A Small Step Toward Reversing the Decades-Long Community Harm of Chicago’s Expressways
More than 13,000 residences, 400 businesses and 9 acres of historic Columbus Park in Chicago’s Austin neighborhood were demolished, the application says.
Chicago wasn’t the only big city in the U.S. to ignore the pernicious effects on residents and neighborhoods in undertaking massive projects. Robert Moses, the New York urban planner regarded as one of the most powerful and influential people in the nation’s largest city, took no back seat to Richard J. Daley. Moses left a legacy of many big projects, including major bridges and tunnels, tearing down thousands of housing units in his path.
Like Chicagoans, New Yorkers learned the hard way that they were losing more than housing. They were also losing the soul of communities suddenly fragmented and displaced. One of his most prominent critics was journalist and activist Jane Jacobs, whose book “The Death and Life of Great American Cities” argued that “urban renewal” and “slum clearance” did not respect the needs of city dwellers.
She advocated preserving the village-like neighborhoods such as Greenwich Village, where she lived — and which was once threatened by Moses’ plans until Jacobs and others stopped the bulldozers.
What the Biden administration seems to be saying is that, over time, that which was done badly can be undone. Calling the program “a key component of the administration’s commitment to advancing racial equity and support for underserved communities,” the White House said when the program was launched, “the Biden-Harris Administration aims to rectify the damage done by past transportation projects and drive economic growth in communities in every corner of the country.”
In the planning phase, the administration is seeking ideas and proposals from local people who are in the best positions to know the challenges ahead at the government and community level. Obviously, these efforts are at an early stage.
We can only hope they turn into something meaningful. Increasingly, urban planners seem to be seeing things Jacobs’ way, and I’m glad. Major public works are important, no doubt. But what we gain shouldn’t obscure what we lose. The displaced communities — and people — aren’t just collateral damage.
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(E-mail Clarence Page at cpage@chicagotribune.com.)
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