Segregation by Design
@segbydesign.bsky.social
Using data and historic photography to document the destruction of communities of color by redlining, urban renewal, freeways, and disinvestment; also highlighting solutions https://www.segregationbydesign.com/
Oak Cliff, Dallas, 1946 vs. 2026. Taken at the corner of Addison St./Jefferson Blvd, the photo shows a crowd of people, Black and white, waiting for a streetcar as it exits the viaduct from across the Trinity River to Downtown. More info: www.segregationbydesign.com/dallas/transit
A potential model for other cities dealing with similar legacies. Will be interesting to see how it develops.
Pasadena Passes Restorative Justice Elements for 710 Stub Plan - Streetsblog Los Angeles
City council enthusiastically approved restitution for those displaced by the freeway, but questions linger about who may qualify and how the money will be raised.
la.streetsblog.org
Check out "The Story of the BQE," a 40-min "documentary" I put together with the Institute for Public Architecture about the past, present, and future of the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway.
The Story of the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway (Full Documentary)
YouTube video by Segregation by Design
youtu.be
Latest updates on “Reconnecting Communities” news, arrayed along two axes: one comparing progress towards reconnection vs. the opposite; and another transformative change (for better or worse) vs. incremental. More info and links: www.segregationbydesign.com/reconnection...
Central Dallas, before-and-after government-funded highway construction, a process which displaced thousands during the 1950s-80s in the primarily Black and Latino neighborhoods surrounding Downtown. More info, maps, and historic photos/plans at: www.segregationbydesign.com/dallas/highw...
Latest updates on “Reconnecting Communities” news, arrayed along two axes: one comparing progress towards reconnection vs. the opposite; and another transformative change (for better or worse) vs. incremental. More info and links: www.segregationbydesign.com/reconnection...
🗺️ This circa 1925 #NYTMCollection map was the first to show #NYC's full rapid transit network after the system’s expansion in the 1920s.
Paradise Valley, Detroit, before-and-after highway construction and urban renewal (seen in a publicity photo of the Graf Zeppelin making its way back from the 1933 World's Fair in Chicago). More info and photos of the neighborhood here: segregationbydesign.com/detroit/hast...
Corktown, Detroit, before-and-after federal highway construction and “urban renewal” in the 1960s and 70s, which leveled much of the neighborhood and displaced thousands of residents. More photos and information: www.segregationbydesign.com/detroit/cork...
Paradise Valley, Detroit, seen on a John Lee Hooker album cover that captures the neighborhood before it was demolished for construction of the Chrysler Freeway and “urban renewal” in the 1960s. More info: www.segregationbydesign.com/detroit/hast...
Latest updates on “Reconnecting Communities” news, arrayed along two axes: one comparing progress towards reconnection vs. the opposite; and another transformative change (for better or worse) vs. incremental. More info and links: www.segregationbydesign.com/reconnection...
"In the first six months of the program, air pollution—in the form of particulate matter 2.5 micrometers and smaller—dropped by 22% in the Congestion Relief Zone (CRZ)... The team also reported declines across the city's five boroughs and surrounding suburbs."
NYC congestion pricing cuts air pollution by 22% in Manhattan, study finds
Since New York City introduced congestion pricing in January 2025, the state has heralded significant reductions in traffic and rush hour delays, fewer crashes and noise complaints, and toll revenue p...
phys.org
Rochester, NY, before-and-after the first phase of the Inner Loop Removal project in 2014-17, which started the process of reconnecting the neighborhoods the highway had long separated from Downtown. More info: www.segregationbydesign.com/rochester-ny...
Latest updates on “Reconnecting Communities” news, arrayed along two axes: one comparing progress towards reconnection vs. the opposite; and another transformative change (for better or worse) vs. incremental. More info and links: www.segregationbydesign.com/reconnection...
Overview of mid-October “Reconnecting Communities” news, arrayed along two axes: one comparing progress towards reconnection vs. the opposite; and another transformative change (for better or worse) vs. incremental. More info and links: www.segregationbydesign.com/reconnection...
