Abstract This paper explores the interconnected roles of government-supported redlining and the Federal-Aid Highway Act of 1956 in the decentralization of American cities. While these policies were justified by economic growth, urban renewal, and national defense, they entrenched systemic racial and economic inequalities. Both Black Americans and poor whites faced displacement and disinvestment as redliningContinue reading “Building a Decentralized America: The Role of Redlining, Racism, and the Federal-Aid Highway Act of 1956”