Thesis. 1977. M.Arch.--Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Dept. of Architecture. / MICROFICHE COPY AVAILABLE IN ARCHIVES AND ROTCH. / Bibliography : leaf 66-68. / M.Arch.

The strict divisions of city spaces created by physical urban planning disintegrated under transformations of capitalism and its accompanying crises of overaccumulation, social urban planning was elaborated to more effectively control the capitalist city and to reintegrate the increasingly blighted areas of the once popular amusements into the economy. / This disciplined reintegration, unsuccessfully attempted in New York City's Times Square since the late 1920s. is finally being realized by the redevelopment forces that began shaping the city's spatial practices in the wake of the fiscal crisis of 1975. The development projects undertaken in midtown Manhattan following the recovery from the fiscal crisis are transforming the renowned Times Square theater district into a strikingly different urban environment. The new politics of redevelopment under the regime of flexible accumulation are almost exclusively oriented towards economic development that is equated with speculative property investments, rebuilding Times Square to promote the global city's finance monopoly. Denying the existence of the public realm and celebrating free market laissez-faire policy, the 42nd Street Development Project, under the guise of removing blight, is eliminating the undesirable and underprivileged from the new image of the Bright Lights District. Times Square as a center of the local popular culture of Broadway theaters, cinemas, restaurants, billboard spectaculars, and public celebrations, has been lost as a public space. In the redevelopment projects now imaging the Crossroads of the World, the lost city of the past is recreated through the commodification of its collective memory, fashioning a Disneyfied spectacle for the global urban center. (Abstract shortened by UMI.)

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The Urban Renewal Program was an offshoot of the Federal housing Act of 1949, which alloted Federal funds to cities for redevelopment and slum clearance. Critics of urban renewal believe that the real intent of this program was redevelopment of the Central Business District, although officially the goal of the program was to provide a decent home and a pleasant living environment for the people. The result was improvement of inner city areas at the cost of uprooting and displacement of its residents.The Federal Urban Renewal Program ended in 1973, but local governments retained the option to use this strategy to revitalize neighborhoods. The politicians and planners of New York City have retained their faith in the Urban Renewal Program. They have modified the original program and concepts and are currently using it successfully to increase the housing stock and improve neighborhoods.The approach to urban renewal in New York City is very different from the preconceived notion that large scale demolition is the only method of implementation of an urban renewal plan. The scale and type of action varies according to specific needs of an area. Demolition is done only when necessary so that minimal relocation is required.Although provision of housing is the main thrust of the Urban Renewal Program, urban design issues are considered when preparing an urban renewal plan. This is a jointeffort by Federal, City and State agencies together with citizen input to create a better living environment for the people.This thesis analyses the reasons for this success through a discussion of case studies of current urban renewal projects in New York City. The focus of this research is on the neighborhoods of Arverne and Edgemere located in the Rockaway Peninsula in Queens. This study traces the planning process for these two urban renewal areas from their inception to the current status and identifies how urban renewal can be beneficial for the social and physical environment, and how it can be used as an effective planning tool. / Department of Urban Planning