Urban Redevelopment Strategies Research Articles

Reaping the premium in urban redevelopment

IntroductionThis paper investigates new new-built premium in urban redevelopments. Constructing new homes on urban redevelopment sites entails additional investments in reshaped lay-out, refurbished infrastructure, and upgraded outdoor areas. These improvements are expected to yield new-build premiums when the new units are put on the market, with ‘premium’ defined as the extra price that a developer asks for, compared to similar units in the second-hand market, in nearby locations. We askDo urban redevelopment schemes create extra new-build premiums? Does the organisation of redevelopments affect the size of the premium and who harvests it? Method and dataIn focus here are redevelopment schemes in Oslo, Norway, 2002–2015. It distinguishes between four types of developments: greyfield, brownfield and two kinds of infill. This distinction is applied to compare new-build premiums in various redevelopments. As the value-added from upgraded redevelopment may spill over to adjacent neighbourhoods, we also analyse whether such neighbourhoods experience hikes in house-prices. Our dataset consists of sales transactions from approx. 90,000 second-hand house sales and 19,000 new house sales. Results/findingsThe premium for new-builds in relation to second-hand sales varies significantly among the types of development. Units in small infill developments entail significantly higher new-built premiums than units in large brownfield- or greyfield redevelopments. Moreover, some schemes show a negative new-build premium. Examination of existing houses nearby shows a hike in prices in the time-span in question. We conclude that the new-build premium is low, and that developers fail to harvest full new-build premiums in urban redevelopment schemes. DiscussionIn interpreting our findings, we revisit ‘rent-gap theory’ and its emphasis on attracting investment to rundown central areas. Concurrence in scale, design and time helps to explain the differences across types of redevelopments, and why what might be expected to be new-build premiums instead raise prices in existing neighbouring areas.

Impact of land property rights on the informal development of urban villages in China: The case of Guangzhou

Informal development, as a unique phenomenon that has become widespread in China’s urbanization process in recent years, has continued to attract the attention of both the government and academia. Existing studies focus on urban village redevelopment strategies, and little research has been conducted on informal development in urban villages under the land property approach. In particular, research needs to further explore what impact China’s collective land property rights have had on informality in urban villages. This study mainly adopts a qualitative research method, including field observation and in-depth interviews. The research was conducted in urban villages in Guangzhou. The study finds that land property rights have an important impact on urbanization and property rights arrangements have an important impact on resource allocation efficiency. Due to the ambiguity of collective land property rights in China, informal development in urban villages is the result of the collective action of villagers, government, and enterprises under the stimulation of economic development. The interaction of the stakeholders has promoted the rapid development of informal housing in urban villages.

The Empire Strikes Back: FIFA 2.0, Global Peacemaking, and the 2026 FIFA Men’s World Cup

In October 2016, Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA) announced a landmark reform package that ushered in a new era of global football governance known as FIFA 2.0. Despite decades of profitability for its most visible event - the Men’s World Cup (MWC) - FIFA’s leadership had come under intense scrutiny following a corruption and bribery scandal over the MWC selection process and hosting approaches. In this article, we use a critical investigative framework to examine the conjunctural politics of FIFA 2.0 through a critical analysis of official FIFA documents, published media reports, and official bid documents for the 2026 MWC - the first in the FIFA 2.0 era. By selecting the United 2026 bid, FIFA seemingly moved beyond market expansionism and urban redevelopment strategies, seeking instead to functionally and symbolically (re-)imagine the event’s purpose as a principal agent for promoting global peace, unity, and international diplomacy. We offer a rich genealogy of FIFA’s growing presence in global geopolitics – an approach we theorize as global peacemaking – and argue that FIFA’s approach is a rationally and purposefully constructed organizational strategy aimed at exploiting the material and symbolic value(s) of global unity, peace, and international diplomacy as a means of capital accumulation, neoliberal marketization, and an intensification and consolidation of FIFA’s global football empire. We discuss how FIFA’s global peacemaking has accelerated the commercialization MWC and led to an increasingly interdependent and mutually constitutive relationship between the MWC and FIFA.

How the institutional change in urban redevelopment affects the duration of land redevelopment approval in China?

