ipl-logo

New York City Planning Essay

698 Words3 Pages

The United States thus far has in planning has treated people in its’ path as a nuisance to be solved. If we look at planning from Boyer’s (1986) point of view, who highlights planning as a “search for spatial order”, planning has overlooked who its’ order is suppose to benefit. Planning has been treating the masses as a sickness that is named disorder, rather than as beneficiaries.
In 1890, Jacob Rite, published How the Other Half Live, which provided vivid descriptions of the New York City Slums and its’ residents with the majority being immigrants (cited in Hall, 2014). Housing was the major issue to fix, not the people. Most planners attempted to fix the tenement housing with building codes not social reform. However, during the same time, …show more content…

Robert Moses, another famous planner of the 20th century, followed Le Corbusier’s automobile centric thinking of planning. In the later portion the the 20th century large scale planning projects were pushed by the federal Government, including a large number of highway projects after WWII. Robert Moses’ vision of the Cross Bronx Expressway construction in New York City was funded by all levels of government (Cato, 1975). Moses’ Expressway construction displaced nearly 10,000 people over a 14 block portion of the Bronx’s with the direct purpose of placing automobile in the heart of the city (Burns, 1989). He consistently disregarded citizens of the areas he destroyed. Jane Jacobs was the core citizen and organizer of Moses' highway resistance. Jacobs published a book called, The Life and Death of American Cities” in 1961, which criticized planning for ignoring the the people while its’ predominantly male planners focused on planning for the modern inventions of spatial order, like the automobile (Avila, 2014). As a working mother and resident of this area Moses ripped through, she organized and fought highways destroying New York City. Moses saw these voices of dissent as something to be ignore and not worth his time (Cato, 1975). This effectively proves he was not looking to help the residents of New York City, just

Show More
Related
1200 Words | 5 Pages

In Jacob Riis’ revolutionary book How the Other Half Lives, Riis details the atrocious conditions of the tenements in New York City at the turn of the century. Riis particularly focusses his initial chapters on the formation of the tenements and their subsequent demise into filthy ruins. In many ways, these tenements paralleled the federal housing projects of the 1950’s. Both populations predominately included impoverished, working class immigrants and minorities. However, the tenements and the projects differ in terms of supportive communities.

Read More
1244 Words | 5 Pages

Jacob Riis in “How the Other Half Lives” is about the squalor that characterizes New York City’s working class immigrant neighborhoods. He describes deplorable conditions of these immigrants by providing specific examples, relaying them through quotation and images alike. Riis comments on the injustices that the residents of the tenements faced on a regular basis. So, with his attention to detail, Riis provided the contemporary reader with unsettling images of the poor and marginalized along with a few examples of the benefits of reform and reorganization in the poorer communities, to the benefit of residents. Another observer, Richard T. Ely, in “Pullman: A Social Study” writes about the community of Pullman, Illinois located in the suburbs of Chicago.

Read More
834 Words | 4 Pages

From riots to invasions, many urban problems arose during the late 19th and 20th centuries. Technology was improving and it was making jobs easier and more productive but American’s were tired and weren’t working. Wage cuts were becoming more popular and economically, the U.S was falling apart slowly. Despite the problems, Americans discovered a way to replace the exhausted Americans who no longer took part in labor. Immigrants from Europe were pulled to New York in hope to find what the Americans had said they’d offer.

Read More
963 Words | 4 Pages

Groups of African-Americans and women fought to prevent destruction of their houses under the Urban Renewal Act of 1949, which gave Boston money to develop its infrastructure. Consequently, this meant older neighborhoods of Boston were slated to get demolished to make way for new residential areas. The Act “rekindled the flame of activism and protest in much of the city” (39). Groups formed such as the Urban Planning Aid and Mothers for Adequate Welfare who fought Boston officials to halt the demolitions and find other ways to improve infrastructure and their lives. Altogether, these acts helped push Boston to become a “a city much more of, by, and for its people,” according to Vrabel.

Read More
1841 Words | 8 Pages

There has to be a realistic solution that can be put into motion to benefit everyone involved. Referring again to his article “Is Gentrification All Bad?” Davidson argues that urban renewal, if done right, is not a monstrous custom that it is painted to be; nevertheless, he reasons that gentrification depends on who does it, how they do it, and why they do it. As a resident in New York, a city where gentrification is as widespread as the common cold in winter, Davidson speculates that those who go into a neighborhood with the intention to renovate houses, or abandoned buildings ought to have a good reason for it. The author points out that “Gentrification does not have to be something that one group inflicts on another…” (Davidson 349), rather, he suggests that everyone, the gentrifiers and the locals, be on the same page when it comes to developing their

Read More
1366 Words | 6 Pages

More than sixty-five percent of New York’s population lived in those tenements. Tenements were a large source of suffering for new immigrants and their families. This is mainly due to their unsanitary and overcrowded conditions. The tenement conditions were horrendous and appalling.

