![Old Town Village West townhomes, a new mixed-income development, ca. 2009; looming in the background is the William Green Homes high-rise, part of Cabrini-Green, demolished 2011. [Photo: Lawrence J. Vale]](https://archinect.gumlet.io/uploads/kp/kpvptyeghskwwe9j.jpg?auto=compress%2Cformat "Old Town Village West townhomes, a new mixed-income development, ca. 2009; looming in the background is the William Green Homes high-rise, part of Cabrini-Green, demolished 2011. [Photo: Lawrence J. Vale]")
The saga of Cabrini-Green compels us to engage some hard and fundamental questions. It is not enough to ask: who benefits from public housing redevelopment? We must also ask: how we measure such benefits and who gets to do that measuring? — Places Journal
When the last of the Cabrini-Green towers was demolished by the Chicago Housing Authority a year ago, where did the residents go? Urban historian Lawrence Vale looks at the politics and policies of subsidized housing in the city and interviews the developer of the mixed-income "village" that replaced the old public housing projects (and excluded many of their residents).
In a related feature, sociologist David Schalliol documents this transition in a slideshow featuring photographs of CHA projects and sites.
3 Comments
great article - there's an interesting comment on the designobserver site about the problems of limiting the mobility of people who live in extreme poverty by tying them to a place. I wonder how true that is...
Great work and glad it's come together!
Historically, in 1993 I was part of the college team* who ranked 4th (worldwide) on this Chicago Tribune Cabrini Green Competition. Our designs were similar, which means the concept of providing "sense of arrival" and "pride of ownership" mentality was achieved and was a much needed theme in contrast to the outdated style and concept of Public Housing at Cabrini Green**.
* I attended the University of Kentucky from 1990-1995.
** Demolition of Cabrini Green took 14 years.
Link
See this short video on the Cabrini Green transformation. http://vimeo.com/10613990
Ten years into the most ambitious redevelopment of public housing this nation has seen, the Chicago Housing Authority and partners recount the beginning, progress and lessons learned in the 15-year Plan for Transformation.
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