Political Designs: Architecture and Urban Renewal in the Civil Rights Era, 1954-1973
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Political Designs: Architecture and Urban Renewal in the Civil Rights Era, 1954-1973 The Harvard community has made this article openly available. Please share how this access benefits you. Your story matters. Hock, Jennifer. 2012. Political Designs: Architecture and Urban Citation Renewal in the Civil Rights Era, 1954-1973. Doctoral dissertation, Harvard University. Accessed April 17, 2018 3:28:15 PM EDT Citable Link http://nrs.harvard.edu/urn-3:HUL.InstRepos:9560824 This article was downloaded from Harvard University's DASH Terms of Use repository, and is made available under the terms and conditions applicable to Other Posted Material, as set forth at http://nrs.harvard.edu/urn-3:HUL.InstRepos:dash.current.terms-of- use#LAA (Article begins on next page) © 2012 Jennifer Hock All rights reserved Dissertation Adviser: Professor Neil Levine Jennifer Hock Political Designs: Architecture and Urban Renewal in the Civil Rights Era, 1954-1973 Abstract This dissertation considers the impact of the U.S. civil rights movement on postwar urban design and urban policy, looking specifically at the case of urban renewal, a federal program of urban reconstruction intended to help central cities modernize and compete with the growing suburbs. Tracing the history of three renewal projects from planning through design and implementation, it argues that these projects were shaped by public debates on civil rights and desegregation and the growing ability of community groups to organize and advocate on their own behalf. This dissertation also revisits the usual critique of urban renewal as a program of social and physical destruction and describes these years as a tumultuous period of construction and community building defined by new expectations for community participation and racial justice. Conceived in the 1950s, as the impact of postwar suburbanization began to be felt in older urban neighborhoods, renewal projects aimed to revitalize declining areas through targeted interventions in the built environment, including the construction of modern housing, shopping centers, and community facilities, as well as the rehabilitation of existing housing. During the turbulent 1960s, these physical design strategies took on political significance, as city officials, planners, and residents considered urban change alongside the social issues of the period, such the racial integration of the housing market, de facto school segregation, and community control over neighborhood resources. Although these projects often began as idealized experiments in iii racial and economic integration, they quickly became battlegrounds on which communities struggled to balance their desire for federal investment and modernization against the costs of displacement and gentrification. Ultimately, as the civil rights and Black Power movements gathered strength, racial identity and community control were privileged over integration and assimilation, and the buildings and spaces that represented postwar liberalism became targets of anger and protest. While many of these spaces now seem ill-conceived or poorly designed, the collapse of urban renewal is no mere failure of design or planning policy—it is the result of a profound shift in social and political relationships that played out through the negotiation of change in the urban built environment. iv Table of Contents Acknowledgements………………………………………………………………………..vi List of Illustrations………………………………………………………………………..viii One: After the Bulldozer: Urban Renewal and the Construction of Community………….1 Two: Power Structures: The Built Environment of Postwar Liberalism Dixwell, New Haven………………………………………………………………………33 Three: Abandoned Project: Racial Struggle and the Politics of Integration Roxbury, Boston…………………………………………………………………………...76 Four: Balancing Acts: Participation, Protest, and the Good Neighborhood Upper West Side, New York City…………………………………………………………120 Five: Beyond Jane Jacobs: Revisiting the Failures of Physical Planning……………………………………………...178 Bibliography……………………………………………………………………………....187 Illustrations………………………………………………………………………………..207 v Acknowledgements This dissertation has benefitted from the comments and assistance of more people than I can name. First and most importantly I would like to thank my advisers Neil Levine and Margaret Crawford, who expressed confidence and interest in this project at all stages. Their comments and insights into the period have been crucial, shaping this work in ways they might even not fully recognize. Michael Hays has offered support through the process. I would also like to thank Lizabeth Cohen for the many lively conversations we have had on the topic of urban renewal, as well the many other