Urban Renewal Project of Los Angeles - Redevelopment of Bunker Hill - Case Study Example

An Urban Renewal Project Urban renewal, as the indicates is a project that involves renewal program of an urban area. It is a sort of a redevelopment project that is undertaken in those areas with density of moderate to high use of urban land. The aim of this paper is to describe in detail a local project of Los Angeles regarding urban renewal and to explain the reasons and possible effects it had on various segments of society. The history of urban renewal projects began in 1940’s with focus toward giving cities a modern look. There are many things that are involved in undertaking an urban renewal project which include relocation of people, businesses, demolishing the structures and making use of purchasing of property by government in order to use it for public purposes. These steps are taken in order to use privately-owned property for development projects such as urban renewal project (Grogon and Proscio, 2001). The process of urban renewal is seen in both positive and negative ways by various people. To most of people, it acts as a symbol of economic development and positive reforms and for some it acts as a means of establishing control. It is a good way of recreating communities that exist and make them seem better but at the cost of demolishing certain neighborhoods. However, with the passage of time a change has occurred in the way people think about urban renewal projects which is seen now as more oriented toward investment and renovation and less toward destruction (Jones, 2004). The paper will highlight the local project at Los Angeles that had been named as Bunker Hill project and will discuss the circumstances that led to this decision of accomplishing an urban renewal project in Los Angeles. The role of power elite, pluralism, mobility, economic competition and government regime has also been discussed in the paper throughout. Bunker Hill is the Los Angeles’ oldest plan of redevelopment that spreads over the area of 133 acres. The project adopted in 1959 by the city council of Los Angeles got transformed into a project of area redevelopment in 1968. The project area considered to be bounded by Hill Street (east), First Street (north), Fifth Street (south) and Harbour Freeway (west) (Dawson, 2008). The area had been relocated to include twenty-five developmental sites of large mass. The developmental plan also included the construction of a new street system in order to control the steepness of hill and to connect the steep area with nearby flatlands. The four sites out of the twenty-five major developmental sites were under the ownership of CRA/LA whereas two were owned by County. The project of Bunker Hill had been the result of continuous struggle against the lawsuits by City Council that won its case in favor of urban renewal project in 1964. The funds raised for the completion of project were initially $33 million and few complaints were submitted against the plan. However, in 1968 the project was renamed as Bunker Hill Redevelopment project which previously was known as urban renewal project (Fante, 2002). It is worth-mentioning that the area had been remained unattended for the period from 1800’s to 1920’ due to the lack of water system and other services that had not reached that place at the time. The Bunker Hill due to the steep topography had been the difficult project to accomplish and it was the necessary to reconstruct it in order to provide room for neighborhoods that were becoming overcrowded (Fante, 2002). The Great Depression had also contributed in the negligence of this hilly area in terms of renovating the site. Therefore, in 1940’s it was almost impossible to think of reconstructing the area and investing a lot of money in doing so at the time when the country was facing economic crisis and crime acts at the peak. In the past the site had been the place of Victorian mansions which now became urban decay. Extensive surveys and researches were conducted to measure the physical, economic and social impacts. The results of the surveys identified the overcrowded and deteriorated houses of the community that required demolition. The project resulted in demolishing housing units of 7310 in number. The redevelopment project included the construction of public improvements of $21 million worth (Dawson, 2008). Numerous amenities were constructed such as a new road system, bridges and other utilities. The plan also consisted of building a latest street system and a freeway system. There had been numerous commercial buildings that had been erected which include various banks, an, residential developments and arts and culture centers with Walt Disney Concert Hall as the recent development in Bunker Hill that was finished in 2003. However, nowadays Bunker Hall is a major area consisting of highly developed buildings, offices, apartments and houses that signify the place as a great place for corporate and financial purposes (Dawson, 2008). The redevelopment project has certain aims that prompted the reconstruction of Bunker Hill and made it an important plan of Los Angeles City. The goals that have been established to obtain certain objectives in near future include elimination of units that are substandard and not up to the mark according to adequate housing standards of living. Other goals include establishment of appropriate living environment for children and adults, eradicating places of crime, demolishing not properly built structures, helping people shift to safer places and on the whole undertaking changes in order to build Los Angeles on modern pillars. It is also the aim of this redevelopment project to provide parking spaces for people living in Downtown (Dawson, 2008). The intended effects of the goals that have been established are making this place a good housing accommodation for people with affordable pricing and providing them opportunities of employment, recreation, circulation of vehicles and pedestrians and economic renewal. The redevelopment project of Bunker Hill, Los Angeles came into action by the various forces that acted off-stage to push municipal officers into establishing such kind of urban renewal project. One such factor is the role of power elite in making this project happen. In sociological terms, power elite refers to a group of people, though small in number, controls a great deal of decisions of political and social nature and have immense wealth, authority and prestige. Such people may belong to any prominent field or have much influence in the walk of life they come from (Dawson, 2008). In America, power elite are characterized by the common opinions and homogeneity of thinking among these circles. Throughout history, power elite have been known to control major decisions in three areas of military, government and economy. In case of redevelopment project of Bunker Hill, the role of power elite seems to be tremendous in influencing the way the project had been implemented. Bunker Hill redevelopment project started in 1950’s has seen unlimited revisions in the period of its development up till now. It still has not completed yet in spite of the potential this project had in the beginning as manifested by the vision of its developers. The development project had been amended about five times in a period of fifty years with uncompleted mission still today. It is a rare event