https://www.charlestonurbanistgroup.com/blog daily 0.75 2026-08-04 https://www.charlestonurbanistgroup.com/blog/how-americas-fight-for-community-perpetuates-a-cycle-of-displacement monthly 0.5 2026-08-04 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6a11f5feb25f796a755ba689/ed63cdad-af0e-4d1b-aa25-b32c0db393b3/Screenshot+2026-07-28+at+9.05.44%E2%80%AFAM.png Blog - The Cost of Community Single-use zoning physically separates residential areas from the places where community is built and social life happens (malls, restaurants, parks, etc). https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6a11f5feb25f796a755ba689/dbc85b0a-847a-4f4b-8013-7e8bc7b9db42/Screenshot+2026-07-28+at+10.02.17%E2%80%AFAM.png Blog - The Cost of Community For example, take historic downtown Charleston. Mixed-use areas like this one allow homes, apartments, cafes, and businesses to coexist, encouraging social interaction and community identity. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6a11f5feb25f796a755ba689/001b4b4e-9c2b-4ae7-8432-46ae21e02568/Screenshot+2026-07-08+at+4.07.22%E2%80%AFPM.png Blog - The Cost of Community Charleston’s first-ever zoning code (1931 Charleston City Plan) had racially restrictive zoning that standardized segregation further and legally encoded it by neighborhood. During the rise of urban renewal, city officials targeted historically Black neighborhoods, labeling them as ‘slums’ to target them with slum clearance projects, only for them to be replaced with even worse public housing projects, which the city refused to invest in. Many of these housing complexes (Gadsden Green, Gadsdenboro, Cooper River Courts) are now sites of intense wealth inequality, where housing was demolished to make way for luxury housing (Gadsdenboro) or luxury housing was built adjacent to public housing (Gadsden Green/Westedge). This follows national trends of slum clearance and urban renewal, which led to mass destruction in other cities, such as Boston’s West End. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6a11f5feb25f796a755ba689/22307eb9-8c55-4a02-bea1-e345a3b57f82/Screenshot+2026-07-08+at+4.09.46%E2%80%AFPM.png Blog - The Cost of Community The federal government drew ‘redlining maps’ all across the United States, which determined where federal home loans could go. In Charleston, historically Black neighborhoods were designated as ‘blighted’ so they could not receive those home loans. This systemically pushed home loans, and thus homeownership, out of reach for many historically Black communities. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6a11f5feb25f796a755ba689/ce306440-2f70-4285-988b-dcd76ad01b61/Screenshot+2026-07-08+at+9.26.45%E2%80%AFPM.png Blog - The Cost of Community During the era of slum clearance and urban renewal, city officials specifically targeted historically Black neighborhoods for clearance, often against the wishes of residents, for those neighborhoods to be replaced with public works projects and segregated public housing. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6a11f5feb25f796a755ba689/68e06e20-1238-4756-ab6d-7a1e6a9f92b0/Screenshot+2026-07-08+at+9.47.29%E2%80%AFPM.png Blog - The Cost of Community With the rise of suburban sprawl, many White communities moved en masse to suburbs like West Ashley and James Island, but kept historically Black communities out of these neighborhoods with racial covenants and other discriminatory practices. Historically Black communities were systematically cut off from homeownership in the suburbs for decades. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6a11f5feb25f796a755ba689/cac65ad9-7a18-407e-be28-b8a897da55a9/Screenshot+2026-07-08+at+9.49.52%E2%80%AFPM.png Blog - The Cost of Community Downtown policy was reshaped around the interests of White suburbanites, even though they no longer lived downtown. New plans and projects were designed to move suburban car drivers around downtown, mostly at the expense of peninsula residents who lived near these roadways. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6a11f5feb25f796a755ba689/56fd4daf-0df0-4426-a03b-3715b5a5bcfb/Screenshot+2026-07-08+at+9.53.01%E2%80%AFPM.png Blog - The Cost of Community Under the guidance of Mayor Joe Riley and preservation groups, the City government changed pace and started to reinvest in downtown. Highway projects stopped; neighborhoods were rehabilitated instead of demolished; new investments were made into King Street; Waterfront Park was built. Tourism also became a key focus of revitalization. https://www.charlestonurbanistgroup.com/home daily 1.0 2026-06-09 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ec321c2af33de48734cc929/1618497259178-6XJGK9GR6YAVBQL5L519/20140301_Trade-151_012-2.jpg Home https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ec321c2af33de48734cc929/1607694583486-2PQT0LQ193RL7MCB6DX4/20140228_Trade+151_0046.jpg Home https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ec321c2af33de48734cc929/1607694644871-IC85FNH781UNZSZEGHDR/Aro+Ha_0428.jpg Home https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6a11f5feb25f796a755ba689/df520259-c40b-46dc-a5c1-7879f597fb46/pexels+webbackground.jpg https://www.charlestonurbanistgroup.com/about daily 0.75 2026-06-09 https://www.charlestonurbanistgroup.com/resources daily 0.75 2026-07-07 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6a11f5feb25f796a755ba689/26b99419-01ab-49e7-81f0-df8fdfc0fd8d/PXL_20260328_234337156.MP.jpg