and attempts at revitalization, primarily since the 1949 Housing Act. Various programs have created building blocks to learn successful approaches. We have learned many of the key issues, and yet there are still competing and conflicting strategies as to how to approach urban revitalization, especially in Shrinking Cities. Strategies need to vary based on the market potential of the community and individual neighborhoods within that community. Many public-private partnerships of today are urban renewal under a new name. <br /> <br /> I will focus on various key historical aspects from 1949 (start of slum clearance program) through 1990 (Cranston Gonzalez Act) pertaining to conflicting goals and strategies. Specifically, I will discuss perspectives on clearance vs. rehab and conservation, displacement, citizen participation, local administrative organization, housing strategies, triage concepts/site selection, evolution of public private partnerships from land assembly through direct finance, national urban market trends, integration, and related political debates on the nature of community organization. I intend to show the weaving of ideas that truly started with our experiences in urban renewal-that program laid the foundation of experiences that have affected policy ever since-positively and negatively. <br /> <br /> I intend to lay out key strategies for Shrinking Cities to pursue or consider based on this historical evolution, including the possibility that the urban renewal program concepts might be more workable today, given the level of abandonment, than when they were originally pursued in crowded cities of the 1950s. <br /> <br /> I am presently on sabbatical researching urban renewal history focusing on St. Louis within a national context. I will be analyzing peer reviewed literature; recent books on renewal history in Boston, New York City, Detroit, Baltimore, Atlanta, Pittsburgh, San Francisco and St. Louis; renewal archives in St. Louis; early HHFA archives regarding early policy deliberations; and early ASPO and NAHRO documents on urban renewal. <br /> <br /> I have a unique understanding of renewal history. My father was the Deputy Director of urban renewal nationally for the Housing and Home Finance Agency (predecessor to HUD) when the program was founded in the 1949 Housing Act and served as Executive Director for redevelopment in St. Louis from 1953-1966 and 1969-1988 for five mayors and for the St. Louis Housing Authority from 1955-1966-he was a national leader in the redevelopment arena. And I had a 17-year professional career in public-private partnerships prior to joining academia in 1991, working in over 40 communities in ten states on urban renewal and community development. I worked on national HUD studies on closing out the urban renewal program and the start-up of the CDBG program as a consultant with Real Estate Research Corporation under Dr. Anthony Downs. I was also Director of Development supervising 40 staff for the St. Louis Development Corporation for five years. <br /> <br /> References <br /> Ballon, Hillary and Kenneth T. Jackson, ed. 2007. Robert Moses and the Modern City: The Transformation of New York. W.W. Norton and Company.von Hoffman, Alexander. 2000. "A Study in Contradictions: The Origins and Legacy of the Housing Act of 1949." Housing Policy Debate, 11 (2), 299-326 <br /> Farris, J. Terrence. 2001. "The Barriers to Using Urban Infill Development to Achieve Smart Growth," Housing Policy Debate, 12 (1), 1-30. <br /> Teaford, Jon C. 2000. "Urban Renewal and Its Aftermath." Housing Policy Debate, 11(2), 443-465 <br /> Thomas, June Manning. 1997. Redevelopment and Race: Planning A Finer City in Postwar Detroit. The Johns Hopkins University Press. <br /> von Hoffman, Alexander. 2000. "A Study in Contradictions: The Origins and Legacy of the Housing Act of 1949." Housing Policy Debate, 11 (2), 299-326</div>

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