as nathan said, there's virtual unanimity among latter day planners that mid 20th century urban renewal was a land grab that destroyed communities and screwed up cities. i'd call it tragic, but i think it often bordered on criminal. we should however be mindful that those actions took place within a context where cities were emptying because of suburbanization and white flight. while there was certainly a strong element of racism by the growth coalitions that led the efforts to reshape the cities, they were in effect working against the tide of industry and upwardly mobile residents tripping over themselves to get to the suburbs.
most left leaning planners also readily admit that the profession is a handmaiden of capital and that land use decisions are often the product of powerful forces. if anything, a moderately effective planning regime will help restrain some of those forces even as it facilitates them. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: <../attachments/20060228/345d4175/attachment.htm>