that project suffers from change of directions every ten years with its mission constantly changing. People in charge of management of this project are to be considered responsible for this delay in accomplishment of project according to ‘plan’ (Dawson, 2008). The change in policy making undertaken by people of influence has made this project suffer considerably. Thus, it is obvious that the pluralism known as diversity of opinions as well as power elite had undoubtedly great influence on the undertaking of Bunker Hill urban renewal project in Los Angeles. Had there were not so much diversity in thoughts and opinions in the management who wanted to control the vision of redevelopment project in their own ways, there might not have been such problems in the accomplishment of this project in a considerable less amount of time. The vision of most of the people had been to make it a main centre for music, art or something else. Everyone tried to give his own vision in this project and did not think of making it a city promoting music, art or culture at the same time. Hence, pluralistic thoughts affected this project negatively and caused a lot of delay in its completion that is still due (Shane, 2011). It is important to mention that urban renewal project came into play by the decision of city planners to clear the city of slums consequently causing the city houses to be emptied of its dwellers making it the place to be constructed with plazas and modern housing. Once Los Angeles was a city in which Blacks and Asians were not permitted to live in houses there. It was the result of racism that held in this place for quite some time making it a racist community. However, it got better with time and now housing is available for all type of people. The redevelopment project has certain aims that prompted the reconstruction of Bunker Hill and made it an important plan of Los Angeles City. In undertaking this project skyscrapers had been built in that area to avail itself of the density that was quite thick. The city has seen tallest skyscrapers in this area as a result of the project that is the largest one in Los Angeles history. The project is expected to finish in 2012 and various skyscrapers are built in the project’s tenure (Dawson, 2008). The economic competition and capital mobility did have a high influence on decisions that had been undertaken to accomplish this urban renewal project. The aim of the project had been to clear the slums out of this area to replace them with modernized buildings and plazas. The project was deeply influenced by economic competition between the members of its community that belonged to different races. The project, as mentioned earlier in this paper, could not be started in the period of economic depression as lot of investment was needed which could not be undertaken in that period where people were short of money. It is however ironical that the place was wiped out of slums to get rid of people belonging to lower classes and replacing them with corporate mansions, skyscrapers and industrial housings. In addition, the role of government regime is crucial to affect the way decisions were taken about this project ( Shane, 2011). The latest project of Bunker Hill redevelopment project is Grand Avenue development which also got involved in legal issues. The sub-projects of Bunker Hill include Affordable Housing Projects out of which Grand Avenue is one. The other projects include Angelus Plaza that began in 2008 to monitor the low-income housing units. Grand Avenue project consists of constructing parking, hotel rooms, affordable housing and 2600 residential units (Shane, 2011). Another program is named as City Wide Housing Program that is also being undertaken under Bunker Hill redevelopment project. Moreover, it has lot more to offer to communities in the form of Colburn School Expansion and Walt Disney Concert Hall. Both are centers for promotion of art and culture activities within the community. The fourth sub-project of Bunker Hall is mixed use project of development which contains Grand Avenue Project in it. Other projects for improving public activities are Angel Flight, Angel Knoll Plaza, Upper Second Street Connection, Convention Hotel and other improvements named as project-wide improvements for public (McDonald, 2007). Today Bunker Hill is a place that has undergone constant changes and is now the place that has made a major shift from its commercial housing to residential housing. Due to the increasing need for housing apartments, the city got approval to transform its unused buildings that were mainly offices or other commercial buildings into places of residence. It started in 2000 and the city developers began to think of redeveloping the city by making more and more residential apartments that the highly in demand at that time (Shane, 2011). The demand continued to increase considerably and in order to meet this demand, the supply of residential housing apartments was increased. However, the trend has also been developed to produce mixed-housing places for the dwellers. One such attempt is to construct commercial buildings in such a way to devote place for housing in one floor as well. It is a good way to make people reside near shopping malls and be near the places they occasionally visit. It is necessary to state that Los Angeles has strict rules and regulations concerning the housing plans that must include people of all income levels in their program in order to undertake a project (Klemek, 2011). The examples of such projects have been given above which include affordable housing projects and plans considering existing housing that is affordable already. Therefore, the focus of the city municipal officers have been to make it a place that accommodates lower and middle class in their housing project by making affordable housing available to people from all social classes and strata (Lupton and Bakke, 2005). To sum up the entire discussion, it is important to state that the paper attempted to throw light on the local project of Los Angeles; Redevelopment project of Bunker Hill. This urban renewal project has been the longest project in the history of this city and consists of several sub-projects among whom affordable housing is a significant one. The influence of power elite, pluralism, economic competition and government has been important in turning the direction of this project throughout over fifty years of its life. It is hoped that the project would accomplish successfully in 2012 with its vision fulfilled amicably. References: Dawson, Jim. Los Angeles’s Angels flight. Arcadia Publishing. 2008. Print. Fante, John, Dreams from Bunker Hill, Harper Perennial. 2002. Print. Grogon, Paul and Tony Proscio, Comeback cities a blueprint for Urban Neighborhood revival. Basic Books. 2001. Print. Jones, E. Michael, The slaughter of cities: Urban Renewal as Ethic cleansing. St Augustine Press Inc. 2004. Print. Klemek, Christopher, The Transatlantic collapse of urban renewal: Postwar urbanism from New York to Berlin. University of Chicago Press. 2011. Print. Lupton, Robert and Raymond J. Bakke. Renewing the city: Reflections on community development and urban renewal. IVP Books. 2005. Print. McDonald, John, Urban America: Growth, Crisis and Rebirth. M.E. Sharpe. 2007. Print. Shane, David G., Urban Design since 1945: A Global Perspective. New Jersey: Wiley. 2011. Print. Read More