Comment on John T. Metzger's “planned abandonment: The neighborhood life‐cycle theory and national urban policy”

Metzger fails to define or distinguish key concepts related to neighborhood change theories and policy and instead mischievously treats them interchangeably, as if they were synonyms. The intellectual history he presents is distorted and myopic. Unsupported assertions, distortions, and citations taken out of context characterize his use of evidence. No wonder he erroneously deduces that a monolithic, unchallenged neighborhood life‐cycle theory, promoted by an intellectual conspiracy headed by Anthony Downs, held sway in academic, planning, and policy‐making circles for the past half century.