Population density—not quality of life--was the starkest difference between Pruitt-Igoe and the surrounding area. As illustrated in Fig 10, the Pruitt-Igoe complex presented a startling change from the comparatively sparsely populated surrounding neighborhoods; a difference which may have accounted for the project’s unpopularity. Coupled with poverty and racial prejudice, the close proximity of thousands of frustrated residents within Pruitt-Igoe led to heightened tensions, expressed through vandalism, resentment of authority (welfare workers and the police), an