Planned Destruction

Drawing on primarily government sources and maps created by Harland Bartholomew, this story map tells the story of the devaluation and destruction of neighborhoods in Downtown Richmond, Virginia through comprehensive plan. This is just the beginning of a larger project which will explore urban renewal's destructive impact on the African American community as well as document the many victims of displacement in the former capital of the Confederacy.

It is the author's goal to use GIS software to digitally reconstruct and repopulate Richmond's lost communities in an effort to document and preserve a part of African American history in Richmond that has been forgotten. Thank you for your interest and stay tuned!

While Harland Bartholomew labeled the places that African Americans lived to be blighted and obsolete, those living in those spaces would argue otherwise. Despite the constraints of Jim Crow laws and discriminatory housing and lending practices, African Americans built and created a thriving community in the Downtown Richmond area.

I just remember it as a really warm community, where everybody wanted to know your accomplishments...[a] very nurturing community.” - Faithe Norrell, Former resident of Navy Hill

This map is representative of the people, places, businesses and organization that existed in the Downtown Richmond areas declared to be “obsolete" and "blighted". The victims were unjustly deprived of so much and the damage has impacted generations of African Americans. Sadly, much of the property that the city took from African Americans during the urban renewal period has been under-utilized with an ever decreasing valuation. The City is currently working on a  redevelopment plan for the Downtown area  which presently does not include any restorative actions for the communities displaced from the area.

Thank you for taking the time to view this story map. Comprehensive plans matter. The comprehensive plan created and implemented during the 1930s-40s has had a catastrophic impact on the African American community in the former capital of the Confederacy. African Americans were impacted financially as well as politically, since Downtown Richmond was a strong voting bloc for African Americans. The devastation was premeditated and deliberate and has resulted in concentrated poverty (and concentrated wealth), inaccessibility to housing, educational and wealth generating opportunities and the lives of African Americans being cut drastically compared to their neighbors in other areas of the city (sometimes only blocks away from each other).

Mr. Bartholomew had the platform to create and destroy spaces. Urban planners today should learn from Bartholomew's mistakes and work to create more equitable and restorative urban designs.

For those of you living, working or who just love the City of Richmond, if you are not yet involved or reviewed the  City of Richmond's Draft Master Plan , then please do so. City plans are only as good as the people who shape and create them. Thank you for your time and consideration.