Commemoration Amid Criticism: The Mixed Legacy of Urban Renewal in Southwest Washington, D.C

Abstract

This case study of the postwar rebuilding of Southwest Washington, D.C., examines the long-term experience of one urban renewal project, from conception, planning, and design, through the construction and occupation of its new built environment. Southwest was one of the earliest, largest, and most comprehensive and varied Title I redevelopment projects in the country. A close look at its built environment demonstrates significant outcomes in terms of building and landscape design, overall neighborhood planning, and accompanying demographic changes. Existing work on Southwest and its postwar peers duly illustrates the racial injustice and physical and social loss that urban renewal produced. This article expands and supplements these narratives with parallel stories of enduring residential structures amid commercial failures, and new community formation where another had been torn apart. The result is a mixed physical and social legacy for urban renewal that has attracted both criticism and commemoration.