Has architecture been made the scapegoat for the failures of public housing in Chicago? Not exactly, says Roberta Feldman. “It’s more serious than that. It’s been used to mask failed government policy. And now it’s being used to conduct another grand experiment on the poor.”
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Feldman, who teaches architecture at UIC and codirects its City Design Center, has been involved in public housing issues since 1987, when Northeastern Illinois University sociologist Susan Stall invited her to participate in a conference on women and housing. Feldman conducted a workshop on designing for small spaces. “The public housing residents there saw an architect who had a social heart,” says Feldman, “and I saw there was a story here that’s been invisible.”
“Don’t get me wrong,” she adds. “Architecture is still deeply important, and I’m in favor of quality design in public housing. But it has its place and its limits, and we can’t look to it to cure poverty.”
Art accompanying story in printed newspaper (not available in this archive): photos/Jon Randolph.
