Quote of the day (urban renewal)

From "Putting New Orleans on the Green Line," in the Washington Post:

"The planning of buildings, city blocks and public spaces determines how businesses, governments, civic organizations and neighbors come together and interact as a community," she noted. By creating communities that "integrate schools, homes, cultural centers and commercial enterprises," designers also would entice displaced families back home.
-- Laura Bush, First Lady of the United States of America

Interestingly enough one of the books I looked at while at Idle Time was entitled The Slaughter of Cities: Urban Renewal as Ethnic Cleansing, although it was focused not so much on "Negro Removal" but about how the federal housing program was oriented towards breaking up large conglomerations of Catholics. The book is published by a Catholic press.
Rendering of the proposed Jazz History and Concert Complex, New Orleans. Thom Mayne, Morphosis.

Even so I found the link between post-WWII urban renewal and what is happening in New Orleans to be somewhat interesting. I've been meaning to write about the Jazz Museum and Concert site proposal for New Orleans. It was announced when I was down there. As you can see from the rendering, the design isn't oriented to traditional New Orleans architecture, which is intimately connnected to the music and other traditions of the city.

The foot of Canal Street is full of casinos, a shopping mall, and similar new boxy buildings that bespeak of the architectural tradition of urban renewal.

Although the rendering looks great, they always do.

It doesn't bode well.
Rendering for the proposed "urban renewal" of the Adams-Morgan district of Washington, DC.

No camera last night unfortunately. The streets of Adams-Morgan (this shot is by Tryst, from May) were much more full, although the people were much better dressed, given that it was Saturday night.

The results of urban renewal in the southwest quadrant of Washington, DC. Photo by Dan Malouff, BeyondDC.

Index Keywords: urban-design-placemaking