1. The Road to Sprawl

2. What was city like before suburbanization? stable dense proprietary attitude toward neighborhood informal maintenance of order “eyes on the street” round-the-clock activity pedestrian space (sidewalk) mix of ages and uses “sidewalk ballet” Photo: New Deal Network, http://newdeal.feri.org/library/sg014.htm

3. The Street as Public Space not machine space

4. Drawbacks City was full of industry in the 19 th century and air pollution was rampant Water pollution and solid wastes were also subject to few controls Workplaces were poorly regulated and dangerous Work hours were extremely long Medical care was miserable City was generally an unhealthy place to live, for reasons related to the city itself and for reasons more closely related to technology and society of the time

5. Levitt’s New Urban Dream Peter Bacon Hales: http://tigger.uic.edu/~pbhales/Levittown.html Post WWII Imitated the “streetcar suburbs” of the wealthy Provided access to fresh air and space Promoted the value of privacy, which soon became central to American culture

6. The Post-War Suburban Housing (from 1940s)

7. Purified Residential Spaces

8. Freeway (from 1950s)

9. Machine Spaces

10. Origins Wealthy first moved to the outskirts of the city and commuted via streetcars streetcar suburbs (e.g. Riverside, outside Chicago) Federal programs created car-dependent suburbs after WWII Federally insured (FHA) home loans from 1933 –Federal Govt. insured lenders in case of foreclosure –term was lengthened from 5-10 to 20-30 –Veterans Administration (GI-bill) created no-down-payment loans Federal Aid Highways Act (FAHA): Federally-subsidized up to 90% of highway construction costs –a form of corporate welfare created under hard lobbying from the “road gang”: oil, car, and tire corporations

11. Impacts More and more urban functions were relocated away from urban center Tax revenues in cities fell as people moved to surrounding towns and unincorporated areas Cities cut back on services like police, schools, hospitals and street maintenance (“fiscal retrenchment”) Those who could not afford to leave the city saw a gradual deterioration of their environment and living conditions

12. Who Suffers from White Flight?

13. The Mall (from 1950s)

14. The Service-Oriented Suburban Office Building (from 1970s)

15. The Back Office (from 1980s)

16. Greenfields 1990s

17. Really Really Green

18. Gated Communities (from 1990s)

19. Much of this comes back to anti-urban ideologies What are our dreams of the “good life”?

20. Selling Anti-Urban Dreams

21. More Dreams …

22. Anti-Urban Ideology in Ads

23. Small-Town Nostalgia

24. Confederate Nostalgia

25. Centrifugal Forces Racism and status-based prejudice Idea of city as dirty, crowded, dangerous & unhealthy classism racism federal policy automobile dependency ageing infrastructure inner-city crime school quality inner-city pollution What’s wrong with this list? The fact that it is a list!

27. Discovery of the 1990s If everyone wants to live where the rich live, only the really poor will be left in the inner city This will mean the city has no fiscal resources to address their problems Could it be that the way address the social problems of the inner city is to quit running away?

28. Environmental Costs Increasing CO 2 emissions Rapid loss of wildlife habitat adjacent to cities Draining of wetlands, clearing of forests, etc. Degradation of aquatic ecosystems –Irregular river flow patterns –Salt, oil & chemicals from road runoff –Water pollution –Eutrophication (abnormal fertilization of lakes) Fragmentation of wildlife habitat 60 miles or farther from cities Accelerating introduction of exotic species

31. Is golfing a way to get in touch with nature? This green requires over 1 ½ tons of pesticides, fertilizers and herbicides a year!

32. Exurban Development

33. Eastern Style

34. Western Style

36. What makes an animal a “pest”?

37. Conclusion Urban decentralization is called “sprawl” It involves the outward movement of residential land use followed by other urban land uses (commerce, offices, etc.) It arose from attitudes of race and class superiority It has reinforced race and class divides It arose from concerns with pollution It has exacerbated pollution Is there another way?