D. Bradford Hunt's Blueprint for Disaster: The Unraveling of Chicago Public Housing explores the long and complicated corrosion of the Chicago Housing Authority (CHA) and its housing projects, which has resulted in the demolition of many of its high rises and displacement of tens of thousands of residents at the start of the twenty-first century. Examining CHA records and US federal legislative history, Hunt addresses the question, ‘what went wrong with public housing in Chicago?’ Hunt's multi-faceted answer blames federal policies, local politicians and progressive housing reformers for their collective failure to anticipate how their policies could lead to the demise of public housing.

According to Hunt, a dysfunctional relationship between federal and local authorities resulted in an overall failure to tailor public housing to the needs of Chicago's residents. Federal guidelines aimed at cost-cutting, reliance on income-based rents and the increase of moderately priced homes in the suburbs respectively pushed and pulled working-class residents into the private housing market. Chicago's political machine also wreaked havoc on the CHA, allowing alderman to veto CHA clearance and public housing sites, and forcing the CHA to rely on expensive and unnecessary union labour for basic maintenance tasks.

In addition to problems at the federal and local levels, Hunt blames progressive reformers whose well-intentioned efforts often contributed to racial segregation and turmoil in CHA projects. Social reformers such as CHA director Elizabeth Wood, who backed open occupancy and promoted high-quality public housing, also supported slum clearance efforts that had a disproportionate impact on Chicago's black community. These same reformers, concerned with the lack of housing for large families, incorporated multi-bedroom units into high-rise projects such as the Robert Taylor Homes and Cabrini-Green. Yet, according to Hunt, the high ratio of youths to adults, resulting from these multi-bedroom units, ultimately contributed to these buildings’ severe deterioration. Finally, progressive reformers accepted the principle embedded in the 1937 Housing Act that public housing should not interfere with the private housing market. While the market failure approach worked well before World War II and during the post-war housing shortage, Hunt makes it clear that by 1950 it was cheaper to buy a home in the suburbs than it was to construct one unit of public housing in Chicago. Despite the changing nature of the private housing market, there was no corresponding transformation of public housing policy.

Hunt's work reinvigorates the scholarship on public housing, demonstrating that racism, real estate interests, and conservative politicians provide only a partial answer in terms of what ‘went wrong’. While there is room for further research on the impact of architectural design, youth to adult ratios, and other causes of social disorder within the housing projects, Hunt illustrates how well-intentioned policies can lead to unintended consequences. In the end Hunt provides a comprehensive history as well as a cautionary tale for the future. As the CHA embarks on its 2000 Plan for Transformation, demolishing projects and clearing land, it must strive to solve complex housing problems that earlier reformers and politicians failed fully to grasp.