suburbia americana to the global village

1
suburbia americana to the global village
pruitt-igoe housing development built by minoru
yamasaki in st. louis. photo of its demolishion
in 1972
"no man who owns his own house and lot can be a
communist. he has too much to do." -william
levitt, 1948
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suburbia americana to the global village
ur today

• first expression of the suburban ideal
• 539 ad, letter to the king of persia
• our property seems to me the most beautiful in
  the world. it is so close to babylon that we
  enjoy all the advantages of the city, and yet
  when we come home we are away from all the noise
  and dust.
• first suburbia
• 2,300 bc to 2180 bc, ur, sumaria
• urs population of 100,000 grew past the city
  walls into what can be considered urs suburbs.

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suburbia americana to the global village
woodcut from the canterbury tales

• the term suburbia
• 1380 ad, john wycliffe
• first to use the term suburbia
• 1390 ad, geoffrey chaucer
• used the term in his canterbury tales
• suburbanization
• 1815 ad, united states and great britain
• the process of suburbanization involves the
  growth of fringe areas and a lifestyle entailing
  a daily commute to work. the process first took
  hold in the united states and great britain.

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suburbia americana to the global village

• five characteristics of the walking city of
  1815
• one, congestion
• cities like london were extremely dense with
  about 75,000
• people/square mile. compare that to the density
  of new york
• city in the 1980s which was 35,000 people/square
  mile.
• cities did not sprawl, making it easy to walk
  from one place to
• another.
• two, clear distinction between city and country
• city walls allowed no development outside the
  city, keeping the
• distinction between city and country clear.
• three, mixture of functions
• no neighborhoods were exclusively residential,
  commercial, or industrial. factories did not
  exist, and most work took place in small shops.
• four, short distance to work
• work and living spaces were often combined with
  workers living above their shops. only one
  person in fifty walked as much as a mile to their
  jobs.
• five, rich lived in the citys center
• in 18th century paris, only outcasts lived
  outside the city walls. the suburbs were
  considered slums in the united states as well.

over london by rail by gustave doré
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suburbia americana to the global village

• transportation revolution and end of the walking
  city
• 1815 to 1875, turning cities inside out
• the introduction of new forms of transportation
  allowed the rich to move from the congested,
  dirty cities to the suburbs, leaving only the
  poor at city center.
• cities lost their mixture of functions, and
  specialized sections grew up in their place. now
  there were specific places from residential,
  commercial, and industrial, and the three did not
  mix.
• three suburban characteristics, 1800 to 1850
• one, clear municipal priorities
• two, preference for residential over commercial
  expansion
• three, remains politically independent from the
  city center

photo source jackson, kenneth t. crabgrass
frontier. new york oxford press, inc., 1985.
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suburbia americana to the global village

• the first commuter suburb
• 1800s, brooklyn heights, new york
• before colonization by the dutch, the canarsie
  indians
• lived in what is today brooklyn heights. the
  area remained
• agricultural until steam ferry service to
  manhattan began
• in 1814. this allowed the rich to live in
  brooklyn heights
• and commute by ferry to new york city.
  eventually,
• brooklyn grew so much that it became its own
  city. the
• dirt and decay that the wealthy had left in new
  york
• eventually ravaged brooklyn as well.
• suburbia and mass transit
• 1826, the omnibus
• before 1825, no city had a mass transit system.
  the omnibus was invented when a french man began
  a stagecoach service to take people to his
  business. by 1828 the first busses were running
  in paris.
• 1814, the steam railroad
• the railroad was an english invention designed
  for long distance travel. yet cities adapted the
  railroads for local use, and by 1837 new york
  city had installed a city railroad system.
• 1852, the horse railway
• known as the horsecar it combined omnibus and
  train, creating a horsedrawn carriage to be
  pulled along special railroad-like tracks.

brooklyn heights, opposite the city of new york,
1854
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suburbia americana to the global village