Overview of September “Reconnecting Communities” news, arrayed along two axes: one comparing progress towards reconnection vs. the opposite; and another transformative change (for better or worse) vs. more status quo developments. More info and links: www.segregationbydesign.com/reconnection...
Great explainer video on how the construction of the interstate highway system destroyed cities and created more segregation. Ft/ @segbydesign.bsky.social youtu.be/Sr2F4OZSETE?...
U.S. Highway Map, Explained
YouTube video by Daniel Steiner
youtu.be
According to official sources, highway construction and “urban renewal” in Detroit displaced roughly 43,000 people during the 1950s/60s. Historians estimate the number to be far higher—closer to 100,000. More info: www.segregationbydesign.com/detroit/i75375
LA’s original Chinatown, before-and-after it was entirely demolished for the construction of Union Station, the Hollywood Freeway, and the creation of “Civic Center” between the 1930s-1950s. More info and images here: www.segregationbydesign.com/los-angeles/...
Thank you to everybody who came to our events last week in Brooklyn! We screened the short documentary I put together about the history of the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway and had some great discussions about the future of New York. We are planning more screenings for the summer and fall—stay tuned!
‘The Story of the BQE’ documentary showcases epic neighborhood destruction
Perhaps no transportation issue has galvanized the borough of Brooklyn more than the state of the crumbling, polluting and divisive BQE.
brooklyneagle.com
From @segbydesign.bsky.social’s Insta story Insta highlighting a point @pastpunditry.bsky.social (made on @thisdaypod.com): It’s important to pay attention to what they’re *not* dismantling in the federal gov’t. They’re “preserving state capacity to create an explicitly white supremacist state.”
On February 5th, EPA removed from its website the environmental justice mapping and screening tool, EJScreen, as well as several related web pages. Learn more: envirodatagov.org/epa-removes-...
EPA Removes EJScreen from its Website – Environmental Data and Governance Initiative
On February 5th, EPA removed several web pages about the environmental justice mapping and screening tool, EJScreen, as well as the tool itself. These pages, which now cannot be accessed or simply say...
envirodatagov.org
Some good Reconnecting Communities (RCP) projects in the batch. Hopefully this is not the last we will be seeing of Mayor Pete.
Streetsblog USA@usa.streetsblog.org · 2y agoSecretary Pete's parting gift to America includes big money for bikeways, highways-to-boulevards projects, and more.
View of Aliso St. in Downtown LA, before-and-after it was transformed into a frontage road for the 101. Aliso was the Pacific Electric's only route across the LA River, and conversion of the street to a highway in 1951 resulted in the abandonment of all lines east of the river.
Savannah Union Station before-and-after it was demolished for construction of I-16 and “urban renewal” in the 1960s. More info: www.segregationbydesign.com/savannah/uni...
Today we work with the descendants of the Williams family as accountability partners in bring Dreamland into a contemporary context. We use film to spark community imagination around who we are as individuals, as a community, and around the future and lands we share.
Segregation by Design@segbydesign.bsky.social · 3y agoJohn & Loula Williams rebuilt the Williams Dreamland Theater after a white supremacist mob destroyed it and the rest of Greenwood in the 1921 massacre. The theater was a mainstay of the rebuilt neighborhood until Tulsa's Black Wall St. was destroyed again in the 1960s by construction of I-244.
The Mexican-American community of La Loma, before-and-after the government forcibly evicted residents and demolished the neighborhood to make way for Dodger Stadium in 1959. More info: www.segregationbydesign.com/los-angeles/...
At state & local levels, some positive vibes for this dark morning: —New transit networks funded in Columbus & Nashville —$1.5b for Seattle streets —Failure of WA anti-climate initiative —$1b/year for Los Angeles affordable hsg —Affordable hsg bonds in Charlotte, RI, Baltimore Here's a roundup:
John & Loula Williams rebuilt the Williams Dreamland Theater after a white supremacist mob destroyed it and the rest of Greenwood in the 1921 massacre. The theater was a mainstay of the rebuilt neighborhood until Tulsa's Black Wall St. was destroyed again in the 1960s by construction of I-244.
