A new history of the notorious project reminds us why public housing mattered to the people who lived there—and why it matters still.
S ince 1999, when the Chicago Housing Authority launched its $1.6 billion
Plan for Transformation and began the slow process of tearing down all its
high-rise public housing projects, a cottage industry of books has sprung
up to fill in the mental spaces left by those destroyed buildings: in the
last 18 years, no fewer than 20 volumes have been published devoted to the
history, sociology, public policy, and personal stories of life in public
housing.…
A new history of the notorious project reminds us why public housing mattered to the people who lived there—and why it matters still.
S ince 1999, when the Chicago Housing Authority launched its $1.6 billion
Plan for Transformation and began the slow process of tearing down all its
high-rise public housing projects, a cottage industry of books has sprung
up to fill in the mental spaces left by those destroyed buildings: in the
last 18 years, no fewer than 20 volumes have been published devoted to the
history, sociology, public policy, and personal stories of life in public
housing.…