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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.

• “NE Portland’s Cully neighborhood fights displacement, climate change with urban renewal. But will it work?” by Gosia Wozniacka, The Orgonian (January 2023).

• Abby Kinney (Twitter).

• Chuck Marohn (Twitter).

• Theme Music by Kemet the Phantom.