It began as a housing marvel. Two decades later, it ended in rubble. But what happened to those caught in between?
The Pruitt-Igoe Myth tells the story of the
transformation of the American city in the decades after World War II,
through the lens of the infamous Pruitt-Igoe housing development and the
St. Louis residents who called it home.
The world-famous image of its implosion has helped to
perpetuate a myth of failure, a failure that has been used to critique
Modernist architecture, attack public assistance programs, and
stigmatize public housing residents.
The Pruitt-Igoe Myth seeks to set the historical
record straight. To examine the interests involved in Pruitt-Igoe’s
creation. To re-evaluate the rumors and the stigma. To implode the myth.