Changing the Scale of Analysis for Urban Renewal Research: Small Cities, the State of Kentucky, and the 1974 Urban Renewal Directory

Traditional urban renewal scholarship has emphasized the experiences of America’s largest cities, leaving the equally significant story of urban renewal in small cities largely unexplored. This is particularly surprising, given that the overwhelming majority of communities to have received urban renewal funds had populations of less than 50,000. This article uses the state of Kentucky to develop a framework for analyzing the effects of the federal urban renewal program on small cities in the United States. Of particular importance for this research is recognizing the value of the June 30, 1974, Urban Renewal Directory as a data source.