Quote:
Originally Posted by Drybrain
Sure, it was a slum. No argument here! I just think the best way to deal with slums is revitalization and selective demolition, rather than indiscriminately clearing out a whole area and bulldozing the good with the bad.
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The Falkland area used to be considered a terrible slum. The southern end of Hollis and Barrington was also considered a slum area until pretty recently. Hollis had a bad reputation in the 80's and 90's. These things change over time naturally without government intervention and large-scale demolition.
We also of course have areas like Uniacke Square that were purposefully developed to replace slum housing but largely failed to solve the deeper social problems that were sometimes sold as solvable by trendy new architectural styles or building arrangements.
I don't think there is disagreement about the lack of economic prosperity or low living standards in some of these areas, but I also don't believe mid-century urban planning solved these problems very effectively, and there was a tremendous amount of public cost and collateral damage.