Urban redevelopment is a crucial prescription in response to the problems associated with limited land, urban decay, and fading buildings, especially for China’s megacities. Given that state-dominated urban redevelopment is slow and limited, the Chinese government has proposed a pioneering market-oriented approach to drive urban redevelopment in Shenzhen. This study seeks to examine the impacts of market-oriented institutional arrangements on land redevelopment approval duration (LRAD) in China from the perspective of public and private interests. Various institutional arrangements are observed under the institutional change of urban redevelopment in Shenzhen, and they are differed by the nature of the applicants, including the original property owners (old factory owner (OFO)), their representatives (e.g., village committees (VC) and the government agency involved in redevelopment (URB)), and developers (DP, second-hand property owner). A number of hypotheses are developed, and empirical tests are conducted to verify or dismiss our hypotheses with the data in Shenzhen. The empirical findings indicate that (1) The LRAD is the shortest when the applicant is the OFO and the longest if the applicant is the local government officials such as URB. (2) Compared with the URB, the LRAD is shorter if the VC is the applicant. (3) The LRAD is longer for the projects with a larger redevelopment scale and the projects with more dedicated public facilities. The findings shed new insights into the design and practical effects of market-oriented institutional arrangements on the progress performance of urban redevelopment, which can give the local government a timely reminder that they should examine and approve urban redevelopment schemes in a soundly planned and socially sustainable fashion.

Professional sports venues as catalysts for revitalization? Perspectives from industry experts

ABSTRACT Throughout North America, professional sports venues (PSV) have become a prominent urban redevelopment strategy. Much of the previous research related to PSV has focused on economic impacts and the use of public money to help fund construction. Conversely, there is less research exploring the relationship between PSV and the urban environment. To better understand this relationship, we disseminated a web-based survey to planning and development practitioners. Our research explores the degree to which industry experts: (1) perceive PSV as catalysts for development and revitalization; (2) associate PSV siting, policies, and programs with development and revitalization objectives; and (3) believe PSV investments in different (sub)urban locales can affect neighborhood change. Our findings illustrate a high degree of expert optimism, with respondents reporting that they believe PSV have the capacity to generate place-based changes. Their responses support a downtown-centric perspective, as professionals see greater opportunity for PSV to drive change in downtowns relative to more peripheral locations. Notably, respondents indicate that municipalities play a prominent role in supporting PSV outcomes, primarily through the adoption and implementation of key land use, zoning, and planning policies.

Trade-Offs between Urban Green Space and Densification: Balancing Outdoor Thermal Comfort, Mobility, and Housing Demand

Urban green spaces reduce elevated urban temperature through evaporative cooling and shading and are thus promoted as nature-based solutions to enhance urban climates. However, in growing cities, the supply of urban green space often conflicts with increasing housing demand. This study investigates the interplay of densification and the availability of green space and its impact on human heat stress in summer. For the case of an open-midrise (local climate zone 5) urban redevelopment site in Munich, eight densification scenarios were elaborated with city planners and evaluated by microscale simulations in ENVI-met. The chosen scenarios consider varying building heights, different types of densification, amount of vegetation and parking space regulations. The preservation of existing trees has the greatest impact on the physical equivalent temperature (PET). Construction of underground car parking results in the removal of the tree population. Loss of all the existing trees due to parking space consumption leads to an average daytime PET increase of 5°C compared to the current situation. If the parking space requirement is halved, the increase in PET can be reduced to 1.3°C–1.7°C in all scenarios. The addition of buildings leads to a higher gain in living space than the addition of floors, but night-time thermal comfort is affected by poor ventilation if fresh air circulation is blocked. The protection of mature trees in urban redevelopment strategies will become more relevant in the changing climate. Alternative mobility strategies could help to reduce trade-offs between densification and urban greening.<p>Urban green spaces reduce outdoor temperatures through evaporative cooling and shading and are thus promoted as nature based solutions to enhance urban climates. However, in growing cities, supply of urban green space often conflicts with increasing housing demand. This study investigates the interplay of densification and availability of green and its impact on outdoor human thermal comfort. For the case of an open-midrise (LCZ 5) urban redevelopment site in Munich, eight densification scenarios were elaborated with city planners and evaluated by microclimate modelling in ENVI-met. The chosen scenarios consider varying building heights, different types of densification, vegetation amount and parking space regulations. The greatest impact on physical equivalent temperature (PET) has the preservation of existing trees. Construction of underground car parking results in the removal of the tree population. Loss of all existing trees due to parking space consumption leads to an average daytime increase of 5 °C PET compared to the current situation. If the parking space requirement is halved, the increase in PET can be reduced to 1.3 to 1.7 °C in all scenarios. Adding buildings leads to a higher gain in living space than adding floors, yet night time thermal comfort is affected by poor ventilation if fresh air circulation is blocked. Protecting mature trees in urban redevelopment strategies will gain more relevance in changing climate. Alternative mobility strategies can help to reduce trade-offs between mobility, densification and microclimate.</p>

