What is the story?
The earlier sections of Visualizing Urban Renewal explore how visual evidence like photographs can be used to document and to understand, but images can also persuade and tell stories.
The sources in this section show different aspects of how urban renewal unfolded in Tucson. Some of the images tell different stories of what the neighborhood was like for people living and working there during the demolition. Some sources can be used to tell a story about how this area and the people living there were perceived by others. Here you can also explore the language used when promoting and debating the project, as well as what the landscape itself was communicating at the time.
What are some of the stories you can read in these sources? Are they in conflict? What other primary sources could you explore to flesh out stories you’re interested in knowing more about?
Some questions about Urban Renewal are easily answered today, but like any complex issue of diversity and equity, there are many more questions where the answers remain to be discovered or are open to interpretation.
How did these photographs change your mental image of Tucson? Explore more photographs and documents from the Urban Renewal period in the Arizona, Southwestern and Borderlands Photograph Collection.
