How Eminent Domain Destroys Neighborhoods

Resources:

A. Pritchett, W. E. (2003). The public menace of blight: Urban renewal and the private uses of eminent domain. Yale Law Policy Review, 21(1), 1-52.

C. Frieden, B. J., & Sagalyn, L. B. (1991). Downtown, inc: How America rebuilds cities. MIT press.

D. Marc Fried & Peggy Gleicher (1961) Some Sources of Residential Satisfaction in an Urban Slum, Journal of the American Institute of Planners, 27:4, 305-315, DOI: 10.1080/01944366108978363

Produced by Dave Amos in sunny Sacramento, California.
Edited by Eric Schneider in cloudy Cleveland, Ohio.

[EibaProductions]

I have somewhat the feeling, that a lot of things in urban planing during the 50s and 60s went wrong. Building highways through cities, parking everywhere, destroying public transportation systems because they were "car unfriendly", demolishing poor minority neighbourhoods for these projects, the suburban sprawl, etc.

[StefanMilo]

If they hadn't destroyed that area, it would be a really desirable downtown neighborhood now. Aaaand you just said that as I was typing.

[paullewis]

A similar kind of ``urban renewal`` was undertaken in the bad old 50`s, 60`s and 70`s in parts of London and the irony of the whole thing is that these areas that suffered this fate are now the most undesirable and the areas that escaped the ``Utopian`` vision are now the most desirable and expensive to live in. Proves the total failure of planners and modern architecture.

[Pantheragem]

We lost our home of 31 years to eminent domain. It was a nightmare. Ours was just for a road, but really to appease a wealthy land owner who wanted a road on the side of his property, and not through the middle. Anyway, it was all for nothing as nothing on the land was ever developed, just moving a road on top of where our house was.

[OrganNLou]

The west end was very unique filled with beautiful theaters, churches and rare architecture not to mention communities that are forever lost. The new State building is an eyesore in this once beautiful district.

[Sorenzo]

Eminent domain is when you do that thing we don't like about communism, but we do it for profit so it's okay.

[iammrbeat]

It was great to collaborate with you again. I was glad I could FORCE my way into your video and TAKE IT OVER. :)

[curiousworld]

Of course, a wealthy neighborhood would never have to worry about 'eminent domain'...

[jn]

A similar thing happend in Chicago when they built the interstate highways. They cut through neighborhoods demolishing many homes and displacing many people.

[AVirtualDuck]

Government would never abuse overarching and total power though, would they?

[plapin]

I just find it fascinating how we have the right to speech, arms, plead the 5th, attorney, etc. but the land under us can be taken whenever Uncle Sam wants it to.

[kds]

Pittsburgh destroying the black neighborhood called The Hill District was pretty bad. Still can feel the effects to this day.

[AmericansAlwaysFree]

Eminent domain shouldn't be taken unless it's for something like public parks, public railways, public transit routes, roads, and to preserve historic buildings (which is often the opposite currently) but now it seems to be abused to give property to universities, gentrification projects, developers and alot of other abuses that should be restricted

[alek]

The west end in Boston is full of ugly government buildings. The city hall looks AWFUL, it looks like a actual concrete jungle

[csweezey]

Eminent domain terrifies me. The thought that the government could just decide to take my home from me whenever they feel like it, for no reason, is just scary. I'm moving to Canada.

[chrisgurney]

There's an odd thing here in Australia where the Commonwealth Govt. has to pay market cost if they want land, but some states can just take the land without payment

[dansugardude]

This was also done in Bucharest when they built the Palace of the People. They removed a whole neighborhood on a hill in the city to build the parliament building, and didn't even come close to compensating the displaced residents. To make matters worse for Bucharest, the building only looses money.

[corbingarrett]

I live in a fairly rural area, but our town has been growing a lot in the last years, my neighbor owns some land that is used to raise cattle, our town used eminent domain without his agreement, to aquire some of his land, and built subsidized housing on it. It wasn't a whole lot of land, but still...

[uhohhotdog]

Eminent domain should only be used for actual infrastructure or public use.

[kevinbyrne]

"Public use" meant roads, harbors, fortifications, etc. -- structures owned by the government, not privately owned structures.