Racial inequality has always been apparent in urban design. This video tells the story of a time in the American history known as Urban Renewal. It was between the 1950s-1970s and it was when municipal governments tore out established, mostly black and minority neighborhoods, in favor of planned development. They built tower blocks, sterile landscapes and expressways because they believed this would bring order and clear out what they had designated as ‘slums’. It was a massive failure and these new neighbourhoods quickly became slums and were incredibly unpleasant spaces to live in, as well as being consistently under served by commerce. In a lot of cases, Urban Renewal created food deserts on what had been perfectly healthy neighborhoods. Most people displaced during that time were black and minority groups, in fact, 300,000 black people who were displaced. 4 out of 5 neighborhoods that had been redlined almost 80 years ago still struggle economically. Below are some interesting references and stories you can look at to learn more about the role of urban planning in racial segregation.
Videos
Simple, 15 minute animation summarizing redlining, blockbusting, and other land use policies that perpetuate racial inequality. Summary of the book, The Color of Law.
https://www.segregatedbydesign.com/
PBS special Jim Crow of the North.
Documentary about racial covenants and redlining
The Disturbing History of the Suburbs | Adam Ruins Everything
YouTube channel City Beautiful
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCGc8ZVCsrR3dAuhvUbkbToQ
Podcasts
There Goes The Neighborhood – an NPR podcast about gentrification
https://www.npr.org/podcasts/555340969/there-goes-the-neighborhood
Books
The Color of Law: A Forgotten History of How Our Government Segregated America
CAN: https://amzn.to/30cXSM
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Evicted by Matthew Desmond
CAN: https://amzn.to/3eVVcXe
US: https://amzn.to/3ePdl98
The Power Broker by Robert A. Caro
US: https://amzn.to/2UgEYA3
CAN: https://amzn.to/3dAsivA
The Road to Resegregation by Alex Schafran
US: https://amzn.to/2YazqZ4
CAN: https://amzn.to/3dGbDa6
A Terrible Thing To Waste by Harriet A. Washington – Harriet A. Washington
US: https://amzn.to/3dIFtuG
CAN: https://amzn.to/3eR6AUi
How To Kill A City by Peter Moskowitz
CAN:https://amzn.to/2AHw08i
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The Social Life of Small Urban Spaces by William H. Whyte
CAN: https://amzn.to/2zfa6ZG
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Palaces for the People by Eric Klinenberg
CAN: https://amzn.to/2YaEsEW
US: https://amzn.to/375T10N
The Origins of the Urban Crisis: Race and Inequality in Postwar Detroit by Thomas Sugrue.
CAN:https://amzn.to/2AbCw77
US: https://amzn.to/2XEqEDG
Root Shock by Dr. Mindy Fullilove
CAN: https://amzn.to/2UiMZ7M
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The Arsenal of Exclusion and Inclusion
CAN: https://amzn.to/3dECQtz
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Making the invisible visible, by Leonie Sandercock
CAN:https://amzn.to/2BJb6WV
US:https://amzn.to/30gadzh
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