When Heritage Meets Creativity: A Tale of Two Urban Development Strategies in Kampong Glam, Singapore

In recent years, cities around the world have increasingly relied on culture–based development strategies for the revitalization of urban areas, such as urban heritage and the development of a creative economy. Typically, either one of these practices is put in place; however, in Kampong Glam, Singapore, both heritage development and creative economy strategies have been adopted by the national government and local organizations. This paper studies the coincidence of the two main culture–based urban development strategies and its implications in the same physical urban place. Drawing on geospatial mapping techniques and archival data, we aim to illustrate how the two cultural urban redevelopment strategies manifest and interact in urban space. We find that stakeholders draw on each strategy to counteract the excesses of the other, given their different aims and audiences, so as to regulate the interaction between the two and achieve balance among competing interests in the neighborhood.

Reconstruction or Reuse? How Real Estate Values and Planning Choices Impact Urban Redevelopment

Local administrators and private investors rely on various urban redevelopment strategies, the choice of which depends on the economic expectations of property owners and investors. Some of these options foresee replacing obsolete buildings with new constructions; others prefer the reuse of existing assets. This study examines the conditions that make these different strategies feasible, bringing to light the aspects that favor demolition and reconstruction processes over interventions based on the redevelopment of existing assets. The analysis focuses on the variables that determine the choice between these two options. The model that has been developed highlights, on one hand, the role of urban planning tools and urban densification and, on the other, the relationship between the land market and the value of existing assets. The model has been tested on five cities in northern Italy, which fall into three territorial categories—large metropolitan cities, medium-sized cities, and cities of limited rank—to test how different social and economic contexts affect the feasibility of the strategies we evaluated. The results of the study underscore the extent to which the demolition and reconstruction of existing assets is only viable in certain limited areas and under particular market and settlement conditions. While large metropolitan areas seem to have the option of radically replacing existing real estate assets, medium-sized cities and especially small cities are constrained in redeveloping existing urban assets and must forego demolition and reconstruction projects, which do not prove to be economically feasible.

Gamification of Urban Development Strategies: Facilitating Understanding of Stakeholder Roles and Strategies

Cities are multifunctional entities, catering to diverse activities and populations. As a result, urban redevelopment strategies often carry important externalities and inclusive processes should be established to move from a traditional planned city to a co-productive city. The following article presents a gamification exercise as a learning activity for a course in Tourism Planning and Development. Game-elements have increasingly been included in consultation rounds as tools to improve co-creation, inclusivity, creativity, and general stakeholder support. The proposed game allowed students to increase their understanding of power-processes and stakeholder strategies, and adapt to other player goals due to the need to gather broad democratic support. Through the game, students became active participants in the creative process of redeveloping city spaces rather than purely critiquing existing plans as passive observers.

The Fall of the Zariad´e: Monumentalism and Displacement in Late Stalinist Moscow

