Theory, place, and opportunity : black urbanism as a design strategy for the potential removal of the Claiborne Expressway in New Orleans

[摘要] As WEB DuBois notes in his seminal work, The Souls of Black Folk, ;;it is a peculiar sensation, this sense of always looking at one;;s self through the eyes of others, of measuring one;;s soul by the tape of the world that looks on in amused contempt and pity [...].;; The Black person wishes to merge the double-consciousness, but ;;would not Africanize America, for America has too much to teach the world and Africa. He would not bleach his Negro soul in a flood of white Americanism, for he knows that Negro blood has a message for the world. He simply wishes to make it possible for a man to be both a Negro and an American...;;. And, hence, it is within this space, in the chasm created by double-consciousness, within which Black Urbanism aims to draw from. A Black Urbanism discourse assumes there is a latent genius in that space, untapped by contemporary design and planning literature and practice. My thesis aims to develop a theory of ;;Black Urbanism,;; and derive a set of employable design principles. Black communities contribute greatly to the liveliness and culture of cities, however, their contributions are seldom engaged meaningfully by planners/designers; the framework is intended to fold Black Urban principles into a larger understanding of how cities function and thrive and to develop a tool not only for analysis, but also for the active role of designing new spaces. In light of the search for a sustainable urbanism, the retrofitting of America;;s urban landscapes offers a major opportunity to apply this approach, as much of what is considered ;;wasted landscape;; may be disproportionately located in communities of color. I explore the history of the federal interstate system, its disproportionate construction in Black neighborhoods, and the growing argument for the removal of elevated expressways in cities;; urban core. In New Orleans, the Claiborne Expressway, a spur off of Interstate 10 planned by Robert Moses, runs through the heart of what is considered America;;s first Black neighborhood, and the neighborhood that birthed jazz. I explore the local manifestations of Black Urbanism on the street and describe the opportunities for a Black Urban design strategy to revive the sense of place and scale should the freeway be removed.

[发布机构] Massachusetts Institute of Technology