REINVENTING AMERICAN CITIES ‑ History 4401x

 

 

Professor Owen Gutfreund                                                                                                                                                                                      Fall 2005

e‑mail: odg1@columbia.edu                                                                                                                                                                    Lehman Hall,  #407

office hours: M 2-3, and T 4:30‑5:30                                                                                                                                                                     854‑4876

 

By the mid-20^th century, it was apparent to most American observers that cities were dysfunctional.  Overwhelming tides of immigration and migration, the economic devastation of the Depression, the impact of rapid industrialization, the inherited inadequacies of 19^th century infrastrucure, and laissez-faire governmental policies had, in combination, fostered cities that seemed unsafe, overcrowded, unhealthy, and generally unpleasant.

 

Over the ensuing decades, starting with new intellectual debates and new government policies in the 1930s and 1940s, American cities were transformed.  Older cities were repeatedly revised, revamped, and renovated, while newer cities emerged with entirely new formats.  Later, in the latter half of the 20^th century, new challenges arose for American cities, like deindustrialization, abandonment of central cities, and transformative changes in communications and transportation technology, requiring further adaptation and redevelopment.  This process of continual urban reinvention and innovation in the United States, still underway in the 21^st century, will be the subject of the readings, discussion, research, and seminar presentations in this course..

 

Our readings will fall into two distinct categories: those that focus on specific reinvention or reconfirguration strategies, and those that focus on specific cities and their reinvention attempts and outcomes.  In this latter category, we will read books or articles about Atlanta, Jacksonville, Boston, Orlando, Lancaster, Denver, Savannah, Portland, Kansas City, St. Louis, Detroit, and New Orleans.  In the former category, we will read and discuss government housing policies, downtown revitalization initiatives, historic preservation, and gentrification, as well as common urban economic development initiatives such as malls, convention centers, and sports stadiums.  Each student will conduct two independent research projects, one that focuses on a single city, and one that focuses on a single reinvention strategy.

 

Course Requirements: 

1)  Seminar participation (50%)

Please come to every class prepared to present thoughtful questions and well‑reasoned arguments based upon the assigned readings.  The success of this course depends upon active participation by each and every member of the class, and your grades will be calculated accordingly.  As a part of your weekly participation, you will submit, each week that we have assigned readings, no later than one hour prior to class, a brief writing assignment based upon the assignment for that week.  This should include: a) a one‑paragraph summary of the author's thesis; and b) a suggested area of discussion in seminar, based upon the assignment.  You may also want to include a discussion about any aspect of the reading that surprised you or prompted you to reconsider your ideas about a topic raised in the reading.  These weekly preparation papers will count for part of your class participation grade, along with your consistent, active, and informed involvement in weekly seminar discussions.

2) Research projects and presentations (50%)

Each student will complete two independent research projects, both of which will culminate in a 10-page paper and the second one will also include a 5-10 minute in-class presentation.

a) choose an American city, preferably not one of the city’s covered by one of the assigned city-focused full length texts, and research and summarize this metropolitan area’s transformations since the New Deal. Using census data, scholarly books and articles, and local newspaper or mass media coverage, identify the reinvention/response strategies implemented in this city, and assess the outcomes of those attempts. Due on October 25. (20%)

b) choose one specific reinvention/revitalization strategy or one urban issue directly related to these processes; research and summarize its history, in theory and in practice, including an analysis of its relative stengths, weaknesses, and overall efficacy, with reference to which cities have attempted implementations.  Sources should include articles and books from scholars and practitioners, as well as newspaper and mass media sources. Due, with in-class presentations, on December 6. (20%)

c) each week, in addition to the primary reading assignment, there will be supplemental articles assigned.  Once during the term, each student will take responsibility for one of these articles, preparing a one-page abstract to hand out to the class, along with a 5-10 minute presentation explaining the article’s central arguments and their relevance to the seminar topic. (10%)

 

 

 

                                    READING ASSIGNMENTS AND DISCUSSION TOPICS

 

All books are available at the Columbia University Bookstore. 

 

Please note: changes to this reading list may be made via e‑mail or announcements in class.

 

Sept. 6: Introduction

 

Sept. 13: PUBLIC HOUSING

Arnold Hirsch, The Making of the Second Ghetto

supplemental: Arnold Hirsch, "Race and Renewal in the Cold War South: New Orleans,

1947-1968" in Robert Fishman, editor, The American Planning Tradition.

 

Sept 20: ATLANTA

Joel Garreau, Edge City: Life on the New Frontier (Chapter 5: "Atlanta")

Ronald Bayor, Race and the Shaping of Twentieth-Century Atlanta

supplemental: Larry Keating, Atlanta: Race, Class, and Urban Expansion

 

Sept. 27: URBAN RENEWAL

David Schuyler, A City Transformed: Redevelopment, Race, and Suburbanization in Lancaster

Pennsylvania, 1940-1980

supplemental: Joseph Heathcott and Máire Murphy, "Corridors of Flight, Zones of Renewal:

 Industry, Planning, and Policy in the Making of Metropolitan St. Louis, 1940-1980" in Journal of Urban History (Jan 2005)

supplemental: Jacob Wagner, "The Politics of Urban Design, The Center City Urban Renewal

 Project in Kansas City, Kansas" in Journal of Planning History (November 2003)

 

Oct. 4: BOSTON

Thomas O' Connor, Building a New Boston: Politics and Urban Renewal, 1950-1970

supplemental: Lawrence Kennedy, Planning the City Upon a Hill (Chapters 8 and 9)

supplemental: June Manning Thomas, "Seeking a Finer Detroit: The Design and Planning

 Agenda of the 1960s"  in Mary Corbin Sies and Chris Silver, eds, Planning the Twentieth Century City

 

Oct. 11: RESORT  TOWN: ORLANDO

Richard Fogelsong, Married to the Mouse: Walt Disney World and Orlando

supplemental: Michael Sorkin, "See You in Disneyland" in Variations on a Theme Park: The

New American City and the End of Public Space

 

Oct. 18: RETAIL REORIENTATION

Joel Garreau, Edge City: Life on the New Frontier (Chapter 2: "New Jersey")

supplemental: Nicholas Bloom, "American Midas: James Rouse and Festival Marketplaces" in

Merchant of Illusion: James Rouse, America's Salesman of the Businessman's Utopia

supplemental: Margaret Crawford, The World in a Shopping Mall, in Michael Sorkin, editor, Variations on a Theme Park: The New American City and the End of Public Space

supplemental: Christine Boyer, "Cities for Sale: Merchandising History in South Street

Seaport" in Michael Sorkin, editor, Variations on a Theme Park: The New American City and the End of Public Space

supplemental: Howard Gillette, "Assessing James Rouse's Role in American City Planning" in

Journal of the American Planning Association (Spring 1999)

 

Oct. 25: THE NEW COMMERCIAL LANDSCAPE

Owen Gutfreund, Twentieth Century Sprawl (chapters 3 and 6)            

supplemental: article on  Tyson's Corner (edge city outside of D.C.), tbd

supplemental: Thomas Hanchette, "U.S. Tax Policy and the Shopping-Center Boom of the

1950s and 1960s" in American Historical Review (October 1996)

Papers Due

 

Nov. 1: THE NEW LOCAL POLITICS

Joel Garreau, Edge City: Life on the New Frontier (Chapter 6: "Phoenix")

    a) James Crooks, Jacksonville: The Condolidation Story, from Civil Rights to the Jaguars                                                       OR

    b) Evan Mckenzie, Privatopia: Homeowner Associations and the Rise of Residential Private

Government

 

 

Nov. 8: Election Day