> To explain the troubling effect of strangers on the streets of city gray areas, I shall first point out, for purposes of analogy, the peculiarities of another and figurative kind of street - the corridors of high-rise public housing projects, those derivatives of Radiant City. The elevators and corridors of these projects are, in a sense, streets. They are streets piled up in the sky in order to eliminate streets on the ground and permit the ground to become deserted parks like the mall at Washington Houses where the tree was stolen.<p>Not only are these interior parts of the building streets in the sense that they serve the comings and goings of residents, most of whom may not know each other or recognize, necessarily, who is a resident and who is not. They are streets also in the sense of being accessible to the public. They have been designed in an imitation of upper-class standards for apartment living without upper-class cash for doormen and elevator men. Anyone at all can go into these buildings, unquestioned, and use the traveling street of the elevator and the sidewalks that are the corridors. These interior streets, although completely accessible to public use, are closed to public view and thus lack the checks and inhibitions exerted by eye-policed city streets.<p>From "The Death and Life of Great American Cities", Chapter 2: "The uses of sidewalks: safety", Jane Jacobs
The article mentions that many of the people that "went missing" headed out to the suburbs. If you're curious about that, read up on Markham, Illinois, one of the towns that's picked up a lot of the public housing people.<p><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Markham,_Illinois" rel="nofollow">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Markham,_Illinois</a><p>In journalism school I was assigned to cover happenings at the Markham Courthouse, which often led me out to Markham proper.<p>As a middle class white guy raised in a white suburban small town, the 3 months I spent there were an eye-opening experience. Most people I talked to had a shooting story or knew someone who had one. There was also little confidence in local government as many believed that Markham was run by former criminals who'd managed to win office.<p>At the time, there were two reporters at a newspaper called the Southtown Daily Star who covered the numerous claims of police wrongdoing and general violence in Markham. The Star's parent company, the Chicago Sun-Times, hit the skids soon after and killed the Southtown. I don't know if anyone's reporting on Markham these days.
The story was good, but I was intrigued by the format of the "article". It really catered to today's attention deficit society, in a good way. It pulled me in and I read all the way through. Normally, I would be too impatient to do so. I hope this format evolves for long-form articles, we need a change on the web.
I lived in Atrium Village, the mixed income development 2 blocks from Cabrini Green, from 2008-2012. It was designed to be transition housing for people working to get out of Cabrini Green.<p>The high rises were empty and coming down by the time i moved in, but the low-rises were still mostly inhabited. They were just awful places. Cinder block cells.<p>Cabrini Green was interesting to me as an armchair urban planner because it was surrounded by affluence. The main drag dumped right into a luxury car garage. And the whole thing was about 100 feet from Groupon's headquarters. When Groupon employees would step outside on smoke breaks, they faced a view directly down into Cabrini Green. Very bizarre to have all that wealth created so near a place without any.
Chicago is my home and this was a mixed blessing for the city. When we destroyed projects we created many small pockets of "section 8". This introduced danger into otherwise nice neighborhoods. I live in wicker park and I've had people try to rob me at gun/knife twice as a result of public housing. It's an unfair burden on the residents.
Cabrini Green will not be missed.
<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cabrini%E2%80%93Green" rel="nofollow">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cabrini%E2%80%93Green</a>
To me what's baffling about stories like this is that there are so many people that are blind to the fact that this even happens. This was 50k+ people, yet there are so many that think if you "just work hard" then you won't need to be given help or better opportunities. What's supposed to happen when these opportunities are taken away?<p>Providing legitimate services to people is a win for everyone not just the people that are utilizing them.
Gang Leader for a Day: A Rogue Sociologist Takes to the Streets<p><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Gang-Leader-Day-Sociologist-Streets/dp/014311493X/" rel="nofollow">http://www.amazon.com/Gang-Leader-Day-Sociologist-Streets/dp...</a><p>This is about <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Taylor_Homes" rel="nofollow">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Taylor_Homes</a>. The author contributed to the drug dealer economics portion of _Freakonomics_.
Funny how this kinds of housing works perfectly in Europe at least in 90% of cases when care is taken so that percentage of poor and criminal residents do not exceed some crtical value. The buildings themselves should also be kept small and hallways short to prevent them from becoming streets.<p>Lots of trees, paths, playgrounds and small commerce between buildings seem to help.
In college I lived in a mixed income development in Atlanta that replaced Techwood Homes, a notorious project. It was pretty cool. The two-rent-level system seemed to work well. <a href="http://www.centennialplaceapartments.com/" rel="nofollow">http://www.centennialplaceapartments.com/</a>
When Cabrini Green came down, I remember seeing a bunch of articles about public housing, which portrayed these high-rise projects as an outgrowth of the optimistic attitude of the time. There's a strong cognitive dissonance there, because the projects were just as much an outgrowth of the powerful segregationist attitude that also characterized the era.<p>I'm quite excited to see the move to what will hopefully be more integrationist attempts at public housing. I really like the idea of Section 8 (we had Section 8 buildings in Streeterville where I lived in Chicago) and would love to see it extended to wealthy suburban neighborhoods.
"Bauhaus blunders: architecture and public housing" is also worth reading [1]. I studied modern art history for a while and I always found it fascinating how designers could create something so horrible as the "projects".<p>1. <a href="http://nationalaffairs.com/public_interest/detail/bauhaus-blunders-architecture-and-public-housing" rel="nofollow">http://nationalaffairs.com/public_interest/detail/bauhaus-bl...</a>