Here Today, Gone Tomorrow: The Demolition of the Projects

Science Center A154

The purpose of this research is to determine if there is a correlation between the increase in gun violence and the demolition of Chicago’s historically black housing projects. Violence, as defined by the World Health Organization, is “the intentional use of physical and psychological force or power, threatened or actual, against oneself, another person or against a group or community, that either results in or has a high likelihood of resulting in injury, death, psychological harm, maldevelopment, or deprivation.” In this context, I review the recent literatures which tends to assert that only one source (i.e. poverty) contributes to the proliferation of gun violence in our urban communities. However, I argue that this approach fails to take into account the extreme fluctuation of poverty and violence, which occurred after the demolition of the Chicago Housing Projects. The recent literature fails to consider the practices implemented via the Chicago Housing Authority (an arm of the Federal government), which led to the demolition of many black families homes. This led to a mass migration of African Americans into already densely populated neighborhoods. The mass migration caused an over population in many neighborhoods, and adding to the already extreme poverty and lack of resources faced by community members and now forced to share with “outsiders”. This in turn has led to increases in violence in those communities. This research will detail the history of the demolition of the housing projects and show how the demolition, an urban planning decision via the federal government led to the increase in violence in African American neighborhoods in Chicago.