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Voices Of Home In Bluegrass-Aspendale: Constructing The Ideal, Matthew Clarke

Kaleidoscope

This paper explores how different people view the idea of Home by tracing the history of Bluegrass-Aspendale, a public housing project in Lexington, Kentucky. From its opening in 1938 as one the first public housing projects in the country, to its destruction in 2006 by way of a HOPE VI grant, the site has undergone continuous evolution. Situated within the East End neighborhood, a largely African-American community, Bluegrass-Aspendale represents the challenge of urban renewal through the manipulation of housing opportunities. At times espoused as model housing and at others as a collector of crime and destitution, the 571 units demonstrate …