The Fall of the Zariad´eMonumentalism and Displacement in Late Stalinist Moscow Katherine Zubovich (bio) The USSR Council of Ministers issued a decree in January 1947, calling for the construction of eight skyscrapers in Moscow. The decree listed heights and locations for each of the buildings. It assigned Soviet ministries and organizations to build each structure. And it set forth aesthetic parameters for design, stating that "the proportions and silhouettes of these buildings ... must be drawn from the historical character of the architecture of the city and from the silhouette of the future Palace of Soviets."1 Moscow's skyscrapers would ring around that future Palace of Soviets, serving one or more purposes specified in the decree: residential structure, office tower, or hotel.2 These buildings would also supplant the primacy of the city's numerous churches, which had long served, as Blair Ruble writes, as crucial "guideposts in a thoroughly jumbled urban environment."3 Moscow's eight skyscrapers were to transform an 800-year-old cityscape into a modern metropolis worthy of its status as capital of the world's first communist state. That the locations chosen for Moscow's skyscrapers were not empty—that they were inhabited by tens of thousands of Muscovites—was a fact not [End Page 73] addressed in the initial decree of January 1947. Like other elements necessary to the realization of this city-wide urban redevelopment scheme—from labor resources to materials—the enormous tasks of displacement and resettlement were considered only after the skyscraper project was already underway. Each of the construction offices in charge of building Moscow's new towers would thus find itself responsible in the coming years not just for building skyscrapers but also for constructing housing, schools, clinics, and other amenities for displaced Muscovites. By 1949, the resettlement of residents displaced by Moscow's skyscrapers would come to preoccupy Soviet officials at all levels of the bureaucracy, from administrators working in special resettlement offices to Lavrentii Pavlovich Beria, who oversaw the skyscraper project as a whole until his arrest in June 1953. The displacement of tens of thousands of residents was one of the most significant effects of Moscow's postwar skyscraper construction. Yet when Soviet officials began working on this building project in 1947, the issue of displacement was far from their minds. Focusing initially on the symbolic potential of the new structures, Soviet leaders and architects paid scant attention to the broader implications of their monumental vision for the capital.4 Architectural drawings, like those by Arkadii Mordvinov, rendered invisible the lines that connected Moscow's new skyscrapers with the shadow city that the skyscraper plan required. In the distant vanishing point of Mordvinov's drawing of the Hotel Ukraine (Fig. 1), for example, lay the town of Kuntsevo—one of the locations chosen for the resettlement of displaced residents. While Mordvinov included in the foreground of his image soldiers marching in formation across the New Arbat Bridge, a different drawing might have pictured an exodus of Muscovites flooding out of central Moscow in the direction of podmoskov ´e. Looking beyond the frame of images like Mordvinov's, this article considers the experiences of those individuals displaced by buildings like his Hotel Ukraine. Their lives help illuminate the space where socialist realist plan met reality. This article explores the city that emerged in the postwar years in the shadow of Moscow's skyscrapers. I focus on the most central and most densely populated location chosen for skyscraper development in 1947: the Zariad´e district. The Zariad´e skyscraper was never built to completion, but the location [End Page 74] Click for larger view View full resolution Figure 1. Hotel Ukraine on Dorogomilovo Embankment, architect Arkadii Mordvinov, c. 1951 Source: Shchusev State Museum of Architecture. chosen for the structure was cleared and construction work had begun on the site by 1950. Drawing on letters sent to construction managers and state officials by residents of the Zariad´e, this article examines how resettlement was experienced by those who found themselves unceremoniously exiled from the center of Moscow to its periphery. The article thereby contributes to a growing literature on the development of the outlying districts of Soviet...

Redefining the city and demolishing the rest: The techno-green fix in postcrash Cleveland, Ohio

This paper examines the techno-environmental urban policy that emerged in Cleveland, Ohio following the financial crisis, consisting primarily of mass demolition and greening programs, we argue this techno-green fix is an urban redevelopment strategy in shrinking cities that reshapes these places into manageable islands of urban development. Demolition and green reuse accelerated displacement without gentrification in long established low-income communities of color while reinforcing the racial hierarchies in US property markets. We demonstrate how the unevenness of the demolition program mirrors earlier racialized practices while adopting the rhetoric and strategy of “smart shrinkage.” We show that behind its neutral and scientific ambition, this strategy targets the most disadvantaged areas of the inner city. The market rational of these programs reproduces old patterns of racial segregation in the city. Finally, we show that the “green” dimension of this strategy is highly ambivalent. If “greening” is publicly presented as a means to benefit marginalized areas and residents, it is also used as a way to transfer the maintenance of urban services to poor residents on the city’s east side, to erase urban spaces, and to foster market dynamics.

A qualitative exploration of arts‐based neighbourhood revitalization: The case of ‘The Space at 2106 Main’ in West Tampa, Florida

AbstractAs cities are compelled to compete for new sources of investment and revenue, arts‐based economic development strategies have become the norm. The purpose of this paper is to revisit and reevaluate some of the conventional claims about the arts as an important economic development strategy by exploring a case study called “The Space at 2106 Main” in a rapidly gentrifying neighbourhood called West Tampa. The results of this study suggest that the arts are indeed assuming a greater role in economic policy under the auspices of West Tampa community redevelopment areas (CRA) and the direct actions of various arts related entrepreneurs. The results however, point to a mixed picture that raises difficult questions about the medium to long‐term effects of this urban redevelopment strategy, especially on the poor and mostly minority residents of West Tampa.

