other_ghosts , 2 months ago to random

Here's decent article on the history and possible futures of Oakland's 980 freeway, a perfectly redundant and grotesque example of American apartheid infrastructure.

Now that urban real estate speculation is more lucrative than maintaining an underutilized shortcut for suburban commuters, it turns out builders and the city officials who love them are salivating over this "public" land once again.

Who benefits from freeway removal is just as important a question as who benefits from freeway expansion. If 980 removal isn't directed by and for the benefit of the Black people dispossessed by its original construction, this will end up just another boondoggle for developers.

Oaklandside:
"Could tearing up an Oakland freeway undo decades of racial injustice?"

https://oaklandside.org/2024/04/10/remove-oakland-freeway-i-980-racial-injustice-gentrification-community/

#Oakland #gentrification #UrbanRenewal #infrastructure #apartheid

ajsadauskas , 3 months ago (edited 3 months ago) to Solarpunk Urbanism

When urban renewal goes wrong: Inside a dead mall frozen in 1990.

Very interesting short film by Bright Sun Films. Along with the usual urban exploration bits, he gives a good history of how and why it failed.

The shopping centre was supposed to revitalise downtown Hamilton, Ontario.

But within six years, it had just a 40% occupancy rate.

A decade after opening, it sold for only CAN$3.6 million — just 5% of what it originally cost to build.

https://youtu.be/NV_c_c_RZdE?si=4fNO5BJAoWzcx_bw

#urbanism #UrbanPlanning #Canada #Ontario @urbanism #UrbanRenewal #malls #DeadMalls #UrbEx #UrbanExplaration