GEOG 360 - Legacies Of Urban Renewal: Redeveloping Cities of The Mid-Hudson Valley

Semester Offered: Fall
1 unit(s)

(Same as URBS 360) Federal funding for urban renewal transformed U.S. cities between FDR’s New Deal of the1930s and the 1970s, when federal assistance largely dried up. It ended symbolically in 1975, when President Gerald Ford refused to aid New York City on the brink of bankruptcy: “Ford to City: DROP DEAD!” proclaimed the Daily News. In its heyday, urban renewal involved massive” slum clearance” of what planners regarded as blighted neighborhoods, although they were often vibrant (even if redlined) communities. Federal programs focused on providing public housing projects, freeways and expressways, cultural centers, recreational and educational facilities, office towers, and so on. Those displaced by eviction from their homes numbered in the millions, comprised disproportionately of working classes, people of color, and immigrants.

While studies have dealt in detail with urban renewal in large cities, small cities have received relatively little attention even though their impacts were relatively more significant. For example,Poughkeepsie experienced massive social displacement for the construction of traffic arterials, public housing, office complexes, parking lots, and public parks along the once-active waterfronts. After general readings, this course focuses on the legacies of urban renewal in citiesof the Mid-Hudson Valley: Poughkeepsie, Beacon, Newburgh, and Kingston. We examine the physical and social impacts of urban renewal, community responses, and recent efforts to removeor adapt built projects –– such as traffic arterials, streetscapes, and public housing –– to revitalizethese central cities amid rampant regional suburbanization. Brian Godfrey.

Prerequisite(s): Previous course in Geography or Urban Studies.

One 3-hour period.

Course Format: INT