Park DuValle is a neighborhood southwest of downtown

Louisville Louisville is the most populous city in the Commonwealth of Kentucky, sixth-most populous city in the Southeast, and the 27th-most-populous city in the United States. By land area, it is the country's 24th-largest city; however, by populatio ...

, Kentucky. It was developed starting in the late-19th century and historically been a predominantly

African-American African Americans, also known as Black Americans and formerly also called Afro-Americans, are an American racial and ethnic group that consists of Americans who have total or partial ancestry from any of the Black racial groups of Africa. ...

community. Its boundaries are I-264 (the Shawnee Expressway) to the west, the

Norfolk Southern Railway The Norfolk Southern Railway is a Class I freight railroad operating in the Eastern United States. Headquartered in Atlanta, the company was formed in 1982 with the merger of the Norfolk and Western Railway and Southern Railway. The comp ...

tracks to the north, Cypress Street to the east, and Bells Lane and Algonquin Parkway to the south. The neighborhood reflects the presence of several nearby parks, and DuValle Junior High School; all named after Lucie DuValle, the first female principal of a high school in Louisville.

History

The area began residential development in the late 19th century but most subdivisions were built after the 1940s. It was originally a part of Parkland's "Little Africa" community, where thousands of blacks had moved following the

Civil War A civil war is a war between organized groups within the same Sovereign state, state (or country). The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government policies.J ...

. The shanty homes of Little Africa were replaced with Cotter and Lang housing projects by

Urban renewal Urban renewal (sometimes called urban regeneration in the United Kingdom and urban redevelopment in the United States) is a program of land redevelopment often used to address real or perceived urban decay. Urban renewal involves the clearing ...

efforts. Those now-dilapidated projects are being rebuilt with a HOPE VI revitalization effort, and applying principles of

New Urbanism New Urbanism is an urban design movement that promotes environmentally friendly habits by creating Walkability, walkable neighbourhoods containing a wide range of housing and job types. It arose in the United States in the early 1980s, and has ...

into its design. The new Park DuValle neighborhood, a $200 million investment of public and private funds covering , once dominated by 1100 public housing units, is being transformed into a mixed-income neighborhood in Louisville's west end. The goal of the HOPE VI plan is to build a series of traditional neighborhoods with rental and home ownership opportunities for a wide range of income groups. The greatest challenge has been to successfully provide public housing for those in need while simultaneously attracting middle-income home buyers to the neighborhood. UDA prepared an area-wide Master Plan for the effort that ties in adjacent communities and creates a new commercial center with shops and services for the residential neighborhoods. In addition to the Master Plan,

Urban Design Associates Urban Design Associates (UDA; formerly known as UDA Architects) is an international urban design and architecture firm headquartered in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States. History Urban Design Associates (UDA) was founded in 1964 by David Le ...

created a UDA Pattern Book to guide the design of the housing and to establish the character of each neighborhood. By using the images and forms identified with successful, traditional Louisville neighborhoods, it is hoped that Park DuValle will become attractive to a broad cross section of residents.

References

External links

Street map of Park Duvalle
��Business First June 12, 2012 *[https://web.archive.org/web/20121116171553/http://www.louisvilleky.gov/economicdevelopment/News/2012/FirstChoiceMarketOpensinParkDuValle.htm First Choice will serve as the anchor tenant for the new retail complex,''Wilson Crossing'']—Louisville.gov June 12, 2012
Images of Park DuValle (Louisville, Ky.) in the University of Louisville Libraries Digital Collections
{{Authority control Neighborhoods in Louisville, Kentucky Public housing in the United States New Urbanism communities Populated places in Kentucky established by African Americans