• changing idea of family and home
• as the industrial revolution took over, families
  
• fled the dangerous cities to make their own
• private spaces in the suburbs. family became
• a refuge from the outside world. family and
• home were so valued that domesticity for
• women became very important. the cult of
• domesticity exalted the virtues of making
• ones home comfortable. popular culture
• followed suit, reinforcing that the home was
• the womans place.
• the yard
• 1825 to 1875, the lawn
• yards were no longer needed for garden space.
  yards of manicured lawns were considered
  beneficial to the health as well as aethestics.
  once frightened of nature, people began to
  idealize the land through the picturesque
  movement. outbreaks of disease in cities further
  solidified that the suburbs were healthier.

a landscape with a dance (the marriage of isaac
and rebecca), 1663 by claude lorraine
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suburbia americana to the global village
christopher wrens plan for london

• suburban city planning the grid
• 450 bc, the gridiron system
• the system was invented by hippodamus, a famous
  greek town planner. he introduced straight and
  parallel streets into the city of peiraeus.
  until this time, most cities had random, twisted,
  and narrow streets. the system was abandoned
  after the decline of greece.
• 1682 ad, sir christopher wren
• wren brought the system back to common use with
  his plan for london. philadelphia, savannah, and
  new york city soon followed his example. thomas
  jefferson spread the grid across the united
  states.

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suburbia americana to the global village

• suburban city planning the grid
• advantages to the grid system
• simplified the surveying process
• minimized land disputes
• maximized the number of houses on a street
• standardized the size of housing lots
• considered clean and efficient
• criticism of the grid system
• rectangular blocks promoted overcrowded
  tenements
• streets were poorly lit, inconvenient,
  unattractive, and conducive to disease
• solution to the grid system
• wider tree-lined lanes
• adding gentle turns to streets made them more
  pastoral and picturesque

city of savannah, georgia in 1818
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suburbia americana to the global village

• the cable car
• 1867, the invention of the cable car
• the cable car was adapted from coal cars used in
  
• mining that ran along a cable. the cars ran
  along
• a track while attached to a cable. use of the
  invention reached its peak in 1890 when 373
• million passengers in 23 cities were carried.
  the
• electric streetcar soon replaced the cable car.
• advantages to the cable car
• cleaner than the horsecar
• quite operation
• more powerful than the horsecar
• disadvantages to the cable car
• required a large up front investment for cities
• inefficient and difficult operation
• inexperienced conductors

cable cars running on broadway, new york city,
1897
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suburbia americana to the global village

• the trolley and suburbanization
• 1870s, improved street cars
• improved street cars made outward
• expansion possible for many city
• residents. this helped to relieve city
• congestion.
• two policies using street cars for
  suburbanization
• one, extending street car lines past the city
  limits
• allowed people to move out of the city and
  depend on the street cars to get them to work in
  the city.
• two, five cent fares
• cheap fares encouraged families to move to
  cheaper land in the suburbs.

photo source www.cliffhouseproject.com/
photos/jb/streetcar.jpg
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suburbia americana to the global village

• cheap suburban land
• suburban lands were cheap partly because the
  united states had virtually limitless real
  estate. the continent was enormous.
• more land was available around a city than
  within it, thus making suburban land cheaper.
  fast and cheap transportation made these lands
  popular with middle class families.
• agricultural depressions made farm land less
  valuable, so farmers sold land outside cities to
  suburban settlers.
• inexpensive construction methods
• the advent of balloon-framing for detached
  houses made construction in the suburbs cheap and
  easy. families could afford houses built this
  way, and it only took a few men to build a house.

