On March 1; 1966; the voters of Tucson approved the Pueblo Center Redevelopment Projectmdash;Arizonarsquo;s first major urban renewal projectmdash;which targeted the most densely populated eighty acres in the state. For close to one hundred years; tucsonenses had created their own spatial reality in the historical; predominantly Mexican American heart of the city; an area most called ldquo;la calle.rdquo; Here; amid small retail and service shops; restaurants; and entertainment venues; they openly lived and celebrated their culture. To make way for the Pueblo Centerrsquo;s new buildings; city officials proceeded to displace la callersquo;s residents and to demolish their ethnically diverse neighborhoods; which; contends Lydia Otero; challenged the spatial and cultural assumptions of postwar modernity; suburbia; and urban planning.Otero examines conflicting claims to urban space; place; and history as advanced by two opposing historic preservationist groups: the La Placita Committee and the Tucson Heritage Foundation. She gives voice to those who lived in; experienced; or remembered this contested area; and analyzes the historical narratives promoted by Anglo American elites in the service of tourism and cultural dominance.La Calle explores the forces behind the mass displacement: an unrelenting desire for order; a local economy increasingly dependent on tourism; and the pivotal power of federal housing policies. To understand how urban renewal resulted in the spatial reconfiguration of downtown Tucson; Otero draws on scholarship from a wide range of disciplines: Chicana/o; ethnic; and cultural studies; urban history; sociology; and anthropology; city planning; and cultural and feminist geography.
2013-06-17 2013-06-17File Name: B01M0B68C8
Review
