by Erik Hare

Created on: June 30, 2007

One of the great secrets in neighborhood redevelopment is knowing when a neighborhood is worth the investment in sweat, time and money. How do you know if the hood is on the upswing? How do you organize to see that your investment is matched down the block?

These questions have been dealt with by many policy experts and government agencies since the Depression. Some conclusions were summed up in a paper I came across recently by John Metzger of Michigan State, titled "Planned Abandonment: The Neighborhood Life-Cycle Theory and National Urban Policy". (PDF)

The basis of the theories that many agencies were operating under was the simple fact that many neighborhoods are built at the same time with a similar quality. It is simply assumed that the value of a neighborhood is the total of the quality of its housing stock, which my experience tells me is reasonable. This quality erodes over time, and the neighborhood changes. According to the Life-Cycle theory, there is a terminal point at which government intervention is necessary.

Some of this is simply common sense and the real observation that neighborhoods can face periods of decline. But the policies that have been crafted to deal with the situation are lacking in key places, as shown by the holes in the theory itself.

For one, the cycles are described as a line of constant decay, rather than a circle that is completed by renewal. Reading the documents produced by Metzger, the assertion that homogeneity is good gradually becomes an overtly racist assertion that minority tenants are a sign of "accelerating decline". Lastly, the role of individuals, such as those of us looking to make our own homestead or a good buck, is conspicuously absent.

What is important about the theories shown is that they reflect and reinforce conventional wisdom about what a healthy neighborhood is. Not only does this make for bad policy, it offers very few clues regarding how those of us who wish to be a part of a renovation cycle can do it. I think it is good reading all the same, if for no other reason than it outlines just what neighborhood redevelopment has been and is still up against. Opportunities exist where other people do not understand the potential, and the policies we have lived under have only reinforced misunderstanding.

How can we tell where a neighborhood is in its life cycle, and whether it's a good buy? I think the best way to do this is to take a step back and look at the problems neighborhoods face, and how we can evaluate

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