Nick Brown

GEOG 478
Spring 2017

Urban Redevelopment and its Effects on Social Justice

The late American philosopher Marshall Berman once said, To be modern is to find

ourselves in an environment that promises us adventure, power, joy, growth, transformation of

ourselves and the world - and at the same time that threatens to destroy everything we have,

everything we know, everything we are (Berman, 15). We cannot outrun urban redevelopment,

we cannot stop it, however, we can oppose it, we can deter it and we can fight to ensure that

societys ideals of social justice are upheld in the process. The term Social Justice can have a

variety of meanings depending on the individual, however, most can agree that the term

encompasses an utmost fairness without exclusion. I would further this by also saying that social

justice also carries with it a level of preservation. How valuable is the humanity of society? In

2012 TED talk, Bryan Stevenson speaks about the character of society and the ways in which we

shouldnt judge a city by its technology accomplishments but rather the way it takes care of its

people, for there is real social justice. In the 1970s a massive undertaking went underway as the

city of Seattle constructed a massive 80,000 seat dome on the cusp of the Pioneer Square

neighborhood. After only 24 years of service, it was demolished to make way for two new

ballparks. By examining this urban development turned redevelopment we can clearly see

evidence through the processes of creative destruction and gentrification, that urban

redevelopment in the city of Seattle in the last 42 years comes first to the social justice issues of

homelessness and the preservation of local history.

The undertaking of the Kingdome project was not just a massive architecture venture it would

quickly prove to be a massive lifeline to Seattle, primarily those in the proximal areas such as

Pioneer Square and the International District. Once situated on the edge of Pioneer Square,

Seattles Kingdome was at the time of completion (1976) the largest thin-shelled concrete domed

stadium in the world. Before its construction, there were numerous public debates over the feared

outcomes of constructing a project of this magnitude. Such hot topics were traffic flow, as well

as economic and environmental effects it would have. However soon after its completion, many

of these fears were laid to rest when the results of a 1979 study were published. The study

showed that redevelopment projects in Pioneer Square had an increase of 600% compared to the

8 years leading up to the completion of the stadium, (Brambilla, 101). There was also a housing

surge as part of the redevelopment of Pioneer Square. In the year 1979 fourteen apartments were

built in the neighborhood. The completion of the Kingdome cast a sort of Mossian lens upon

Pioneer Square for the undeveloped area was now seen as ripe with opportunity. The area was

indeed utopic in a way for developers and investors because the real estate properties being sold

were suitable for both residential and commercial use. Along with these properties came special

tax and financial incentives (Brambilla, 101) to attract new investors. The Kingdome gave life to

the districts of downtown.

So why after only 24 years of service was the Kingdome demolished? The engineer

behind the development of the Kingdome, John V. Christiansen, was appalled by the news of its

to-be destruction. He stated that I cant understand how a conclusion was reached to demolish

the building, (Byles, 72). There were mixed emotions surrounding March 26th, 2000 when the

Kingdome plummeted from Seattle landscape. While some saw it as the way of the future others
saw it as an erosion of history. I, myself, was saddened by this for it held memories that I have

carried throughout my life. The Kingdome is where I saw Ken Griffey Jr and the Mariners take

down the Yankees in the 1995 MLB playoffs. It's where I received my first live lesson in rock n

roll as I stood mesmerized by Keith Richards as he played Start Me Up. All of this is part of a

now intangible history.

There are numerous answers to the adolescent death of the Kingdome, however, the truest

explanation is that it fell victim to a process known as Creative Destruction. Creative Destruction

is a continuous capitalist process by which outdated or reduced profit producing capital is

destroyed or demolished to make way for a more modernized landscape of which produces

higher yielding profits. Economist Joseph Schumpeter calls this process, that incessantly

revolutionizes the economic structure from within, incessantly destroying the old one,

incessantly creating the new one. This process of Creative Destruction is the essential fact about

capitalism. (Schumpeter, 83). The Kingdome was not producing enough profit for the Seahawks

to stay in Seattle. Without a profit surplus, the team was heavily restricted on recruiting new

talent and maintaining already producing talent. Without new and youthful talent, winning

football games was proving to be inconceivable, without wins there would be a decrease in ticket

sales and so on. Enter billionaire philanthropist, Paul Allen.

