ipl-logo

Suburban America Problems And Promise Summary

862 Words4 Pages

Most things have positive and negative aspects, this documentary goes into detail on the problems and promise that suburban areas hold for the United States of America and its citizens. The approximately 55 minute documentary is titled “Suburban America: Problems and Promises” and was produced by American Public Television. The intended audience of this documentary is likely students studying material that concerns urban planning. This is due to the documentaries focus on political, social and economic issues surrounding American suburbia. The audience is shown suburban issues such as infrastructure, the environment, transportation, housing costs, the economy, and how the suburbs political power can influence the entire United States and its suburban landscape. The purpose of this documentary …show more content…

The documentary explores the topics of political shifts within the suburbs, their political influence, their segregated history, their current landscape of diversity, transportation, affordable housing, planned growth, and how to better handle suburban issues. The main message the director wanted to convey to the audience is how American suburbia has its pros and cons, yet is a political force to be reckoned with, as well as a growing, positive place American citizens are eager to continue living in. The concept of urban sprawl has become a popular issue and concern for sustainability as well as politically, ethically, and socially. Concern over the issues urban sprawling creates has continued to grow. Urban sprawl, where sprawl describes the shift towards lower city densities and expanding citie footprints (Nechyba and Walsh). Comparing the United States before and after the rise of sprawling cities, Americans seem better off because urban sprawl has created higher consumption levels of housing and land for households. Yet these seemingly

Show More
Related
785 Words | 4 Pages

Kenneth Jackson, the author of the book Crabgrass Frontier, provides an extensive overview of the history of and explains the causes to the suburbanization in the United States. He sees such development in the United States as unique due to the extent of cities’ suburban sprawl, the number of commuters, and the proportion of homeowners (190). Jackson explained that because of the inexpensive land, low construction cost, improvement in transportation technology and along with government’s involvement, Americans settle in the crabgrass frontier. However, Jackson describes that “[s]uburbs, then, were socially and economically inferior to cities when wind, muscle, and water were the prime movers of civilization… Even the word suburb suggested inferior

Read More
404 Words | 2 Pages

This book authored by Jackson, Kenneth T outlines the rise of suburbs in America from their origins in the 1820’s to the present day. He the combination of civil, economic and architectural history to describe the suburban communities in every aspect in comparison to Europe and Japan in view of factors such as swift transportation, availability of inexpensive land and cheap building methods. Crabgrass Frontier explains how transportation technology shaped American cities; how the transformation of the garage increased demand for automobiles. He concludes the book by predicting that the future of residential decentralization will contrasts its past in both U.S and Europe.

Read More
1093 Words | 5 Pages

Nick Melvin 4/24/17 Book Review 7 Suburban Warriors: The Origins of the New American Right McGirr, Lisa. Suburban Warriors: The Origins of the New American Right. Princeton University Press, 2015. Lisa McGirr, professor of history at Harvard University, investigates the grassroots conservative attempts in the 1960s and 1970s to revitalize the diminishing Republican Party which assisted in creating a new right and the subsequent conservative revival in the 1980s with Ronald Reagan.

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
934 Words | 4 Pages

It has been clearly established that gentrification does help revitalize once decrepit areas of a city, often creating new job opportunities, raising the value of properties, and creating cool, new areas to explore and enjoy. But we cannot mention the topic of gentrification without also mentioning the mass amounts of displacements of people. Gentrification clearly disproportionately benefits affluent, and often white people, while hampering the low-income and communities of color. This brings us back to the central question surrounding this topic, is gentrification a positive or negative process taking place in Portland? After understanding that an overwhelming amount of evidence points to gentrification as a negative process affecting Portland, we clearly see that the negative factors attached to gentrification outweigh the positives.

Read More
1705 Words | 7 Pages

As suburban Americans began to own the same consumer goods and believe in the same values, the prospect of inclusive thought began to disappear. The aesthetic homogeneity with men’s clothing, for example, left very little room for men to dress up in anything other than the bland suits characteristic of the 1950s. Among the varying forms of homogeneity present in the suburbs, none had the effect on conservatism that racial homogeneity did. From the 1950s until “the 1990s, nearly 90 percent of suburban whites lived in communities with minority populations of less than 1 percent,” showing how the suburbs created conservative thought that would last nearly half a century in the suburbs. In order to achieve this racial ubiquity, “the suburban builders…openly advertised the fact that their communities excluded minorities,” revealing their conservative and racist beliefs William Levitt, the father of the suburbs, argued that “if we sell one house to a Negro family, then 90 or 95 percent of our white customers will not buy into the community,” further showing how minorities were feared to be a threat in a white society These racialized advertisements and thoughts encapsulated the attention of their audiences by reinforcing the idea of minorities (primarily African-Americans) being a threat to security, which dates back to the 17th Century with the institution of slavery.

