The Hill District

If a poster child of urban blight exists, it can be found in the hills of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The Hill District, located east of downtown Pittsburgh, was once a vibrant African American cultural center that rivaled places like New Orleans, Motown and Harlem. Once global destination for jazz music, The Hill District became a residence of desire rather than desert. Decades of racially motivated neglect and urban renewal efforts in the mid-20^th century left the neighborhoods desolate and vacant. Lack of density, infrastructure and business activity has resulted in a state of despair for most of the neighborhoods.

The western most neighborhood, the Lower Hill, was once a lively neighborhood adjacent to Pittsburgh’s downtown district. It was demolished in the 1950s when the Pittsburgh City Council decided to redevelop the Lower Hill into the Pittsburgh Civic Arena, displacing 8,000 residents and about 400 businesses. Since the demolition of the Civic Arena in 2010 the site has existed as nothing more than an economic wasteland and connection barrier between the Hill and economic opportunity in downtown Pittsburgh.