This documentary film depicted how the American city has changed during the twentieth-century. There were slums across many cities in the nation. In St. Louis, Chicago, deteriorating buildings and living conditions prompted redevelopment to prevent the loss of property value. The population was also climbing. This eventually led to the clearing of slums which were supplanted by high-rise and high-density public housing. These homes became known as the Pruitt-Igoe homes. However, Pruitt-Igoe ultimately changed into a breeding ground for violence and crime. It is referred to as the largest public housing failure in United States history.
This was actually the second time I watched it – the first time was in art class last semester. Yet, I still enjoyed it as much as I did initially. It was mainly because of the reminiscent interviewees who talked about their genuinely happy experiences at Pruitt-Igoe. Their emotions gave the documentary an exciting and colorful aspect. In the beginning of the film, several interviewees smiled as they talked about how Pruitt-Igoe changed their life for the better. Their homes were spacious, beautiful, and sanitary compared to the slums they came from. Christmas was a wonderful time for residents to get together and celebrate. Hence, towards the end of the film, an interviewee cried as she insisted for people not to see Pruitt-Igoe for just the bad. It provided one of the happiest times of her life.
Among the bad that had changed Pruitt-Igoe were the increases in crime and violence. The public housing project actually became a breeding ground for bad behavior soon after it was opened. Elevators started to smell like urine, were not lit, and eventually did not work. Garbage was not properly thrown out. In a way, Pruitt-Igoe started to resemble the slums again. I believe that the two major forces that contributed to the decline of Pruitt-Igoe was the adult to children ratio and the lack of government funding for maintenance.
There were a lot more children compared to adults at Pruitt-Igoe. Because of that, there is less supervision. Without adult figures around, children do whatever they want. Bad ideas from one child to another spread quickly and that was a major contribution to the fall of Pruitt-Igoe. The lack of security also enforced bad behavior. Since there was no security officers patrolling any of the buildings, ill-behaving individuals felt comfortable committing crimes and violence. Thus, it was a great mistake for the city of St. Louis to not provide the necessary funding for security measures such as officiers and cameras.
It was certainly very sad to see the buildings being demolished over and over again in the documentary. One main reason is because I strongly believe that if the city carried out their vision of providing safe and successful public housing at Pruitt-Igoe, it would still stand today. They constructed extremely dense public housing, so security and maintenance was absolutely necessary for the welfare of the residents. It would not have turned into a breeding ground for all the bad that defined Pruitt-Igoe. Instead, it would have been home to many happy and grateful residents – just like the interviewees whom loved Pruitt-Igoe. So, two questions I would like to ask would be: Why didn’t the government carry out what they envisioned public housing to be in St. Louis after spending so much money to built Pruitt-Igoe? Looking back, is there regret that the city didn’t provide funding for safety and maintenance measures?
