Redefining the city and demolishing the rest: The techno-green fix in postcrash Cleveland, Ohio

Akers Joshua, Béal Vincent, Rousseau Max. 2020. Redefining the city and demolishing the rest: The techno-green fix in postcrash Cleveland, Ohio. Environment and Planning. E, Nature and Space, 3 (1) : 207-227.

Résumé : This paper examines the techno-environmental urban policy that emerged in Cleveland, Ohio following the financial crisis, consisting primarily of mass demolition and greening programs, we argue this techno-green fix is an urban redevelopment strategy in shrinking cities that reshapes these places into manageable islands of urban development. Demolition and green reuse accelerated displacement without gentrification in long established low-income communities of color while reinforcing the racial hierarchies in US property markets. We demonstrate how the unevenness of the demolition program mirrors earlier racialized practices while adopting the rhetoric and strategy of “smart shrinkage.” We show that behind its neutral and scientific ambition, this strategy targets the most disadvantaged areas of the inner city. The market rational of these programs reproduces old patterns of racial segregation in the city. Finally, we show that the “green” dimension of this strategy is highly ambivalent. If “greening” is publicly presented as a means to benefit marginalized areas and residents, it is also used as a way to transfer the maintenance of urban services to poor residents on the city's east side, to erase urban spaces, and to foster market dynamics.

Mots-clés Agrovoc : urbanisation, politique de développement, ville, zone urbaine, utilisation des terres, aménagement urbain

Mots-clés géographiques Agrovoc : États-Unis d'Amérique, Ohio

Mots-clés complémentaires : ville verte

Mots-clés libres : Shrinking cities, Demolition, Segregation, Greening, Urban decline

Classification Agris : E11 - Économie et politique foncières

Agences de financement hors UE : Agence Nationale de la Recherche

Projets sur financement : (FRA) Politiques urbaines alternatives pour les villes en déclin

Auteurs et affiliations

• Akers Joshua, University of Michigan (USA) - auteur correspondant
• Béal Vincent, Université de Strasbourg (FRA)
• Rousseau Max, CIRAD-ES-UMR ART-DEV (MAR)

Source : Cirad-Agritrop (https://agritrop.cirad.fr/605471/)

Métriques

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