On the Destruction of Poor Neighborhoods by Urban Renewal

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Abstract
“Slum clearance” for urban renewal is criticized as destroying social life in “slum” neighborhoods, e.g., residents in Boston's West End showed strong attachment to homes and neighborhood. But most such studies have been in “old-style ethnic” areas; most “slum clearance” now occurs in low-income Negro neighborhoods. A Detroit study of a poor Negro area like those renewed finds fundamental differences between it and West End, including substantially less sentimental attachment to homes, neighborhood, and “external space.” Social policy in urban renewal, however, must consider more than social ties and sentiments of attachment to neighborhood. Basic to any program of clearance and relocation of low-income households must be a means of rehousing those who are dislodged. To date, adequate national programs for the rehousing of poor people have not been enacted.

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