After the Towers: the Destruction of Public Housing and the Remaking
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After the Towers: The Destruction of Public Housing and the Remaking of Chicago by Andrea Field A Dissertation Presented in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree Doctor of Philosophy Approved March 2017 by the Graduate Supervisory Committee: Philip Vandermeer, Chair Deirdre Pfeiffer Victoria Thompson ARIZONA STATE UNIVERSITY May 2017 ©2017 Andrea Field All Rights Reserved ABSTRACT This dissertation examines the history of Cabrini-Green through the lens of placemaking. Cabrini-Green was one of the nation's most notorious public housing developments, known for sensational murders of police officers and children, and broadcast to the nation as a place to be avoided. Understanding Cabrini-Green as a place also requires appreciation for how residents created and defended their community. These two visions—Cabrini-Green as a primary example of a failed public housing program and architecture and Cabrini-Green as a place people called home—clashed throughout the site's history, but came into focus with its planned demolition in the Chicago Housing Authority's Plan for Transformation. Demolition and reconstruction of Cabrini-Green was supposed to create a model for public housing renewal in Chicago. But residents feared that this was simply an effort to remove them from valuable land on Chicago's Near North Side and deprive them of new neighborhood improvements. The imminent destruction of the CHA’s high-rises uncovered desires to commemorate the public housing developments like Cabrini-Green and the people who lived there through a variety of public history and public art projects. This dissertation explores place from multiple perspectives including architecture, city planning, neighborhood development, and public and oral history. Understanding how Cabrini-Green became shorthand for failed program design while residents organized and fought to stay in the area provides a glimpse into possible futures of an emerging Chicago neighborhood. i ACKNOWLEDGMENTS Thank you to my committee members for their instruction and comments on my coursework and dissertation. Victoria Thompson’s space and place class provided the impetus for my research direction by looking at Cabrini-Green as a notorious place. Deirdre Pfeiffer introduced me to aspects of urban planning that dealt with public housing outside of a historical lens. Philip VanderMeer read each chapter draft thoroughly and ensured that this dissertation was the best that it could be. Other individuals at ASU helped guide this dissertation. Karen Smith, through her history and public policy classes, cemented the role of history in addressing contemporary political debates. Janelle Warren-Findley served as my dissertation advisor before she was taken ill. She provided much needed support and guidance in the early stages of my project. Nancy Dallett and the ASU public history faculty provided valuable experiences in presenting quality history to public audiences. I received support and direction from people beyond ASU. Brad Hunt, then a professor at Roosevelt University in Chicago, was generous with his time—listening to early ideas for this dissertation and reviewing the original project design. He also introduced me to the National Public Housing Museum and Chicago’s continued role in public history efforts around public housing. Finally, I would like to thank my family for their love and support. My sister Leah was my major connection to the Chicago area while I stayed in the sun. My mom provided unwavering support and commitment to the prospect of a completed dissertation. My dad read chapter drafts and asked questions whose answers often found their way into the text. Thank you all for your love and support. ii TABLE OF CONTENTS Page LIST OF FIGURES ................................................................................................................. vi CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION ................. .................................................................................... 1 I. Background ............................................................................................ 4 II. Themes ................................................................................................... 7 III. Project Design .................................................................................... 12 IV. Literature Review .............................................................................. 20 V. Place in the Literature ......................................................................... 29 VI. A Note on Sources ............................................................................. 31 VII. Conclusion ........................................................................................ 32 2 PLACE IN CHICAGO ............. .............................................................................. 34 I. Planning for a Midwest Metropolis ...................................................... 36 II. Chicago Community Areas and Neighborhoods as Places..…..……49 III. One Community Area: The Near North Side .................................... 61 IV. One Neighborhood: Before Cabrini-Green ....................................... 71 V. Conclusion ........................................................................................... 75 3 CREATING PUBLIC HOUSING LANDSCAPES: ARCHITECTURE, PEOPLE, AND PLACE ........................................................................................ 77 I. Existing Place and the Promise of Public Housing ............................. 79 II. Public Houisng and a New View of Place .......................................... 90 III. Row Houses and High-Rises: Architecture and Place ...................... 97 iii CHAPTER Page IV. Public Housing as Paradise ............................................................. 108 V. Demographic Shifts and Changing Place ......................................... 113 VI. Modernism Out of Favor ................................................................. 118 VII. Conclusion ...................................................................................... 128 4 THE MAKING AND REMAKING OF CABRINI-GREEN ............................... 130 I. Cabrini-Green and the Outside World ............................................... 131 II. View from the Outside ...................................................................... 137 III. What Type of Place Should Public Housing Be? ........................... 145 IV. The Department of Housing and Urban Development Takeover .. 155 V. Return to Local Control .................................................................... 166 VI. Plan for Transformation and Cabrini-Green .................................. 173 VII. Art and Public History .................................................................... 179 VIII. Conclusion ..................................................................................... 182 5 TWO DECADES OF DEMOLITION ................................................................... 184 I. The Slow Death of Cabrini-Green’s High-Rises ............................... 185 II. The Shifting Fate of the Frances Cabrini Homes ............................. 193 III. The Destruction of Home ................................................................ 203 IV. Collecting Place Before It Disappears ............................................ 209 V. Project Cabrini-Green ....................................................................... 214 VI. Rehousing Cabrini Residents .......................................................... 221 VII. Ten Year Project Plus Five Years .................................................. 227 VIII. Conclusion ..................................................................................... 234 iv CHAPTER Page 6 BUILDING A NEW PLACE ................................................................................. 236 I. Challenges of a New Neighborhood .................................................. 237 II. Cabrini-Green After the Plan ............................................................ 246 III. Cabrini-Green in the Near Future .................................................... 255 IV. Neighborhood Renaming................................................................. 265 V. Life in the New Neighborhood ......................................................... 271 VI. Impacts on the Near North Side ...................................................... 276 VII. The National Public Housing Museum.......................................... 278 VIII. Conclusion ..................................................................................... 287 7 DOES PUBLIC HOUSING HAVE A FUTURE AS A PLACE? ........................ 289 I. Removing the Architecture of Poverty .............................................. 291 II. Near North Side High Rise Living ................................................... 295 III. Successful Renovated Public Housing in Chicago ......................... 303 IV. Beyond Housing .............................................................................. 314 V. Private Investment/Public Interest .................................................... 316 VI. Changing Plans ................................................................................ 321 VII. Making Place in a Mixed-Income Neighborhood ......................... 325 VIII. How Can Public Housing Commemorate the Past in a Redeveloped Place? ............................................................................................... 330 IX.