Picturing Urban Renewal

FAIN: MT-277117-21

SUNY Research Foundation, Albany (Albany, NY 12222-0001)
David Paul Hochfelder (Project Director: June 2020 to present)

Prototyping of an interactive website exploring the history and legacy of urban renewal in four New York places.

We are applying for an NEH Digital Projects for the Public prototyping grant to continue content development and website design for Picturing Urban Renewal. This public-facing website will tell the story of urban renewal in four New York places: Stuyvesant Town in New York City; mid-sized Albany, the state’s capital and site of the Empire State Plaza; and two small cities with big urban renewal plans, Newburgh and Kingston. We selected these sites both for their rich visual and documentary record and because placing the stories of these four cities side-by-side allows us to construct a more complete and complicated picture of urban renewal and how it continues to shape our nation’s cities.

Associated Products

Introduction to Special Issue on Urban Renewal in Smaller Cities (Article)
Title: Introduction to Special Issue on Urban Renewal in Smaller Cities
Author: David Hochfelder
Author: Douglas Appler
Abstract: Introduction to special issue of this journal. Hochfelder and Appler co-edited this issue.
Year: 2020
Access Model: subscription only
Format: Journal
Periodical Title: Journal of Planning History
Publisher: Sage

Newburgh's "Last Chance": The Elusive Promise of Urban Renewal in a Small and Divided City (Article)
Title: Newburgh's "Last Chance": The Elusive Promise of Urban Renewal in a Small and Divided City
Author: Ann Pfau
Author: Stacy Sewell
Abstract: This article is a case study of failure at the federal, state, and local levels. In 1956, Newburgh, New York, undertook an ambitious, arguably oversized, urban renewal program. Between 1962 and 1974, city officials successfully cleared roughly 120 acres of prime waterfront real estate for redevelopment, displacing a largely black population. But combined with economic recession and changing federal and state policies, conflict between and among white city officials and black residents prevented reconstruction. Newburgh’s greatest asset was its scenic waterfront and historic architecture. Clearance of the former led to destruction of the latter, which remains largely empty even today.
Year: 2020
Access Model: subscription only
Format: Journal
Periodical Title: Journal of Planning History
Publisher: Sage

Digital Urban History: A Survey of the Field (Article)
Title: Digital Urban History: A Survey of the Field
Author: David Hochfelder
Abstract: A blog post for NCPH History@Work, July 2021, that surveys the state of digital and public urban history.
Year: 2021
Primary URL: https://ncph.org/history-at-work/survey-of-digital-urban-history/
Access Model: open access
Format: Other
Publisher: National Council on Public History

Albany Residents Reflect on Neighborhood 60 Years after Eminent Domain (Film/TV/Video Broadcast or Recording)
Title: Albany Residents Reflect on Neighborhood 60 Years after Eminent Domain
Writer: Jackson Wang
Director: Jackson Wang
Producer: Spectrum TV
Abstract: Retrospective look at urban renewal in Albany on the 60th anniversary of New York State's seizure of the site of the future Empire State Plaza.
Year: 2022
Primary URL: https://spectrumlocalnews.com/nys/capital-region/community/2022/03/26/albany-residents-reflect-on-neighborhood-60-years-after-eminent-domain?cid=app_share#
Access Model: Cable subscription required
Format: Video

In Retrospect and Prospect S2, E4: Picturing Urban Renewal: A Public History Initiative (Film/TV/Video Broadcast or Recording)
Title: In Retrospect and Prospect S2, E4: Picturing Urban Renewal: A Public History Initiative
Writer: Lopez Matthews
Abstract: An interview about our Picturing Urban Renewal project with the Association for the Study of African American Life and History.
Year: 2021
Primary URL: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=01d8_U5ca6U
Access Model: open access--Youtube
Format: Video

Renewed or Ruined? Urban Renewal in Upstate New York (Article)
Title: Renewed or Ruined? Urban Renewal in Upstate New York
Author: David Hochfelder
Abstract: A discussion of urban renewal in upstate NY, including guidance on how to find local records.
Year: 2022
Access Model: subscription
Format: Magazine
Publisher: NYS Archives Partnership Trust

Toward a Social History of Urban Renewal (Book Section)
Title: Toward a Social History of Urban Renewal
Author: David Hochfelder
Editor: Douglas R. Appler
Abstract: Article describes how to use locally held urban renewal records to write the history of urban renewal from the perspective of the people most affected by these projects.
Year: 2023
Primary URL: https://worldcat.org/title/1373347550?oclcNum=1373347550
Access Model: open access
Publisher: Temple University Press
Book Title: The Many Geographies of Urban Renewal: New Perspectives on the Housing Act of 1949
ISBN: 9781439921715

The "Developer of Last Resort:" The New York State Urban Development Corporation (Book Section)
Title: The "Developer of Last Resort:" The New York State Urban Development Corporation
Author: Stacy Kinlock Sewell
Editor: Douglas R. Appler
Abstract: Discusses the role of the NYS Urban Development Corporation in that state's massive urban renewal program.
Year: 2023
Primary URL: https://worldcat.org/title/1373347550?oclcNum=1373347550
Access Model: open access
Publisher: Temple University Press
Book Title: The Many Geographies of Urban Renewal: New Perspectives on the Housing Act of 1949
ISBN: 9781439921715

---