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suburbia americana to the global village

• rise of the automobile
• 1894 french panhard was the first car marketed
• successfully. garage, chasis, automobile, and
• chauffer became internationally accepted words.
• absence of paved roads in america delayed the
• use of cars. while european manufacturers
• focused on expensive motor cars for the rich,
• americans concentrated on economical vehicles
• that could be mass produced for the common
• man. the model-t introduced in 1908 by henry
• ford remained unchanged for twenty years.
• the road building revolution
• in america a massive investment in roadways was
  necessary.
• three types of roadway surfaces
• crushed stone called macadam
• asphalt
• concrete

photo source http//www.carword.com/special/ford
100/191420Ford20Model20T20touring20car_385.jp
g
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suburbia americana to the global village

• growth of automobile suburbs
• urban regions proposed express streets without
  stop lights or intersections.
• as street car systems became bankrupt,
  rubber-tire vehicles were substituted for rail
  cars.
• without transit options, the car became
  necessary for survival, causing massive
  consumption of energy and numerous traffic
  deaths.
• the suburban boom
• as employment in central cities grew, downtown
  sections became more and more crowded, making it
  difficult to move about by car.
• those living in suburban areas gained the most
  from automobiles.
• after the first world war, suburbs developed on
  the edge of every major city.

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suburbia americana to the global village

• characteristics of automotive suburbanization
  between world wars
• pattern of settlement cars allowed home owners
  to move father away
• length and direction of journey-to-work
  increased
• deconstruction of employment the truck could
  do more work and industries and factories moved
  to urban edges
• low-density residential architecture average
  lot size grew. the prototype of new architecture
  was wrights prairie house
• great depression
• 1928 -1933 construction of residential property
  fell by 95 but the automobile never retreated
• the automobile has become a dominant influence
  in the life of the individual, and he, in very
  real sense, has become dependent on it - 1933
  committee on recent social trends in the u.s.

photo source http//www.geocities.com/mag542/mcdo
nalds.jpg
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suburbia americana to the global village

• government housing
• a new direction in federal housing policy
• creation of long-term amortized mortgages
• low interest rates
• government aid to house low income families
• reduction of home construction costs
• greenbelt town program
• effort of new deal to built greenbelt
• communities based on theories of ebenezer
  howard
• greenbelt, maryland
• greenhills, ohio
• greendale, wisconsin

photo source paumier, cy. creating a vibrant
city center urban design and regeneration
principles. washington, d.c. uli-the urban land
institute, 2004.
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suburbia americana to the global village

• ghettoization
• problems arose in adjacent neighborhoods when
  deteriorating buildings were destroyed to make
  room for public housing. middle class families
  left due to such a rapid decline in communities.
  
• oscar newmans 4 attributes that contribute to
  safety/lack of safety in housing projects
• capacity of an area to create perceived
  territorial influence
• capacity to provide surveillance opportunities
• capacity of design to decrease perception of
  isolation
• availability of adjacent commercial activities

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suburbia americana to the global village

• the subdivision
• major housing shortage after second world war
• levittown
• began 1929 by abraham levitt and sons on long
  island
• levitt and sons learned to lay dozens of concrete
  
• foundations in a day and to preassemble walls and
  
• roofs.
• ultimately built 140,000 homes
• characteristics of postwar suburbs
• peripheral location
• relatively low density
• architectural similarity
• easy availability
• economic and racial homogeneity

levitttown, ny before suburbanization
levitttown, ny after suburbanization
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suburbia americana to the global village
the interstate highway development of the highway
gave america the worlds best road system and
nearly the worst public transit offerings los
angeles provides the best example of urban
sprawl structures inspired by the use of the
automobile the garage motel drive-in
theater service station shopping strip house
trailer the centerless city
las angeles freeway
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suburbia americana to the global village

• americas drive-in culture weakened the sense of
  community
• the term suburban once implied a relationship
  with the city and now represents a distinction
  from the city
• 10 phases of land conversion in america
• phase 1 habitation by nomadic indians
• phase 2 agricultural settlement
• phase 3 suburban development
• phase 4 annexation to large city emergence as
  neighborhood
• phase 5 maturation and stabilization of
  density
• phase 6 aging of population decline in
  density
• phase 7 population succession by lower income
  groups
• phase 8 abandonment of some residences
• phase 9 emptying of neighborhood reversion to
  recreation
• phase10 urban redevelopment or gentrification

