... we pointed you1 to a new visualization tool for tracking the plans that have shaped our city: Urban Reviewer, a project of open space advocacy group 596 Acres, design firm Partner & Partners, and sign retailer SmartSign, plots (almost) every urban renewal plan adopted in New York City. That’s 150+ neighborhood plans that have empowered the City to acquire wide swaths of land, clear them of existing uses where seen fit, and remake areas in line with the urban theories or economic development strategies of the day. Today, the nationwide urban renewal movement to clear “blighted” communities, ushered in by Title I of the Housing Act of 1949, carries highly negative associations, and rightfully so: plans often displaced vibrant communities to make way for misguided urban design and architecture that damaged far more than they renewed, or in some cases wiped everything away and left land fallow for decades to come (see: Arverne Urban Renewal Area in the Rockaways).

But as with many mechanisms and tools, the urban renewal plan, in and of itself, is value neutral. The plans were (and still are) used in some unforgivable ways, but in some cases have proved the basis for genuine and non-disruptive revitalization, as is the case with the Melrose Commons Urban Renewal Area in the South Bronx. The existing plan, adopted by the City in 1994 and active through 2034, was formulated by community-based organization Nos Quedamos with consultation from Magnusson Architecture & Planning and considered a model of inclusive revitalization. Paula Segal, 596 Acres’ executive director, also points to the work of the Cooper Square Committee, which formulated an alternative plan to the 1959 proposed demolition of eleven blocks on the Lower East Side between Bowery and 2nd Avenue for urban renewal purposes. The alternative plan was eventually adopted, and the area is now home to a pioneering community land trust that will maintain the affordability of housing units in the area in perpetuity.

  • 1. Anti-Fragile: The Uncertain Future of Arverne East - http://urbanomnibus.net/2014/04/anti-fragile-the-uncertain-future-of-arverne-east/