The lofts of SoHo

American cities entered a new phase when, beginning in the 1950s, artists and developers looked upon a decaying industrial zone in Lower Manhattan and saw, not blight, but opportunity: cheap rents, lax regulation and wide open spaces. Thus, SoHo was born. From 1960 to 1980, residents transformed the industrial neighbourhood into an artist district, creating the conditions under which it evolved into an upper-income, gentrified area. In ‘The Lofts of SoHo’, Aaron Shkuda studies the transition of the district from industrial space to artists’ enclave to affluent residential area.