Portland’s Cully Neighborhood To Use “The One Ring” for Good
Portland’s Cully neighborhood is about to embark on a big urban renewal experiment with the intention of maintaining that area's current affordability. Yes, you heard that right.
In the past, the term “urban renewal” was mainly associated with mid-20th century schemes that displaced residents by seizing and demolishing large swaths of neighborhoods in order to modernize them with highways, roads, and other infrastructure elements.
Now, Cully hopes to use similar tools for the better. Under what the city has labeled an “urban renewal” plan, it would borrow against future tax revenues to invest in programs and purchases that are intended to stabilize residents and businesses (versus tearing them down for pavement projects).
In this Upzoned episode, host Abby Kinney and co-host Chuck Marohn talk about the reality of a top-down plan like this and how it can be dangerous for communities to think this way, even if they only intend to do good.
ADDITIONAL SHOW NOTES
“NE Portland’s Cully neighborhood fights displacement, climate change with urban renewal. But will it work?” by Gosia Wozniacka, The Orgonian (January 2023).
Abby Newsham is the cohost of the Upzoned podcast. Abby is an urban design and planning consultant at Multistudio in Kansas City, Missouri. In her own community, she works to advance bottom-up strategies that enhance both private development and the public realm, and facilitates the ad-hoc Kansas City chapter of the Incremental Development Alliance. When she’s not geeking out over cities, Abby is an avid urban mountain biker (because: potholes), audiobook and podcast junkie, amateur rock climber, and guitarist. You can connect with Abby on Twitter at @abbykatkc.