Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of tables
- List of figures
- List of acronyms
- About the authors
- Acknowledgments
- Preface
- 1 Social equity and siting affordable housing in shrinking cities
- 2 Present-day Detroit
- 3 Present-day New Orleans
- 4 Present-day Cleveland
- 5 Present-day Pittsburgh
- 6 Present-day Buffalo, New York
- 7 Lessons learned and recommendations for siting affordable housing
- References
- Index
7 - Lessons learned and recommendations for siting affordable housing
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 01 September 2022
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of tables
- List of figures
- List of acronyms
- About the authors
- Acknowledgments
- Preface
- 1 Social equity and siting affordable housing in shrinking cities
- 2 Present-day Detroit
- 3 Present-day New Orleans
- 4 Present-day Cleveland
- 5 Present-day Pittsburgh
- 6 Present-day Buffalo, New York
- 7 Lessons learned and recommendations for siting affordable housing
- References
- Index
Summary
Introduction
This chapter begins with a synopsis of lessons learned from the case studies examined in Chapters 2 through 6. This discussion focuses on identifying commonalities across the case studies with a particular emphasis on the relationship between emerging eds and meds strategies for urban revitalization and the need to link the retention and expansion of affordable housing to them. From that synopsis, the parameters of an equity-based model for siting affordable housing in neighborhoods of opportunity are outlined and recommendations are made for applying such a model to advocate for fair and affordable housing policies. A core tenet of those recommendations is the need to make siting tools accessible to community-based groups through the use of public, open source data and appropriate technologies. The chapter concludes with a discussion of affordable housing issues in a broader context. Lessons from the analysis of shrinking cities are applied to US cities more generally, in order to outline an agenda for affordable housing policy that takes issues of redistribution and equity planning into consideration.
Lessons learned from the case studies
Although each of the cities examined in Chapters 2 through 6 had unique characteristics, there were commonalities across them that inform future planning for affordable housing development in shrinking cities. For instance, Detroit is an archetypical shrinking city in the US. Its decline began in the postwar period and was propelled by the processes of deindustrialization and uneven regional development. It is a classic example of the hollowing out of an urban core. Against this backdrop, Detroit’s shrinking has been intertwined with the city’s history of segregation and racial strife. Though these conditions are associated with shrinking in other cities, Detroit serves as an extreme case where the impacts of hollowing out and segregation have lasting consequences for urban revitalization.
In a similar manner, New Orleans’ decline can be traced to a set of unique conditions. The city’s decline began relatively late in the postwar period as a consequence of its waning port and instability in the oil and gas industry. The city’s economic contraction led to sustained population decline. In response, civic leaders took steps to diversify the city’s economy. The strategy adopted exemplified postwar revitalization in shrinking cities. New Orleans invested in its civic center and the development of large single-use venues to promote its convention and tourism industry.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- Affordable Housing in US Shrinking CitiesFrom Neighborhoods of Despair to Neighborhoods of Opportunity?, pp. 147 - 164Publisher: Bristol University PressPrint publication year: 2016