Association for Public Policy Analysis & Management

Decommissioned and failed interstate highway plans in U.S. cities map a sprawling counterhistory to dominant urban planning logics defining most of the twentieth century. This paper will examine alternative place-making strategies in three cities that have rejected multi-lane highway plans in their downtown cores. Charting historic and contemporary protests and public demonstrations in Rochester, NY, Boston, MA and Akron, OH, this paper will show how local residents, urban planners and policy makers have co-created new spatial agenda for assigning land use and territory in communities under economic development pressure. This discussion will also explore demographic changes within these cities and how such changes have informed local policy and political decision-making. Combining archival images, maps and ethnographic material, this paper will analyze the social impact, practice modes and theory-driven contributions of these planning counterhistories and their enduring material legacies.