colleagues and friends who have helped me understand the period and the process of producing scholarly work: Danny Abramson, George Baird, Hilary Ballon, Eve Blau, Susan Burch, Sarah Williams Goldhagen, Marta Gutman, Timothy Hyde, Erica Kim, Chris Klemek, Réjean Legault, Felicia Lugo, Cammie McAtee, Ana Miljacki, Brendan Moran, Diana Ramirez Jasso, Robin Schuldenfrei, Krista Sykes, Sarah Whiting, and Sandy Zipp. Joan Krizack, Head of the Special Collections Department at Northeastern University, and Christine Weideman, Director of Manuscripts and Archives at Yale University, both offered their time and expertise generously. Jesse Catalano produced maps of the urban renewal areas for me, and Eddie Vazquez and Stephen Whiteman offered support in the final stages of the process. No one has summoned up more interest in urban renewal or shown more enthusiasm for visiting yet another site with me than Matt Lasner, whose companionship on this journey, personal and intellectual, has been invaluable. I spoke informally with dozens of current residents of these urban renewal areas, who graciously answered questions about their neighborhood and its history. I deeply appreciate their willingness to talk to a stranger and share their hopes and concerns about their communities. vi Finally, no one has supported me or this project more than my partner Rosita Choy. Her interest in race, activism, and community participation help sustain and develop my own, and her faith in me made this project possible. vii List of Illustrations All illustrations follow the final chapter and bibliography, beginning on page 207. Figure 1.1: Mayor Richard C. Lee as photographed for Life in 1958 Source: “City Clean-up Champion,” Life (February 17, 1958), 88 Figure 2.1: Oak Street, before and after redevelopment Source: Talbot, The Mayor’s Game Figure 2.2: Church Street, before and after redevelopment Source: Powledge, Model City, 98-99 Figure 2.3: A house in Wooster Square, before and after redevelopment Source: Talbot, The Mayor’s Game Figure 2.4: Conte Community School, Wooster Square, New Haven Source: New Haven Colony Historical Society Figure 2.5: Map of New Haven showing the location of families displaced from the Oak Street Redevelopment Project, Family Relocation Office, c. 1960 Source: New Haven Colony Historical Society Figure 2.6: The New Haven Progress Pavilion Source: The New New Haven Figure 2.7: Map of New Haven showing the city‟s neighborhoods Source: New Haven City Plan Department Figure 2.8: Dixwell Avenue near Admiral Street before 1960 Source: New Haven Colony Historical Society Figure 2.9: Dixwell illustrative plan as adopted in 1960 Source: New Haven Development Guide Figure 2.10: Public Square, Dixwell, proposed land uses illustrated in the Dixwell Plan, 1960 Source: New Haven Free Public Library Figure 2.11: Winchester Community School (now Wexler School) Source: Photo by author Figure 2.12: Dixwell Neighborhood Project Master Plan for NHRA Shopping and Cultural Center Source: John M. Johansen Archives, Columbia University viii Figure 2.13: Rendering of Dixwell Plaza, John Johansen, c. 1960 Source: New Haven Redevelopment Agency Records Figure 2.14: Plan of Dixwell Plaza as constructed in 1967 Source: Dixwell Renewal Plan Figure 2.15: Sit-out along Dixwell Avenue Source: New Haven Register Figure 2.16: CORE housing and urban renewal protest near the Yale campus, April 10, 1965 Source: Yale Daily News Figure 2.17: Helen M. Grant School Source: “Symbolic Bells in Dixwell” Figure 2.18 Illustration showing Dixwell Plaza, from a brochure Source: New Haven Free Public Library Figure 2.19: Brochure for Florence Virtue Cooperative Townhomes Source: New Haven Free Public Library Figure 2.20: Florence Virtue Cooperatives Source: Renewal is Improving the Quality of Life Figure 2.21: Florence Virtue Housing, site plan Source: John M. Johansen Archives, Columbia University Figure 2.22: Florence Virtue backyard Source: John M. Johansen Archives, Columbia University Figure 2.23: Mr. and Mrs. Fred Smith, standing in front of a sign for the future One Dixwell Plaza Source: www.fredsmith.com Figure 2.24: Fred Smith Housing Source: New Haven Colony Historical Society Figure 2.25: Prescott Bush Housing for the Elderly Source: New Haven Colony Historical Society Figure 2.26: Rendering of 577 Orchard Street after rehabilitation Source: New Haven Colony Historical Society Figure 2.27 Detail, rendering of the new Dixwell Community House, c. 1967 Source: New Haven Colony Historical Society ix Figure 2.28 Promotional material for Dixwell housing, with detail Source: New Haven Free Public Library Figure 2.29: Proposed amendments to the Dixwell Redevelopment and Renewal Plan, c. 1963 Source: Dixwell News Figure 2.30: Map of New Haven showing the city‟s urban renewal areas in 1969 Source: New Haven Redevelopment Agency, Annual