The Ideology of Dense Neighborhood Redevelopment

Abstract

The trend of central-city neighborhood reinvasion resembles a social movement and has undertones of ideology and utopia. The ideological content has certain parallels with the anti-urban suburban trend of a generation ago. There are also pro-urban values of cultural diversity and pluralism in the new movement, though they tend to be romantically distorted. Moreover, the values are ambivalently held and may fail to yield the alternative and transcendent community experience that some of the new settlers seek. The general trend nonetheless holds more promise than threat for central-city revitalization.