Collective Memory and Planning: The Continuing Legacy of Urban Renewal in Asheville, NC

Urban renewal may be the most universally vilified program in planning history, remembered primarily for its destruction of established, central, urban neighborhoods along with the construction of isolated, peripheral, housing projects. This article analyzes how urban renewal unfolded in Asheville, how people perceive the injustices associated with urban renewal, and the legacy that urban renewal programs undertaken by the city of Asheville may have on future planning efforts. By investigating the policy intentions, implementation style, and community participation efforts of the urban renewal projects undertaken during the 1960s and 1970s in the East Riverside neighborhood, this narrative explores how perceived and real missteps during that period continue to affect planners and policy makers today.