Read More
1640 Words | 7 Pages

Negative Sensationalism Throughout the week, talk shows such as Maury and Jerry Springer are displayed on our TV screens. Whether or not a person is a vigorous viewer, the storyline of the show comes up in a conversation at least once a week. Talk shows regularly take a look into the life choices of a certain person or group of people. In the text “In Defense of Talk Shows”, Barbara Ehrenreich raises the question of the moral conflicts presented in talk shows and presents the idea that they are an exploitation of lower class people.

Read More
861 Words | 4 Pages

Poor people were able to get help with money, city hall was more orderly, they really changed the entire urban

Read More
461 Words | 2 Pages

They advocated for the establishment of housing and sanitary codes, the creation of parks and recreational areas, and the improvement of public transportation. They also worked to eliminate slums and tenements and provide city residents with a better quality of life. These reforms aimed to provide a more livable environment for American city dwellers. However, despite their efforts, the Progressive Era reformers faced significant challenges in implementing their reforms. For example, political machines and entrenched special interests often obstructed their efforts to create a more responsive

Read More
571 Words | 3 Pages

The Geography of Nowhere, written by James Kunstler, discusses Moses and how his work impacted society forever. Through the construction of infrastructure,

Read More
2136 Words | 9 Pages

These color-coded maps designed by the Home Owners’ Loan Corporation (HOLC) were crucial in the development of American cities; an area’s desirability levels were largely based on the racial and ethnic composition of its residents (The Urban Displacement Project). People of color were largely assigned to places designated as hazardous or “blighted”. Residents who lived in these areas were unable to secure loans, buy property, or fix the existing structures (The Urban Displacement Project). This practice propelled forward a viscous cycle of disinvestment that led to the slow disintegration of neighborhoods considered “blighted” by the HOLC. The Urban Displacement Project.

Read More
516 Words | 3 Pages

After the destruction of the project, Pruitt-Igoe became a national symbol of the failure of the 1949 Housing Act. As discussed in the video, the housing project’s downfall has been attributed to many different factors. These range from neglect on behalf of the government to the way resident’s treated the complex. Socioeconomic

Read More
737 Words | 3 Pages

The Beauty of Amsterdam Talking about Amsterdam, we will always be reminded of the beauty of the urban landscape. As one of the biggest city in Europe, the city of Amsterdam offers exotic views that are not less interesting to Paris, the most favorite destination to foreign tourists. Amsterdam has a variety of interesting destinations that are ready to pamper the eyes of the tourists with extraordinary scenes. Amsterdam also has a lot of historical places so that tourists will regret if they don’t visit these places. If you are interested with the history of Netherlands, the first place you must visit when you visit Amsterdam is the Rijksmuseum.

Read More
341 Words | 2 Pages

Stated to be “one of the most influential critics of US planning orthodoxies holding sway during the 1950’s and 60’s,” Jane Jacobs, the American – Canadian writer and activist, is a central figure in the urbanisation of city planning. Published in 1961, her famous assault on modernist misconceptions casted by architects, is documented in her book “The Death and Life of Great American Cities,” one of the most influential and paramount critiques of traditional planning. It evaluates the failure of the modern movement to provide the social redemption the famous architects promised, changing the traditional attitude towards planning and the way cities are perceived. In this essay I will be discussing Jane Jacob’s criticisms and alternatives to

Read More
711 Words | 3 Pages

Amsterdam, the capital of the Netherlands, has over sixty miles of canals, close to one hundred islands, and 1,500 bridges. Many of the canals were built during the Dutch Golden Age in the 17th century, including the three main canals: the Herengracht, the Prinsengracht, and the Keizersgracht. These canals form a concentric belt around the city and in 2010 were placed on the UNESCO World Heritage List. In the 13th century, Amsterdam was a small fishing village situated on the banks of the Amstel River. By 1369 it had joined the Hanseatic League, a group of maritime traders from the Netherlands and the North Sea.

Read More

More about New York City Planning Essay

Related Topics

Open Document