Cities the atlas plans to cover

Strong v4 or v5 cases. Substantial archival record, identified organizing lineage, and in most cases a live present-day fight the essay can land on.

• Pittsburgh, PA

  Lower Hill District

  Community

  African-American; Jewish, Italian, Syrian

  Displacement

  Approximately 8,000 residents displaced for the Civic Arena, 1956 to 1958.

  Resistance

  Organizing lineage runs through the 2008 One Hill Community Benefits Agreement around the Penguins arena.

  Sources

  Whitaker, Smoketown; August Wilson's plays as primary literary sources.

• San Diego, CA

  Barrio Logan and Chicano Park

  Community

  Mexican-American

  Displacement

  I-5 and the Coronado Bridge, 1969, displaced approximately 5,000 residents.

  Resistance

  On April 22, 1970, residents took over the bridge pylons and produced Chicano Park, designated a National Historic Landmark in 2016. A rare full-victory case.

  Sources

  Barrio Rising (Espinosa); SDSU Chicano Park digital exhibit.

• Oakland, CA

  West Oakland (Acorn and the Cypress Freeway)

  Community

  African-American

  Displacement

  The Acorn Project took 50 blocks and more than 500 families. The Cypress Freeway (I-880) and I-980 took another 600 plus.

  Resistance

  Rare relocation victory after the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake collapsed the Cypress structure: Mandela Parkway replaced the elevated freeway.

  Sources

  Self, American Babylon; WOEIP; Schwarzer, Hella Town.

• Seattle, WA

  Central District and Chinatown/International District

  Community

  African-American (70 percent plus of the CD through the early 1970s); Japanese, Chinese, and Filipino-American in ChID

  Displacement

  I-5 demolished approximately 4,500 homes citywide.

  Resistance

  Rare multiracial coalition: Bob Santos's InterIm CDA and the Four Amigos coalition.

  Live 2026

  Sound Transit light-rail siting through ChID; Africatown CLT.

  Sources

  Taylor, Forging of a Black Community; Santos, Humbows, Not Hot Dogs!

• San Francisco, CA

  Manilatown and the International Hotel

  Community

  Filipino manong; Chinese elders

  Displacement

  1968 eviction notice issued to approximately 150 tenants. A nine-year fight ended on August 4, 1977 when 400 riot police removed the last residents.

  Resistance

  The fight produced San Francisco rent control in 1979.

  Sources

  Habal, San Francisco's International Hotel; Curtis Choy documentary.

• Washington, DC

  Southwest Quadrant

  Community

  African-American, more than 70 percent of the displaced

  Displacement

  The DC Redevelopment Act of 1950 cleared 99 percent of Southwest buildings; more than 23,000 residents displaced.

  Resistance

  Origin of Berman v. Parker (1954), the Supreme Court precedent that legalized "blight" clearance nationally.

  Sources

  Gillette, Between Justice and Beauty; Smithsonian ACM A Right to the City.

• Milwaukee, WI

  Bronzeville

  Community

  African-American

  Displacement

  I-43 construction through the 1960s (figures vary widely and need verification).

  Resistance

  Father James Groppi and the NAACP Youth Council led 200 consecutive open-housing march nights, producing the 1968 Milwaukee open-housing ordinance.

  Sources

  Jones, The Selma of the North; America's Black Holocaust Museum.

• Phoenix, AZ

  Golden Gate Barrio

  Community

  Mexican-American

  Displacement

  Approximately 6,000 residents displaced and roughly 1,600 houses lost for Sky Harbor Airport's westward expansion in the 1970s and 1990s. Introduces airport expansion as a distinct mechanism.

  Sources

  Phoenix Historic Preservation "Community Expansion" report; ASU Chicano/a Research Collection.

v5 or later. Longer research horizon. Each carries a distinct mechanism the atlas wants to document (treaty violation, subaqueous displacement, airport expansion, smaller-city renewal) rather than repeat the freeway pattern already covered.

• Allegany Seneca Nation

  Kinzua Dam

  Community

  Senecas; 600 plus displaced; 10,000 acres, one third of the reservation

  Displacement

  The Kinzua Dam was completed in 1965 in violation of the 1794 Treaty of Canandaigua.

  Sources

  Bilharz, The Allegany Senecas and Kinzua Dam; Seneca Nation Onöhsagwë:de' Cultural Center.

• Celilo Falls

  Columbia River Tribes

  Community

  Multiple tribes; continuous Indigenous settlement for an estimated 15,000 years

  Displacement

  The Dalles Dam closed on March 10, 1957. Technically distinct mapping challenge: a subaqueous place.

  Resistance

  CRITFC (1977) is the direct organizational descendant; legal lineage through U.S. v. Oregon and the 1974 Boldt Decision.

  Sources

  Barber, Death of Celilo Falls; Ulrich, Empty Nets.

• Stockton, CA

  Little Manila and Chinatown/Japantown

  Community

  Filipino, Chinese, and Japanese-American

  Displacement

  Downtown redevelopment and the Crosstown Freeway (early 1970s).

  Resistance

  Active organization: Little Manila Rising (Mabalon/Delvo).

  Sources

  Mabalon, Little Manila Is in the Heart.

• Tampa, FL

  Central Avenue and The Scrub

  Community

  African-American and Afro-Cuban

  Displacement

  Mid-century renewal plus late-1960s I-275 construction.

  Sources

  Tampa Bay History Center; USF Special Collections civil rights exhibit.

• Richmond, VA

  Jackson Ward and Navy Hill

  Community

  African-American; 7,000 plus displaced (approximately 10 percent of Black Richmond)

  Displacement

  Richmond-Petersburg Turnpike (I-95, 1958) cut Jackson Ward in two.

  Resistance

  Rare contemporary victory: the Richmond Crusade for Voters coalition defeated the Navy Hill arena in 2020. Reconnect Jackson Ward now proposes a cap-and-lid over I-95.

  Sources

  Richardson, Built by Blacks; Reconnect Jackson Ward.