The Texas Exception: San Antonio and Urban Renewal, 1949-1965

Abstract

Although considerable scholarship documents the failures of urban renewal, little has been written on the challenges cities faced in implementing programs to address local needs. This article explores the political challenges of San Antonio in creating an urban renewal program. It demonstrates the role of the Housing Acts of 1949 and 1954 in stimulating the city’s planning processes in a political atmosphere otherwise hostile to expanded government functions.