History Main / CommunityThreateningConstruction

* WesternAnimation/{{Beetlejuice}} runs for Mayor of the Neitherworld (episode "Mr. Beetlejuice goes to Town") to stave off destroying the Roadhouse for a new highway. His nobility suddenly turns into self-serviance, so Lydia covertly gets him impeached. Before he leaves office, he strikes construction of the highway from the itinerary, saving the Roadhouse.

* In Toronto, the (by then) majority-Chinese neighborhood of The Ward was wiped out to make way for the new city hall and public square. Partially averted in the case of the city's proposed expressway network; those that were completed largely avoided going through existing residential neighbourhoods, but other proposed routes were not going to so considerate. Neighbours organized opposition; they were fortunate to count among their number [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jane_Jacobs Jane Jacobs]], a veteran activist who had already been successful in blocking similar expressway projects in New York.

* This trope was used in an episode of ''WesternAnimation/SpongeBobSquarePants'', when Plankton builds a new highway through Jellyfish Fields.

* ''WesternAnimation/GIJoeRenegades'': Cobra in this continuity is [[MegaCorp a conglomerate with numerous shady operations]], so this comes up a few times, including a hydroelectric dam that's actually a lab for the creation of [[{Mook}} Bio-Vipers]] and Cobra drilling giant tunnels under the entire country to make their planned invasion easier (which causes seismic disturbances above).

* ''WesternAnimation/{{Clarence}}'': In "Rough Riders Elementary", the company that makes rough riders chicken intends to just come for a short while, but then they decide to hypnotize the students and faculty, take over the school, and turn it into another restaurant. In the end it turns out that [[spoiler:Clarence had just made up that story as an explanation for why he doesn't like a new sauce]].

* ''Series/BetterCallSaul'': A major plot point of season 5 is Mesa Verde Bank buying out a neighborhood in Lubbock, Texas to build a call center. One old resident, Everett Acker, strongly objects and refuses to move out in defiance of a court order. Kim, whose main client is Mesa Verde, tries to politely coax him into moving, while Jimmy sees the opportunity to blackmail Mesa Verde into paying Acker (and himself) millions of dollars extra.

* In ''Film/WhoFramedRogerRabbit'', the ultimate plan of the BigBad, Judge Doom, is tear down {{Toontown}} to make way for his freeway in which he will earn the money from the establishments made to compliment the product due to being the sole stockholder of the company in charge of the freeway product. In a darker variant of this situation, rather than forcing them out first, Judge Doom is intent on deliberately [[CessationOfExistence and literally wiping the residents while they're still occupying the space using his concoction known as the Dip]]. An act made more monstrous due to [[spoiler: being revealed to be a Toon as well]].

* ''The Colour Out of Space'' by Creator/HPLovecraft: Averted, the people of Arkham are ''more'' than happy when the new reservoir (based on the Quabbin Reservoir project mentioned in the Real Life section) floods an area known only as the "blasted heath", a formerly verdant farming area turned into a horrible wasteland by a strange meteor crashing there years earlier.

* ''WesternAnimation/{{Clarence}}'': In "Rough Riders Elementary", the company that makes rough riders chicken intends to just come for a short while, but then they decide to hypnotize the students and faculty, take over the school, and turn it into another restaurant. In the end it turns out that [[spoiler: Clarence had just made up that story as an explanation for why he doesn't like a new sauce]].

* Two episodes of ''Radio/TheMenFromTheMinistry'' cover this (a village in Sussex making way for an airport in "Plane Madness" and a Scottish village making way for a hydroelectric dam in "A sense of power"). On both occasions, the villagers vehemently resist...until they discover the compensation payments they'd receive.

The structure involved is commonly either a highway, a big mall, a golf course, a big hotel, etc. Compare RailroadPlot if the project in question is a railroad which is especially common in older works.

* ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons''. When Sideshow Bob becomes mayor, one of the first things he does is reroute a new freeway to go directly through the Simpson property, seizing their house via eminent domain and forcing them to live under a bridge.

* This is the backstory of the film ''WesternAnimation/{{Cars}}''. Before the story starts, the once-vibrant town of Radiator Springs was bypassed by a new interstate, leading to its decline and the events of the film. The building of the Interstate Highway caused travelers to no longer take Route 66 and so turned the once bustling village into a ghost town. Unlike most examples, though, the residents did nothing to stop it because they mistakenly thought more interstate travelers would mean more visitors.