Buying into Downtown Revival: The Centrality of Retail to Postwar Urban Renewal in American Cities

Abstract

This article argues that the link between consumption and civic engagement has an important local, not just national, history and that retailers' involvement in the downtown urban renewal of American cities in the post-WWII era offers a particularly fruitful avenue of investigation. The article focuses on New Haven, Connecticut, and Boston, Massachusetts, where Edward J. Logue served as development chief from 1954 to 1967. His record over these fourteen years, when he was a national leader in federally funded urban renewal, offers a revealing case of how consumption and civic culture intersected at the local level. Although the power given to retailers varied starkly in the redevelopment of these two cities, in both cases department stores were deemed essential to the viability of the central business district. That priority ultimately limited the success of downtown revitalization, given the department store sector's growing suburban orientation and steady economic concentration from the 1960s on.