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Executive Summary
City-planning professionals have been deeply involved in efforts to redevelop low-income neighborhoods. Attempts to “improve” marginal areas have generally led to the displacement of the areas' low-income residents, and part of the resulting hostility has been directed at city planners. This difficult relationship has been a key theme within the field of planning and remains so today.
Redevelopment is supposed to revitalize marginal areas experiencing disinvestment by changing the institutional structures within those places and intervening in markets within those neighborhoods. Such interventions have historically been led by elite business interests from the central business district (CBD) with the intent of reclaiming the marginal areas for their own economic benefit. New investment in housing stock, infrastructure, and public amenities has led to increased apartment rents and, thus, to displacement of low-income populations living in these neighborhoods. At times, such as during the heyday of urban renewal in the 1950s–1960s, this contentious process has involved forceful removal through the power of eminent domain, although, too often, the “highest