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suburbia americana to the global village
trailer park in colorado
suburbia and class suburbs are characteristically
a middle class world. the poor cannot afford to
leave the city and commute to work and the rich
live in isolated communities. the middle class
often live in tract homes. the poorer classes
have begun to get access to suburbia through
mobile home parks. two middle class suburban
groups old middle class made up of small
businessmen and professionals. these people own
land and often derive a living from this land.
the old middle class was most prominent in the
19th century. new middle class made up of
white collar workers who work for large
corporations. this group has had control of the
suburbs since the beginning of the 20th century.
photo source blake, peter. gods own junkyard
the planned deterioration of americas landscape.
new york/chicago/san francisco holt, rinehart
and winston, 1964.
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suburbia americana to the global village
garden suburbs of birmingham, england
photo source http//www.ribapix.com/index.php?ai
ndexessitemkeyIYToxOntpOjA7czoxNDoiR2FyZGVuIHN
1YnVyYnMiO30pg3
suburbia around the world english garden
suburbs englands garden suburbs were based on
the ideas of ebenezer howard. they grew quickly
between the two world wars. the suburbs came to
be associated with the nuclear family. the
garden suburbs evolved from an elite upper class
area to a middle class area.
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suburbia americana to the global village
the suburbs of montreal, quebec
suburbia around the world canadian
suburbs unlike american suburbs, the railroad
did not prompt a rush of people to the suburbs.
only large cities like montreal witnessed this
type of trend. most outward expansion happened
slowly through the establishment of country homes
by the wealthy. cities were reluctant to expand
because services were coslty to develop out of
town. the street car helped canadian suburbs
grow and become more middle class before the
first world war. early canadian suburbs were
characterized by row houses, not detached homes.
photo source http//ace.planet-d.net/index.php?pa
genamePictures.Picture-HolidayCanada-Montrealbanl
ieu
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suburbia americana to the global village
the suburbs of jerusalem
suburbia around the world israels
suburbs israel experienced a population boom
after world war two as jews from around the world
came to settle there. israels suburbs were
built quickly to satisfy the new populations
demands and so they are not uniform in quality
and were largely unplanned. the suburbs grew so
much that they absorbed whole cities. israels
suburbs attracted the middle class.
photo source http//library.thinkquest.org/26823/
Suburbs20of20Jerusalem.jpg
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suburbia americana to the global village
the hybrid landscape of the netherlands
suburbia around the world suburbs of the
netherlands after world war two, the netherlands
economy was in shambles. the rebuilding effort
established subsidies to build new estates and
new transportation lines were established. the
rebuilt infrastructure encouraged
suburbanization. a population boom during the
1960s encouraged growth in the suburbs. the
netherlands now has hybrid landscapse in which
the line between city and country has been
blurred.
photo source www.floornature.com/.../
articolo.php/art139/2/en
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suburbia americana to the global village
photo source blakely, edward j. and mary gail
snyder. fortress america gated communities in
the united states. washington d.c. brookings
institution press, 1999.
new suburbia gated communities the phenomenon
of walled cities and gated communities is a
dramatic manifestation of a new fortress
mentality growing in america. - fortress
america origins of the gated community gated
communities began with the introduction of
city-building. the earliest were built in 300
b.c. by the occupying romans in present-day
england. the earliest walls were meant to
protect the lord from an uprising by his own
people and were later adapted to stop outside
attackers.
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suburbia americana to the global village
the new gated community gated communities
reemerged in the 1960s and 1970s in the form of
retirement communities. by the 1980s, gates
had spread to middle class suburban developments.
most gates were built out of fear of spreading
violent crime. gated communities are now most
common in the southeast and southwest united
