City, Interrupted : A Study of Infrastructure and the Urban Condition

Urban renewal and revitalization, considered an essential component to the rebuilding and reshaping of most promising communities, customarily attaches with its definition a “for the common good” connotation. The efforts of city and regional planners with local governments concerning renewal projects is one of offering great change and providing potential to a sector of a city that had not previously been successful; one where every member of the community seemingly would benefit from such projects. The strategies, when executed, most specifically concerning the Eisenhower Interstate System, sought to create affirmative change within the infrastructure of metropolitan areas and provide a large-scale system of connectivity with the city center and its boroughs. Unfortunately, the privilege of high-speed, high-traffic connection came at a cost to many urban neighborhoods. The result was a widespread disjunction and dislocation of an urban fabric that had existed for decades.