Midcentury urban renewal policies led to the demolition of large swathes of city. In Easton, Pennsylvania, the Kowtiz Furniture Store building at 3rd and Riverside Drive was razed to make way for the Riverside Drive Development. | J. Walter McCracken, courtesy of Easton Public Library

Curated by MASS Design Group, Fringe Cities dissects the harmful legacy of urban renewal For many American cities, the road to decline was paved with good intentions.
During the mid 20th century, urban renewal swept the U.S. with promises of progress, revitalization, and revival. Instead, it became one of the country?s greatest policy and planning failures, plunging many of the cities and communities most in need of assistance deeper into poverty and decline. Under urban renewal, cities would demolish impoverished areas?known as ?slum clearance? which really meant removing poor people of color?and redeveloping the land to have supposedly higher quality buildings and neighborhoods. These cities are still grappling with the scars wrought by urban renewal?neighborhoods razed, people displaced, communities fragmented, and declining economies?and some of the areas where these scars are most visible today are urban areas with smaller populations. Fringe Cities, a new exhibition curated by MASS Design Group at the Center for Architecture in New York City, dissects the harmful legacy of urban renewal and explores how some small cities most affected by its policies are trying to bounce back. I...