Dan Taylor

Sadly, it took some personal investigation to discover the topic of Urban Renewal (I truly do not remember covering this topic in High School).  And from what I’ve learned, both from reading, watching, and talking to those that lived through it, I’ve come to a personal conclusion that the ‘Urban Renewal’ projects that took place across this country should be considered a crime against not only architecture, but art, and therefore the human spirit as well.

This crime spread far and wide across the US, beginning just after the second world war, and stretching well into the 1970’s.  While in theory, the project sounded like a massive modernization of America, and again, on paper, that’s exactly what happened.  Don’t get me wrong, there where a number of positives that occurred under the Urban Renewal program, but at the same time, an incredible amount of American architectural history was demolished at the same time.  And let’s not forget about that wonderful rip-off known as ‘Eminent Domain’, as was popularly used to further Urban Renewal projects.

I grew up in a small town in upstate New York, and have personally seen photographs of the downtown area at the turn of the century vs. what’s left today.  In my opinion, a thriving downtown, center city area was stripped of it’s character, and replaced with bland facades, cookie cutter floor plans, and nothing short of defamation of character.

(more…)