Quote:
Originally Posted by ardecila
OK - there is always a limit to how much academic trends are able to influence political processes like urban planning. Even if you view the postwar period as a high-water mark for academics' influence on government policy, it's still only a small piece of the rationale behind these decisions.
Equally important to the story of urban renewal is the abysmal state of American cities after 20 years of crushing depression and wartime rationing., coupled with the tremendous increase in standard of living from 1945-1960. Old buildings (especially apartment buildings) weren't just "unfashionable" by the 1950s, they were literally crumbling, often unsafe, and did not offer any of the modern amenities that Americans were coming to expect. Y'know, amenities like private bathrooms, hot water, or decent heating systems. Amenities like closets, or bedrooms big enough to fit a queen mattress.
If you ever live in an unrenovated prewar tenement, you will appreciate why reformers in the postwar period were so eager to move the poor into modern housing and tear down the old.
|
America's cities were in much better shape than those of Europe or Japan during that time period, by virtue of not being piles of rubble.
I actually read an essay that argued U.S. urban renewal was in part caused by envy of the blank slate European urban planners had to work with. Americans wanted big empty canvases to make their mark in just like across the pond.