"Africville sat on the northern part of the Halifax peninsula, along the shores of the Bedford Basin, for more than a century. It was neglected by the city, then bulldozed in the 1960s.
Forty years later, there's a compensation package designed to resolve the long-running dispute with evicted residents and their descendants."
more at CBC This is a pretty common phenomenon, occurring in many North American cities. These neighborhoods were often quite historic, though low income and through a result of age, neglect and city legislation, living conditions were quite rough. However instead of trying to gentrify or re-infuse these areas with commerce, the area was completely bulldozed to make way for infrastructure and 'urban renewal'.
In 2002, it was declared a national historic site and just last month 250 000 was put aside to help design a museum and erect a replica of the church, a central and important part of the life of the former residents.
It brings up a few points in heritage conservation. The first is that recognition from the city that people can be tied to a place, a neighborhood. There may be black communities elsewhere in Halifax but Africkville still holds a special bond to the community, creating a sense of identity perhaps? The second is the recognizing of minorities histories, in contract to the traditional 'white mans' creations and recountings being recognized as the only ones of importance. Third the planned intervention. The demolition happened 40 years ago, there are few tangible traces of the neighborhood. By installing a museum, replica church and park ... does the response stay authentic to the site?
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