With 130 million of Allens money and another 300 million coming from public taxes the Seattle

Seahawks were saved and thus with death, there is a rebirth. Where the Kingdome once

dominated the southern Pioneer Square landscape now stands not one but two ballparks that

would carry Seattleites into the modern setting. Even though the Kingdome was demolished in

2000 it would still take another 15 years to collect enough tax money to pay off the debts. The
debts were paid off nine months ahead of schedule, however, the funds were held in escrow until

the end of the fiscal year. Any remaining proceeds were written off to charities. Of the two new

ballparks, Centurylink field is not set to be paid off until 2021 where Safeco Field was paid off

ahead of schedule in 2011.

So how does the process of gentrification fit into all of this development? Gentrification is the

process renovating and improving a house or district so that it conforms to middle-class taste.

Seattle saw the rapid population growth in the Pioneer Square neighborhood in the 80s and 90s

aided by the installation of the Kingdome and could only surmise the same to be true with the

addition of the two brand new ballparks. This, however, was not what came to be. Instead, what

was seen was a reinvestment in the already established housing. Some of the first evidence of

gentrification came to Pioneer Square around the same time as the implosion of the Kingdome.

What had become popular living in New Yorks Manhattan area in the early post-Fordist era was

arising in Seattle. Loft living was once made popular by artists whom could not afford expensive

rents of traditional housing. Quite often their loft apartments which featured large open floor

plan would double as their studio or gallery. Rent was much cheaper than traditional housing

because the area was not zoned as residential but rather industrial thus these lofts were not

equipped with the necessary living conditions like proper water lines and sewage. When the city

realized the popularity of this loft style living of open floor plans, high ceilings, and exposed

brick a new wave of real estate development was birthed. The Seattle Lofts of Pioneer Square

first appeared in the year 2000 advertising modernity. Easy access to local tech giants Amazon

and Microsoft, they emphasize the historic while charging a minimum 1,300/month in rent

fluttering as high as 3,500/month. While this may be a treat for those who can afford such
astronomical rent prices it is leading to the displacement of many low-income city dwellers who

can not afford the transportation to live outside of the city. In her book Loft Living: Culture and

Capital in Urban Change, Sharon Zukin notes that even land that has remained in heavy use can

be liberated - or forcibly vacated - to change its use to a more profitable one. Though she is

referencing the old industrial neighborhood of lower Manhattan this is similarly the case in

Seattles Pioneer Square.

Gentrification is one of the leading causes of homelessness in Seattle. The surging rent

prices due to renovations or the addition of quaint shops or boutiques (or ballparks on a more

macro scale) to the surrounding area causes displacement to those already struggling to pay rent

and live in the city close to employment. This is why Seattleites continue to see the forever

migrating tent cities that take refuge in various parking lots, business squares and let us not

forget about the alleyway to the south of Safeco Field. The majority of folks that attend sports

games at one of the two fields walk through this alleyway to get to their perspective ballpark.

They all see the makeshift homes in old school buses, the cluttered belongings and while some

might think of how unfortunate these people are most put their head down and pretend they are

not seeing what is around them. There was the tragedy that occurred in September 2016 when a

man was driving on the I5 freeway veered from the offramp onto a grassy area killing a man who

was there asleep in his tent. If there were more of an emphasis on social justice and a little less of

an emphasis on capitalist gain accidents like these could be prevented.

So as we see, urban development is inevitable and thus is redevelopment, and as long as

the population is growing the city must grow as well. However when that growth is envisioned
through the lens of economic wealth instead humanity then society begins to default thus giving

birth to issues of social justice or rather injustices.

Cited Sources:

Berman, Marshall. All that is solid melts into air: the experience of modernity. London: Verso,
2010.

Brambilla, Roberto, and Gianni Longo. Learning from Seattle. Vol. 1. Transaction Publishers,
1980.

Byles, Jeff. Rubble: Unearthing the History of Demolition. Broadway Books, 2005.

Schumpeter, Joseph A. Capitalism, Socialism, and Democracy. New York, NY:

HarperPerennial, 2006.

Zukin, Sharon. Loft living: culture and capital in urban change. New Brunswick: Rutgers
University Press, 1982.