Chad Freidrichs, the director of the documentary The Pruitt-Igoe Myth, commented that the area around Pruitt-Igoe “became something of an amenity desert,” lacking sufficient access to transportation, jobs, and food.[ “Why Did Pruitt-Igoe Fail?” Accessed August 16, 2016. https://www.huduser.gov/portal/pdredge/pdr_edge_featd_article_110314.html. ] The poor could not see their future through the 11-story windows, and Pruitt-Igoe were like the dumping grounds for the poor. The pains of suburbanization Deterioration of the cities inevitably drove people out. Several popular TV series of the 1950s such as Father Knows Best and The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet celebrated a suburban lifestyle, which was embraced by many white, mostly middle-class people. They sought to escape from the declining inner city with …show more content…
Yet, the horrible conditions of the inner city also pushed out working- and middle class blacks. Postwar black suburbanization coexisted with white flight[ Lewyn, Michael. “Two Types of Black Suburbanization.” January 3, 2016. Accessed August 17, 2016. http://www.planetizen.com/node/82983/two-types-black-suburbanization. ], if not on the same scale (In St. Louis, blacks may move to areas like Spanish Lack and Blackjack, while whites may chose farther locations like St. Charles County). Regardless of race, suburbanization was a process in which economically capable people seek better living conditions. The people who could not afford to do so, on the other hand, were left behind. Suburbanization cast a dark shadow over the Pruitt-Igoe. Occupancy peaked at 91% in 1957[ “Why the Pruitt-Igoe Housing Project Failed.” October 15, 2011. Accessed August 17, 2016.