Dorothy Appiah

Where Will They Go?: Transforming Public Housing in the City of Chicago Dorothy Appiah

In 1999 the City of Chicago undertook The Plan for Transformation, a redevelopment agenda, that purports to rehabilitate and construct a total of 25,000 new public housing units. This book provides a look at the worldview of the displaced residents: their identity formation, their perceptions of public housing, their thoughts and feelings about redevelopment, their underlying fear of neighborhood gentrification, the cultural myth that perpetuates status value, adult learning, and the implementation of Chicago?s transformative plan. As public housing transforms across the country, urban planners and housing administrators at all levels should analytically review Chicago?s Plan for Transformation. The lessons learned from the hardships of these residents should help eradicate the practice of mass displacements. Transforming public housing is excellent; however, understanding how to transform housing and disperse residents with dignity is the issue. Hopefully, methods of displacement that are truly participatory, more supportive of and sensitive to the needs of the residents, will be instituted.