Gautreaux v. Urban Renewal 2003
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In 1966, against the backdrop of the civil rights movement, a class action lawsuit is brought against the Chicago Housing Authority and the US Department of Housing and Urban Development. It accuses both of racially discrimination in choosing where to build public housing and in selecting tenants for it. The charge amounts to claiming that the government is responsible in some way for creating racial ghettos and has the responsibility to eliminate it. At stake is nothing less than the means of social control over the built environment.
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Using a specially developed graphic system, including conventions from instant messaging, Damon Rich, Prem Krishnamurthy, and Celina Su produced a 20-foot narrative mural exploring the grand themes and legal details that form the history of the case.
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First shown in 2003 as part of Urban Renewal: the City without a Ghetto, the piece has also been exhibited at Mess Hall in Chicago (2004) along with a public event at the Chicago Architecture Foundation featuring Alexander Polikoff, principal lawyer for the Gautreaux plantiffs, and Henry Binford, an urban historian from Northwestern University.
Participants
Damon Rich, Project Manager, Designer, Researcher
Prem Krishnamurthy, Designer
Celina Su, Researcher, Writer
Resources & Links
Organizations
Projects/Pieces
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The View from the Ground
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A project of the Invisible Institute, The View from the Ground publishes remarkable reporting from Chicago's Stateway Gardens public housing development. The goal is to give public housing residents a chance to express their perspective.
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Videos/Films
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Voices of Cabrini
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Voices of Cabrini is a film about the demolition of Cabrini Green, a Chicago housing project.
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Press
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‘Chicago Without a Ghetto’
Chicago Reader
March 26, 2004
“A new exhibit in Rogers Park takes another look at the history, present and possible futures of public and affordable housing in Chicago and New York City.”
Download PDF
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Gautreaux v. Urban Renewal is a part of The City without a Ghetto, a series of projects that also includes
Public Housing 101
The Subsidized Landscape
Urban Renewal Activity Tables
