Comments on: The Dynamic American City

By: slackmeyer

slackmeyer — Fri, 13 Mar 2009 16:47:24 +0000

Michael, funny you should mention Robert Moses … he’s coming up as this discussion evolves into a much more ambitious blog series that will continue through the weekend.

By: Michael H

Michael H — Fri, 13 Mar 2009 16:01:22 +0000

If they only knew at the time the fallout of their ideas on city life. I’m sure Robert Moses was a big influence too at the time.

By: Shane

Shane — Fri, 13 Mar 2009 05:52:33 +0000

Well, it’s still valuable even if it’s upsetting.

By: Steve

Steve — Fri, 13 Mar 2009 00:59:38 +0000

Don’t be thanking me yet. The next two clips will likely upset some of you quite a bit.

By: George

George — Thu, 12 Mar 2009 22:14:35 +0000

Great line: “Open space is such a competitive power.” (from the video)

It seems the urban planners were searching for a way to confront this competitive power, probably motivated in large part by fear and in the belief that top-down planning works well. Hindsight is 20/20, of course, but the belief in top-down planning seems to continue to some extent. Not to be too contentious, but does anyone else see potential parallels between the assumptions behind the Pei plan and some of the assumptions behind C2S? IMHO, the issue isn’t so much urban vs. suburban as much as it is trust in a top-down Urban Renewal Authority approach vs. a Jane Jacobs approach. Great clip – thanks for posting.

By: Shane

Shane — Thu, 12 Mar 2009 21:56:50 +0000

Thanks Steve- At first, I thought it was going to be pro-urban, with its statement that narrow lots and density shouldn’t be associated with poverty- but then it basically associated it with the old way of doing things.

It’s fascinating to see what the logic behind urban renewal was and this definitely provides clues to how people felt about urbanity at the time.

By: slackmeyer

slackmeyer — Thu, 12 Mar 2009 20:03:59 +0000

Everyone is a critic. He caught me on a day where I’m being a bit feisty and more likely to respond.

He’s actually a big downtown advocate and someone who invest a lot of time promoting it and I respect that. Just didn’t want his comment to discourage others from viewing the film.

By: Kris Bryant

Kris Bryant — Thu, 12 Mar 2009 19:59:41 +0000

I don’t know what Steven’s problem is. I suspect that most of your readers are looking for content with a little meat to it. The blog world was built around a call for in-depth analysis, not a showcase of sound bites.

By: Blair

Blair — Thu, 12 Mar 2009 19:18:52 +0000

Thanks for sharing Steve!

By: Blair

Blair — Thu, 12 Mar 2009 19:18:08 +0000

Watch this and then go listen to people say that the suburbs were created purely by market forces. I love the simplicity of the logic:

horse & buggy = narrow lots!

That is pretty much it. If you want to live on a narrow lot then you are as outdated as the horse & buggy – period. Interesting that they decided to completely ignore subways and streetcars, but at this point in time buses were all the rage anyway, so it makes sense.

When you combine propaganda like this, with massive investments in the federal interstate system, and the adoption of single-use zoning regulating the separation of uses; it is easy to see why suburbia has dominated development ever since.