From landscapes of utopia to the margins of the green urban life

Today, municipal decision-makers, planners, and investors rely on valuation studies of ecosystem services, public health assessments, and real estate projections to promote a consensual view of urban greening interventions such as new parks, greenways, or greenbelts as a public good with widespread benefits for all residents. However, as new green projects often anchor major investment and high-end development, we ask: Does the green city fulfil its promise for inclusive and far-reaching environmental, health, social, and economic benefits or does it create new environmental inequalities and green mirages? Through case examples of diverse urban greening interventions in cities reflecting different urban development trajectories and baseline environmental conditions and needs (Barcelona, Medellin, and New Orleans), we argue that urban greening interventions increasingly create new dynamics of exclusion, polarization, segregation, and invisibilization. Despite claims about the public good, these interventions take place to the detriment of the most socially and racially marginalized urban groups whose land and landscapes are appropriated through the creation of a ‘green gap’ in property markets. In that sense, green amenities become GreenLULUs (Locally Unwanted Land Uses) and socially vulnerable residents and community groups face a green space paradox, whereby they become excluded from new green amenities they long fought for as part of an environmental justice agenda. Thus, as urban greening consolidates urban sustainability and redevelopment strategies by bringing together private and public investors around a tool for marketing cities with global reach, it also negates a deeper reflection on urban segregation, social hierarchies, racial inequalities, and green privilege.

A Critique of the Application of Neighborhood Sustainability Assessment Tools in Urban Regeneration

Neighbourhood Sustainability Assessment Tools (NSA tools) are fast becoming the principal framework for urban planners and developers for promoting urban sustainability. The majority of NSA tools promote a specific type of urban development that effectively excludes regeneration projects from the urban sustainability conversation. Given that the world’s megacities are mostly built, it is argued that it is essential that strategies for global sustainability consider that urban development is focussed internally to address existing, under-serviced communities in particular need of meaningful intervention and sustainable redevelopment frameworks. The paper uses existing knowledge on NSA tools to highlight the shortcomings of outcomes-based approaches to urban governance and builds the case that the technocratic “one-size-fits-all” approach adopted by many tools inadequately accounts for underlying institutional, social and economic arrangements that influence urban development, making them inappropriate for application in both planned and existing communities. The paper proposes that urban redevelopment strategies need to be derived from the urban realities of a particular place or context. Such strategies must be grounded in principles of urban governance, participatory action and an understanding of market dynamics. Without these collaborative procedural frameworks, urban regeneration projects will continue to inadequately transition towards more comprehensive sustainability.

Walkable and resurgent for whom? The uneven geographies of walkability in Buffalo, NY

Planners and policymakers are increasingly calling for investment into walkable neighborhoods as a means for creating new social, economic, and cultural value in cities. Such calls are often for the kind of high density, mixed-use urbanism that existed prior to the automobile era. Notably, many older industrial cities once exhibited this style of urbanism, and were characterized as “walking cities”. More recently, these cities have battled persistent population loss, economic contraction, physical deterioration, and auto-oriented development. As such, their landscapes of walkability may now be fractured or uneven. Moreover, redevelopment efforts that champion “walkability” in such places are regularly targeted toward stable and gentrifying neighborhoods, rather than more distressed areas where resident mobility is comparatively limited. This paper engages with these and related themes for Buffalo, NY—a classic American “shrinking city”—to understand if/how walkability varies for different socioeconomic and demographic groups. We use WalkScore® data measured at the census block group-level to study the geographies of walkability relative to selected socioeconomic attributes. We find that walkable block groups are highly clustered in certain parts of the city, that housing values in walkable areas are increasing, and that individuals in poverty and members of certain minority groups live in block groups with disproportionately low WalkScore®. Crucially, the city features several clusters of limited mobility wherein walkability is poor and residents have insufficient access to automobiles. These results suggest that social justice must be a prominent element in urban redevelopment strategies that call for investments into “walkability”.

The duality of space: The built world of Du Bois’ double-consciousness

Using Du Bois’ concept of double-consciousness, this article explores African Americans’ responses to urban redevelopment strategies that undermine their claims to urban space. Set in post-Katrina New Orleans, this study centers residents’ visions for urban redevelopment, which reveal the severe economic, social, and spatial inequalities that they have historically faced but also the beauty and vibrancy of these communities. This article explores the spatiality of black residents’ double-consciousness and argues that space’s material and symbolic functions contribute to residents’ subaltern visions for urban development, views which counter the denigration of spaces inhabited by people of color with more socially and racially just visions for the future of the city.

