Boston Redevelopment Authority: The powerful city agency created in 1957 to oversee construction, zoning, and urban planning in Boston.
Gentrification: The process where a poor or working-class neighborhood changes rapidly because wealthier people move in.
NIMBY: A term for residents who oppose new housing, shelters, or infrastructure in their specific neighborhood, often arguing it will "ruin the character" of the area or cause traffic.
Redlining: A discriminatory policy from the 1930s where the government drew red lines around Black and immigrant neighborhoods on maps, calling them "hazardous." Banks used these maps to refuse mortgages to people in those areas, preventing them from buying homes and building wealth.
Urban Renewal: A period in the 1950s-70s where cities demolished entire "slum" neighborhoods to build highways or government centers.
Local Example: The destruction of the West End in Boston (displacing 20,000 people)
White Flight: The massive post-WWII migration of white residents from diverse American cities to racially homogenous suburbs, peaking between the 1950s and 1970s driven by racism and fear of crime.
YIMBY (Yes In My Backyard)
A newer movement of people who support building more housing everywhere (including their own neighborhoods) to lower costs and fight segregation.
