urban blight: a short primer

Widely used for more than half a century in the United States, the term "blight" carries a very loaded set of meanings in the context ofmodern urban planning and design setting--and how we define "blight" lies at the heart of much of the current controversy concerning eminent domain. The word "blight" stems from Old English origins, where it had the general meaning of a "rust" or a skin disease--the deterioration of something at the surface. This meaning became specifically applied to plants, and the various fungal diseases that didn't just kill the plant but caused its leaves, stems, etc. to become withered or discolored; the most (in)famous of these is the "potato blight" that triggered mass migration of Irish in the 1840s to the United States, Britain, and elsewhere. Over time, "blight" became used as a general term suggesting the spoilage or destruction of something, typically with the connotation that some sort of metaphorical "disease" was at work, resulting in, among other things, the "uglification" of something. Thus, in an urban area, blight is often taken to mean a "run down" neighborhood or building that has fallen into disuse and dilapidation due to a lack of maintenance. This degradation of the landscape is seen as representing a more profound degradation of the resident society. So far, so good; kind of like porn, while we might be hard-pressed to define urban blight in words, we certainly know it when we see it. But there's a catch. The Oxford Dictionary of Geography reminds us that in planning circles, "blight" refers to "the reduction of economic activity or property values in a particular area"--especially in terms of commercial activity as opposed to residential properties (where "slum" is the more commonly applied term). This is why the post-1949 shift in focus of urban renewal efforts in the United States away from "slums" to "blight" is significant; urban renewal ever since has been less about low-income housing and more about generating commercial activity and the increased property values and tax revenues that come with that activity. In other words, a planner's "blighted" building or neighborhood is often someone's beloved "home"--not the most prestigious of properties, but not necessarily something the residents perceive to be "run down". That was certainly the case with the plaintiffs in the recent Supreme Court case concerning New London (CT)'s use of eminent domain. As of yet, Wikipedia does not have an entry on "urban blight", but there is a very good discussion of "urban renewal". Also, you might wish to consult Robert Cowan's Dictionary of Urbanism. I only just now discovered this resource, so I'm not familiar with it. But it does contain an entry on "blight". It seems worth checking out, too.