Redlining
I've been doing some research for an article that I'm writing about the relationships between people and places. I've jotted down some notes from books I've read in the past and have been down to the library. Despite all this valuable input I still found myself turning to wikipedia for a quick overview/ refresher. Unsurprisingly I got rather distracted.
I confess that I've had no formal education in urban planning and have approached the subject with the preconceptions of an economist. Thus there is a history of theory and policy that I need to catch-up on and plenty of opportunity for surprises. Indeed I chanced upon an article that so shocking that I felt compelled to write this post.
I was amazed to hear that in 1930s America a formal practice of ethnic segregation was introduced: redlining.
describes the practice of marking a red line on a map to delineate the area where banks would not invest. During the heyday of redlining these areas were most frequently black inner city neighborhoods.
Perhaps I'm being naive, after all apartheid was operating in South Africa until the 1990s. Nonetheless it seemed ridiculous that my article was promoting the primacy of people in place management and that, 15 years ago, place played a primary role in people management!