Scaling up LEED-ND sustainability assessment from the neighborhood towards the city scale with the support of GIS modeling: Lisbon case study

Cities and governments are increasingly interested in refurbishing the existing built environment as a key component in plans to reduce GHG emissions and resource efficiency strategies. In this sense, the building industry started to develop sustainability assessment tools, first to guide new or major renovation building projects, and slowly progressing toward the evaluation of neighborhoods and cities. However, scaling up sustainability is a challenge due to the increased number of parameters and stakeholders involved in the decision-making process. This paper presents a methodology to scale up LEED-ND sustainability assessment from the neighborhood towards the city scale with the support of GIS modeling. This approach was tested for the current Lisbon case study. It resulted in the identification of the priority intervention areas and parameters. The paper further highlights four policy recommendations: reduce water flood risk; increase mixed residential and non-residential developments; reinforce the adoption of energy certifications, and create similar schemes for water consumption. These findings can support decision-makers to develop urban redevelopment strategies and improve the overall city sustainability performance.

City gate as key towards sustainable urban redevelopment: A case study of ancient Gungnae City within the modern city of Ji'an

Culture is a key tool for promoting sustainable urban redevelopment, by preserving the urban identity, attracting activities and visitors, and fostering the quality of life. While cultural heritage sites are characterized by a large concentration of visitors, causing increased traffic flows, it is necessary to provide optimal access to cultural monuments in terms of sustainable mobility. This study focused on the city gates that have access to the cultural World Heritage Site of Gungnae City within the city of Ji'an. Space syntax approach was used in the study to explore spatial accessibility by remodeling of city gate. It is of concern that the identity characteristics of a sustainable urban form and cultural feature of the city can be recognized through the spatial configurations of urban spaces. Spatial accessibility is regarded as an integral part of the sustainable use and contemporary expression of the cultural heritage. It is noted that accessible cultural monuments can perform their function for sustainable urban redevelopment. We argued that the city gates play a crucial role in the mutual interactions among urban spaces, street networks, and human traffic, and provide people with places on gate to stay. It is of concern that the city gate remodeling in the study enables overlapping use of ancient and modernized urban zones and offers an example of multi-layered street networks and mixed-use urban ensembles in terms of urban sustainability. We concluded that urban cultural heritage should be integrated into sustainable urban redevelopment strategies to enhance the liveability of historic cities while respecting their identities.

Local Climate Zone Mapping for Energy Resilience: A Fine-grained and 3D Approach

The LCZs (Local Climate Zones) system and its mapping have been emerging in recent years as an important approach to study the variations of local climates in cities, which are closely linked to human comfort issues and building energy demand. However, most of the current practices of LCZs mapping are based on 2D satellite images that can only provide rough estimations. This study tries to improve the current LCZs mapping methods by proposing a bottom-up method that adopts high-resolution 3D building data, land cover data, land use data, etc. This fine-grained and 3D LCZs mapping method has three advantages: using urban block unit as the basic spatial unit to derive more reasonable LCZs; bridging the real urban form with urban canyon models to provide more appropriate parameters; and adopting the linear interpolation algorithm to improve the current LCZs classification system. The mapping method has been tested in Manhattan, Atlanta and central Tokyo, and the results show distinctive LCZ types and distribution patterns in these three cities. This method can be used to provide more accurate LCZs maps that help to better understand human comfort and simulate urban-scale building energy performance, which could inform urban designers and policy makers on the UHI mitigation strategies and urban redevelopment strategies.

Walking in Memphis: revisiting the street politics of Ms Jacqueline Smith

This piece revisits the street politics of Ms Jacqueline Smith and her two-plus decades of protest outside the former Lorraine Motel, where civil rights leader Rev Dr Martin Luther King, Jr, was assassinated. Now the National Civil Rights Museum, the Motel is part of a growing heritage tourism industry in the American South, where landscapes of civil rights memorialization are often contested publicly and exist alongside other landscapes of racism. More recently, projects like the Museum have become central to urban redevelopment schemes and vehicles of gentrification. This piece introduces Ms Smith’s protest in relation to such themes in cultural geography, followed by the reproduction of a blog post documenting the author’s encounter with Ms Smith in June 2015. It urges cultural geographers to engage with Ms Smith’s street politics in their writings on landscape and their teachings in the classroom.