The infamous American social engineering experiment where the social problems, such as illiteracy, poverty and crime, were tried to be solved with an extensive government urban housing project.
Named after Wendell O. Pruitt Homes and William Igoe Apartments, the project was completed in 1956 and composed of 33 buildings of 11 stories each, located on 57 acres of the Near North Side of St. Louis, Missouri. The buildings exclusively accommodated blacks and were completely demolished in the mid-1970s after majestic social failure.
Inevitable migration of the law obeying taxpayers to safety, as the forced integration was imposed by the tyrannical government.
White flight didn’t really kick in until the Federal courts demanded that children be bussed all over cities to achieve racial balancing. Prior to that there might have been a few black students in a middle class neighborhood school that were middle class themselves.
Perfect example of architectural determinism which claims the built environment is the sole determinant of social behavior.. Social problems cannot be solved with architectural solutions. You need relevant social solutions.
An epic failure of centralized planning in an attempt to manage social change and regulate the future development and behavior of a specific segment of the American society. The reasons of this failure is explained in Charles Murray’s “Bell Curve” book.