I'm currently doing research on urban renewal and how it affected American cities in the post-World War II period and I'm trying to compile as diverse a collection of sources as possible. In particular, I'm focusing on the urban renewal process in Pittsburgh, Boston's West End, and Tucson, AZ. I chose Tucson because that is what inspired this research in the first place and it's where I live; thus it is relatively easy to find primary sources such as physical plans, blueprints, and reports.
Finding sources for Pittsburgh and Boston are a bit more difficult and I welcome any suggestions that would give me more insight into the planning process and the sociological aftermath. Currently I have Twentieth-Century Pittsburgh by Roy Lubove, Planning the City Upon a Hill by Lawrence W. Kennedy, The Last Tenement by the Bostonian Society and a few assorted newspaper articles.
I have a variety of general sources, categorized by sub-topic:
Reactions to Urban Renewal
The Death and Life of American Cities by Jane Jacobs
The Power Broker by Robert A. Caro
La Calle: Spatial Conflicts and Urban Renewal in a Southwest City by Lydia Otero
The Federal Bulldozer by Martin Anderson
The Transatlantic Collapse of Urban Renewal by Christopher Klemek
Urban Renewal and its Aftermath by Jon Teaford
Modern Urban Design
The American City: What Works, What Doesn't by Alexander Garvin
Reconsidering Jane Jacobs by Max Page and Timothy Mennel
Contemporary Urban Design
Classic Readings in Urban Planning edited by Jay M. Stein
The City Fights Back by Hal Burton (1954)
The Practice of Modernism: Modern Architects and Urban Transformation, 1954–1972 by John Gold
Misc. Suburbia
Life in Subsidized Housing/Projects
Don't Look at Me Different / No Me Veas Diferente by the Voices Project
American Project by Sudhir Alladi Venkatesh
What sources do you all recommend for tackling a topic like this that reaches into multiple historical and sociological categories? Any and all suggestions are welcome. :)
I recently read a book called The Death of an American Jewish Community by Hillel Levine which is about the transformation of the Boston neighborhoods Roxbury, Dorchester, and Mattapan from mostly Jewish to ghetto/slum areas in the 60s and 70s.
I've worked on papers that, while not specifically associated with urban renewal, rely on many of the same sources.
Finding sources for Pittsburgh and Boston are a bit more difficult
First of all, you're on your own with Pittsburgh. But, I have enough BOSTON sources to kill an elephant about urban renewal, socioeconomic conditions pre-, during-, and post- the renewal projects, the political context (againt, pre-, during-, and post-), the philosophical context of "modernism", the infrastructural context (this is my particular field, fwiw), the economic context, and a few sources that tie all of those together. So, the question is: how much do you need (speaking from experience, sometimes having too much is worse than having too little)? What do you need? Books (I recommend Urban Villagers by Herbert Gans)? Primary vs secondary (loads of both...easily 1000+ period documents)?
Now....this is just a thought. If this a serious project (which it appears to be - good on you) and you want to know more about how/why/where/when/etc... urban renewal came to be in Boston, you're more than welcome to PM me and I can help out.