Seeing like the shadow state: philanthropy, memory, and public housing redevelopment in Syracuse, NY

ABSTRACT

This article examines Blueprint 15, a planned neighborhood redevelopment and public housing transformation in Syracuse, NY. It argues that Blueprint 15 provides an ideal project through which we can interrogate the role of the philanthropic and non-profit sectors in urban governance in the twenty-first century in a way that attends to Peck’s (2004) call for attention to actually existing neoliberal cases. Analyzing Blueprint 15 confirms something that has been noted in many studies—the trend of devolving or offloading urban governance to these sectors—while also, as we will argue, demonstrating some nuanced ways in which shadow state institutions go about their work. In particular, we draw on Scott (1998) to argue that shadow state actors mobilize local, albeit selective memories of urban renewal to make both neighborhood space and populations legible in ways that reinforce their particular governing logics. Thus, something as highly intangible as memory is mobilized to concretely remake urban space.

KEYWORDS:

• Urban renewal
• public housing
• memory
• gentrification
• philanthropy
• neoliberalism

Acknowledgements

The authors wish to thank Don Mitchell and Matt Huber for their comments on earlier drafts, as well as the individuals who agreed to be interviewed for this study. All errors or shortcomings remain our own.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Declaration of interest statements

The authors declare no conflicts of interest.

Notes

1 The “East Adams Street neighborhood” more or less co-emerged as such with the Blueprint 15 redevelopment plans and is not a formally defined district within Syracuse. Instead, the name has emerged to describe the loose area containing the three public housing projects affected by the redevelopment plans.

2 Jackson, who has openly written and spoken about his views on Blueprint 15 in local media outlets, agreed to be identified by name for the purposes of this study. Because of his public profile, he is the only interviewee we identify by their real name in this paper.

3 Name has been changed to protect participant confidentiality.

4 Name has been changed to protect participant confidentiality.

5 The U.S. Congress, rather than HUD, was largely responsible for defunding public housing over the decades and shifting policies that made the eradication of traditional public housing possible (Smith, 2013). Meanwhile, the Faircloth Amendment, passed in 1999, prohibited the construction of any new public housing units (Barkan, 2021).

6 The concept of “choice” is a bit of a red herring here. HUD maintains extensive limitations on the opportunity for voucher holders to “port out” of their jurisdiction and use their voucher in a new locale (HUD, 2019). Additionally, less than 2% of all currently leased vouchers as of June 2021 were ported out of their jurisdiction of origin (HUD, 2021).