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Demographic changes

Since the 1940s, some demographic changes have sometimes been caused by city initiatives for redevelopment.

Throughout the 1950s Pittsburgh's Lower Hill District faced massive demographic changes when 1,551, majority black, residents and 413 businesses were forced to relocate when the city of Pittsburgh used eminent domain to make space for the construction of the Civic Arena. This Civic Arena ultimately opened in 1961. The Civic Arena was built as part of one of Pittsburgh's revitalization campaigns. An auditorium in this space was initially proposed in 1947 by the Regional Planning Association and Urban Redevelopment Authority. The idea of an auditorium with a retractable roof that would house the Pittsburgh Civic Light Opera was more specifically proposed in 1953 by the Allegheny Conference on Community Redevelopment. The following year the Public Auditorium Authority of Pittsburgh and Allegheny County was formed. The Lower Hill District had been approved by the City Planning Commission in 1950. Partially as a result of the Civic arena, the whole Hill District is estimated to only have 12,000 residents now. These governmental organizations caused demographic changes through creating a mass exodus from the lower hill district for the construction of the Civic Arena.

In the 1960s the Urban Redevelopment Authority attempted to redevelop East Liberty with the goal of preserving its status as a market center. Penn Center Mall was the result of this effort. In the process of constructing this mall, approximately 3,800 people were forced to relocate. This proved to be another case of government intervention resulting in demographic changes.

Later on, in the early 2000s, movement of businesses into East Liberty, such as Home Depot, Whole Foods, and Google, created another demographic shift. This era of redevelopment was led by private developers who catered to what one scholar described as “Florida’s creative class.” This change continued to be supported by the Urban Redevelopment Authority; particularly by the executive director Rob Stepney, who said of the redevelopment “We had an inspired and shared vision.” When describing the result of redevelopment he said “East Liberty went from blighted and ‘keep off the grass’ to the definition of what millennials are looking for.”

The Pittsburgh government’s choices during redevelopment and the resulting demographic changes have resulted in criticism and led some residents to believe that displacement was purposeful. In one article published in Public Source, a resident explains their belief that redevelopment plans are part of “deconcentration,” an effort to spread out black and low-income residents in order to prevent them from being concentrated in one place. Others worry that these demographic changes are part of government complicity in gentrification. Gentrification is a process where wealthier residents move into an area, altering it by increasing housing / renting costs and changing the market for businesses in the area. This displaces current residents who are unable to afford living in the changed neighborhood. In East Liberty, for example, people frequently cite housing units being demolished and replaced by businesses as evidence of gentrification. For example, when the East Mall public housing unit was demolished in 2009, and a Target built in its place.