“This is a story of re-habilitation — one of the most urgent needs in our cities and towns today.”
Drawing from the condition of Bostonian neighborhoods in the 1950s, Charles Correa made a 10 minute animated film titled “You and Your Neighborhood: The Story of Urban Rehabilitation”. Using hand drawn images and diagrams, he presented this film along with a 30-page report as his final Master’s thesis at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in 1955.
In the 1950s, the Housing Association of Metropolitan Boston began mapping the growing changes in the city’s neighborhoods. The Association chose to produce a film highlighting these changes and the need for better housing. The main aim was to create awareness among Boston’s citizens. With funding in place, the Association approached Prof. György Kepes at MIT, who, well aware of Correa’s love for films, urged him to work on this film. Having been trained to think with diagrams as an architect, Correa then chose to work with cartoons to make the film. It is this film that he proposed as the output for his Master’s thesis, something unheard of at MIT at that time.
Correa used his protagonist, Joe, as a metaphor to symbolise the actual problems faced by the people living in Boston’s existing neighborhoods. From issues caused due to the polluting factories and busy railroads amidst the neighborhoods, to the lack of playgrounds for children, youth centers, and shaded spaces for the community, the film discussed numerous reasons that attracted residents to move out of the city in search of a better lifestyle. It also depicted how the flight of residents to newer sections of the city – really the new suburbs, led to a gradual deterioration of the existing neighborhoods.
Still from the film You and Your Neighborhood.
“What if they all fix their houses? What then?
The better things got, the more they would look after them! They would simply reverse the cycle that had spoiled their neighborhood.”
To respond to the decaying neighborhoods, the film drew on solutions like hosting meetings with the residents, forming neighborhood associations and discussing how they could reverse the damage through public participation and their initiatives. Repairing their own properties, clearing out empty lots and turning them into places where children could play, and putting the garbage out right before the collecting truck arrived – were some initiatives that the film touched upon. Additionally, it also highlighted the importance of involving law makers in the process of urban rehabilitation. The film, through its narration and visual treatment, drew emphasis on taking a bottom-up approach – the idea of a participatory approach for neighborhood betterment.
You and Your Neighborhood becomes an asset to understand how Correa’s optimism was rooted not in the changing physical nature of cities, but in its people. These ideas of transforming our neighborhoods at various scales starting from an individual level still resonate today. The question “How can we improve our neighborhoods?” is one that we as citizens need to constantly ask ourselves. The film, true to its title, reminds us of the importance of working at different scales to make our neighborhoods livable and accessible. Your neighborhood starts with you!
To watch the film, click here
– Written by Jaspreet Kaur, Research Fellow