states. california and florida have the most
gated communities. gated communities and the
suburbs from their onset, suburbs were intended
to separate residents from the city. gates are
one way to do this. gates establish a clear
identity for the community. gated communities
often have winding street designs to add to the
separation and privacy of the neighborhoods,
further separating the residents from the
city. another tool of privitization is that
public spaces no longer anchor the community.
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suburbia americana to the global village
the spread of gated communities once gated
communities are introduced into an area, their
numbers quickly multiply. fortress
america homes in gated communities have higher
real estate values. gates assure residents
that the amenities offered by the community are
theirs alone. a typology of gated
communities lifestyle communities 3 types 1
retirement community developed for middle and
upper-middle class retirees who want amenities
built into their neighborhoods. 2 golf
and leisure community golf course is the
central feature around which everything is
arranged 3 suburban new town large
developments that incorporate residential and
commercial prestige communities these
communities are gated to symbolize the
distinction and prestige of its upper class
residents. security zone communities fear of
crime motivates these communities to gate
themselves. these communities are usually
previously ungated and have been retrofit with
gates.
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suburbia americana to the global village
sign on highway 64 in arizona
ad for suburbia
photo source blake, peter. gods own junkyard
the planned deterioration of americas landscape.
new york/chicago/san francisco holt, rinehart
and winston, 1964.
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suburbia americana to the global village
signs on highway 66 in arizona
ad for suburbia
photo source blake, peter. gods own junkyard
the planned deterioration of americas landscape.
new york/chicago/san francisco holt, rinehart
and winston, 1964.
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suburbia americana to the global village
signs on highway 99 in california
ad for suburbia
photo source blake, peter. gods own junkyard
the planned deterioration of americas landscape.
new york/chicago/san francisco holt, rinehart
and winston, 1964.
32
suburbia americana to the global village
sign near three forks montana
ads for suburbia
sign in wisconsin
photo source blake, peter. gods own junkyard
the planned deterioration of americas landscape.
new york/chicago/san francisco holt, rinehart
and winston, 1964.
33
suburbia americana to the global village
ad from the chinese harold in sydney,
australia, 1995
ad for suburbia
photo source silverstone, roger, ed. visions of
suburbia. london routledge, 1997.
34
suburbia americana to the global village
ad from the chinese harold in sydney,
australia, 1995
ad for suburbia
photo source silverstone, roger, ed. visions of
suburbia. london routledge, 1997.
35
suburbia americana to the global village
ad from the chinese harold in sydney,
australia, 1995
ad for suburbia
photo source silverstone, roger, ed. visions of
suburbia. london routledge, 1997.
36
suburbia americana to the global village
ad from the chinese harold in sydney,
australia, 1995
ad for suburbia
photo source silverstone, roger, ed. visions of
suburbia. london routledge, 1997.
37
suburbia americana to the global village
ad from the china daily in beijing, china, 1995
ad for suburbia
photo source silverstone, roger, ed. visions of
suburbia. london routledge, 1997.
38
suburbia americana to the global village
ad from newsday, 1953
ad for suburbia
photo source www.newsday.com/media/
photo/2003-10/9817077.jpg
39
suburbia sources

• blake, peter. gods own junkyard the planned
  deterioration of americas landscape. new
  york/chicago/san francisco holt, rinehart and
  winston, 1964.
• blakely, edward j. and mary gail snyder.
  fortress america gated communities in the united
  states. washington d.c. brookings institution
  press, 1999.
• gandelsonas, mario. x-urbanism architecture and
  the american city. new york princeton
  architectural press, 1999.
• jackson, kenneth t. crabgrass frontier. new
  york oxford press, inc., 1985.
• paumier, cy. creating a vibrant city center
  urban design and regeneration principles.
  washington, d.c. uli-the urban land institute,
  2004.
• rasmussen, steen eiler. london the unique city.
  cambridge the m.i.t. press, 1967.
• silverstone, roger, ed. visions of suburbia.
  london routledge, 1997.