responses to the industrial city (cont.) planning, social theory & policy
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City Beautiful Movement Goals
“beauty, order, system & harmony”
Middle & upper middle-class effort to refashion the city into beautiful, functional entities
Garden City Movement
Eb. Howard’s:Garden Cities
Concepts
"To-morrow: A peaceful path to Real Reform”(1898)
British New Towns
Post World War II Britain Planning Act (1948): rebuilt & avoid excesses of American suburban growth
Development Corps w/ direct Treasury finance
By 1971 – 28 towns (1,415,000 people)- 182,000 new houses; - over 35 mil. Sq. ft. of new factory space
American Influence
Design Implications – Radburn Plan
Greenbelt Cities
New Towns (?) – Reston, New York & Columbia, Maryland
Social Science
Chicago School & Human Ecology
Park & Burgess –*Social Change(Deviance)*Ethnography*Ecology
Housing Market
Industrial City – introduced generalized housing market
Before Twenties Boom – Prior to economic boom, two-thirds
of American population judged to be poorly served by private market (“the Housers”)
1920s – Changing Urban Form
Streetcar Suburbs – radial development, lower density & greater dispersion
In 1920s, for the first time, suburbs grew faster than the central cities – much faster
Automobile’s contribution – “The city is doomed . . . We shall solve the city problem by leaving the city.” Henry Ford
Policy related to home ownership . . .
Influence on the shape of the city – filling in the radius w/ lower densities
Streetcar suburb – Av. Lot size 3,000 sfAuto suburb – Av. Lot size 5,000 sf
Pop. Density fell from 20,000 sq. mile to 10,000 sq mile in auto suburb
Depression Era Impact
i. Construction Industry – fell 95% (’28-’33)
ii. Mortgage Defaults – by 1933, 50% technically in default
Responses
Home Owners Loan Corporation (1933)
Federal Housing Administration (1934)
= Keynesian Suburbs
New Lending Practices
FHA Insurance – eliminate banking risk
Allowed financing of up to 93% of cost (instead of 50-75%)
Repayment period extended from standard 10 years to 25-30 years
Geography of Loans
Race: Homer Hoyt’s 1933 analysis1. English, Scotch, Irish, Scandinavian2. North Italians3. Bohemians or Czechs4. Poles5. Lithuanians6. Greeks7. Russian Jews8. South Italians9. Negroes10. Mexicans