ReMapping Omaha’s “Areas of Concern”: Interstate Construction and the Erasure of Minority Neighborhoods

Keywords: counter-mapping, restorative cartography, race
Session Type: Virtual Paper Abstract
Day: Friday
Session Start / End Time: 2/25/2022 05:20 PM (Eastern Time (US & Canada)) - 2/25/2022 06:40 PM (Eastern Time (US & Canada))
Room: Virtual 47

Abstract

In 1957, the city of Omaha laid out an ambitious plan to improve their community through infrastructure redevelopment. The overall project failed due to resistance against “Area Redevelopment” in a targeted “Area of Concern” mustered from impacted Black and Hispanic neighborhoods, but the transportation piece of the plan was ultimately funded. The transportation funding resulted in the development of Interstate 480 that impacted the “Area of Concern” which was described as “containing approximately 8,000 ‘substandard’ family dwelling units as well as other deteriorated and dilapidated structures, overcrowded structures and overused land.” Within the “Area of Concern” were minority neighborhoods, including Black and Eastern European, whose homes and businesses were ultimately cleared in the name of “making and keeping Omaha a good place in which to live and work.” In addition to destroying homes, the interstate served (and continues to serve) to isolate and segregate Black North Omaha and Hispanic South Omaha from the rest of the city. This paper will present preliminary findings on the Omaha Spatial Justice Project’s work to map the lost communities and consider the long-term implications of neighborhood erasure in the name of urban renewal in Omaha.