The idea of urban renewal is quite confusing. The words urban renewal themselves sound like they describe something great, like improvement and progress. And those in charge of urban renewal, the leaders and the people who plan the renewal projects, seem to have great intentions. Not only will the cities be more beautiful, but also they’ll be safer and have more to offer, including new buildings, businesses and homes. However, for some reason, the plans often seem to fail, especially for those who were living in the places that were renewed. People are forced to leave their homes- often minorities or people with low income. People lose the tight-knit communities that they once took pride in. These people are not considered when the plans are made. To the planners (often outsiders to the communities), the areas being renewed NEED to be renewed. It will be better! Or at least they claim to think so. In a way, this reminds me of a typical problem that I learned in accounting class. The manager of a company suggests something like “If we spend $1000 more in advertising, our sales will increase by 10% and we’ll end up making more money.” Then the accountant takes the numbers and actually does the calculations, only to prove that the manager’s suggestion would actually result in a loss. The point here is that while the manager of the company surely wants to improve the company and thinks he has a beneficial plan, the plan needs to go through someone (the accountant) with inside knowledge on how everything will play out/ what the effects will be. This same idea can relate to urban renewal because sure, the leaders of a city might think that their plan is helpful- and maybe it has potential to be so, but the people living there, who can predict how they will be affected by it, should be more involved in the planning. This way they can also help make sure that everything gets followed through and the area is actually benefited.
It’s similar to what Mr. Meadows says in the interview in the reading:
“You might say that you develop this area in here for a better improvement.
No, no, it didn’t do that.
What it did, it made us struggle harder…”