Read More
1218 Words | 5 Pages

The documentary and the film

Read More
1145 Words | 5 Pages

In this speech, I will begin by explaining what gentrification is along with a short background on the Lincoln Park gentrification, then I will proceed to explain how the families in these areas fought for their homes, and finally I will be discussing the gentrification that is affecting citizens of Chicago today. Body I. Gentrification is the process of renovating an area to meet the standards of a different social class, typically the upper middle class. Throughout this process the price of renting and owning a home increases while family owned businesses become bankrupt. Low-income families are left homeless and without the support of a

Read More
802 Words | 4 Pages

Architects, journalists, and social reformers viewed suburban life as a virtuous atmosphere to raise children and further separate the private sphere of women and the public sphere of men. Though articles, drawings, and stories told by journalists the push for suburban life made by social reformers and journalists is clear. City living describes as “poisonous” 1 where the suburbs are coined “the promise land” 1 is only one example of how journalists and reformers linked suburban living to ideals on gender and living and persuaded people to move away from the cities and into the suburbs for a more fulfilled and virtuous life. Journalist and reformers in the early 20th century believed and reinforced the ideas that healthy, successful families

Read More
548 Words | 3 Pages

Jane Jacobs begins part three of her book based on forces of decline and regeneration. Chapter thirteen is established on “the self-destruction of diversity”. Jacobs introduction to the chapter is on her observations and conclusions that, “ in our American cities, we need all kinds of diversity, intricately mingled in mutual support.” She then explains that this is needed so that city life can work in a decent and constructive manner and that people will be able to sustain their society and civilization. People of the public do have the responsibility through the uses of some of the enterprises such as parks, museums, schools, community centers.

Read More
502 Words | 3 Pages

Gentrification is the process of renovating and improving a house or district so that it conforms to middle-class taste. Real Estate investors usually take low-income places that they feel have a chance to prosper economically, and turn them into areas that attract the middle and upper class workers. In doing so they feel like the low-income areas will be safer and more appealing, attracting more people to visit and live there. An improvement to a poor district sounds beautiful, but is gentrification as great as it’s sought out to be? Many residents have their doubts about gentrification due to the idea that the costs of their living will go up and they will be driven out of their neighborhoods.

Read More
854 Words | 4 Pages

Just hearing the word neighborhood is enough to bring anyone back to childhood memories, and there is a nostalgic sense behind the word neighborhood. In the physical sense, a neighborhood is the grouping of homes that make up the demographics in which a person resides. Neighborhoods are also considered a social community in which a person feels a sense of identity and belonging. Often within neighborhoods, the members share common interests, values, characteristics and economic status. Because residents share the same small community and living area, they also share many of the same concerns regarding safety, education, and crime within their community or neighborhood.

Read More
2897 Words | 12 Pages

By looking in depth at the design strategies that were employed in Bedford Park, I hope to create a clearer picture of why this suburb is considered to have revolutionised the way we think about suburbs. But first we must take a look back to the origins of suburbia and how the development of suburbs eventually led

Read More
870 Words | 4 Pages

Capitalism and the urban environment Capitalism plays a direct role in shaping the urban environment and the city. The geography of the city is not formed by natural forces. But rather, it is the result of the power of capitalism, through creating markets and controlling the workforce. Capitalist corporations have a consistent need for new markets and more advantageous locations. They are always on the lookout for lower labor costs, weaker unionization and tax concessions.

Read More
1592 Words | 7 Pages

Urban sprawl is defined as the expansion of metropolitan areas into urban surrounding areas, often due to the rapid population growth within a city. As a result of urban sprawl there has been an increase in traffic, health issues, environmental issues and public expenditure, due to migration away from the city centre and this affects its functionality as a human community. Since 1930 literature has discussed the concept of compact cities as the ideal city. The term Compact City originated in the 1930’s and Oxford Dictionary defines the Compact City as “an urban area with clearly defined boundaries, in which the residential and commercial districts are relatively close together, forestalling the development of rural land and reducing the need

Read More

More about Suburban America Problems And Promise Summary

Related Topics

Open Document