A. Barton Hinkle on How Urban Renewal Destroys Neighborhoods

Urban renewal is the term used to describe the
process by which government authorities bulldoze neighborhoods in
order to start over from scratch. It became a staple of U.S. urban
policy in the mid-20th century, when two federal housing programs
shoveled money at localities so they could rejuvenate so-called
slums, and a 1954 Supreme Court decision gave them carte blanche to
trample the property rights of the underprivileged in order to
eliminate so-called blight. But as A. Barton Hinkle explains, the
real legacy of urban renewal has the been the destruction of
neighborhoods and the enrichment of special interests.

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