
Subsidizing Suburbia: A forgotten history of how the government created suburbia - Mz
http://www.marketurbanism.com/2017/09/05/subsidizing-suburbia-a-forgotten-history-of-how-the-government-created-suburbia/
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chiefalchemist
Re: But none of these conclusions were inevitable. Government intervention
influenced our expectations about home ownership, tax treatment, car
infrastructure, and even what our neighborhoods should look like. In the
course of the next few posts, we’ll dive into each of these four topics to
understand how American communities came to be what they are today."

Perhaps I missed it but it does look like they're going to discuss why. That
is why the gov went in this direction. Who benefitted. Who didn't. What
sociopolitical norms did it encourge/discourage. Etc.

The whats will certainly be interesting. But the arc of why would be a greater
discussion.

~~~
eesmith
One aspect is racism and xenophobia. Remember that Levittown was a whites-only
suburb.

Quoting
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crabgrass_Frontier](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crabgrass_Frontier)
: Jackson examined the New Deal's contributions to public housing and
concludes that "the result, if not the intent, of the public housing program
of the United States was to segregate the races, to concentrate the
disadvantaged in inner cities, and to reinforce the image of suburbia as a
place of refuge for the problems of race, crime, and poverty."

Or [https://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2014/05/the-
rac...](https://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2014/05/the-racist-
housing-policy-that-made-your-neighborhood/371439/) .

For a more diverse treatment of some other aspects of suburbanization, see
[http://chnm.gmu.edu/courses/schrag/wiki/index.php?title=Subu...](http://chnm.gmu.edu/courses/schrag/wiki/index.php?title=Suburbanization)
.

The first essay in the series links to other references like
[http://web.mit.edu/ebj/www/doc/JAPAv61n1.pdf](http://web.mit.edu/ebj/www/doc/JAPAv61n1.pdf)
which describe some of the reasons for, for example, car-oriented roads and
the reason for building cul-de-sacs[1]. (In short: it was cheaper.)

The 1950s urban planning policy was based on single-use zones, magnified by
its incorporation into federal standards. "The Death and Life of Great
American Cities" is the classic critique of that approach.

[1] I deliberate treat it as an English word and make it a plural with English
rules, rather than use the French plural

~~~
chiefalchemist
Interesting. But why were the whites "forced out" of the cities when the
European tradition was minorites out and wealthy (whites) stay?

This is where I get back to I wish this series was going to explore The Why as
well. That doesn't seem to be the case based on this first in the series.

~~~
eesmith
This series is specifically discussing "an even more important factor that
shaped patterns of American development since the Great Depression." It is not
discussing the roots of suburbanization, which is what you appear to want. For
that you must consult the sources.

The series linked to
[http://web.mit.edu/ebj/www/doc/JAPAv61n1.pdf](http://web.mit.edu/ebj/www/doc/JAPAv61n1.pdf)
, and I suggested it as well in my earlier comment.

On page 2 it says "To avoid the harsh physical and social conditions of the
industrial city, affluent citizens of that era chose to live in new
developments at the rural-urban edge. ... the suburban notion trickled down
from the elite to the middle class ..."

On page 3 "During the late nineteenth century the environmental chaos of the
city was seen as linked to its social problems. Overcrowding and deteriorating
sanitary conditions were believed to cause social and moral degeneration.
Social and health reformers argued that the inevitable social disorder would
be controlled best by improving the environment. Then as reformers discovered
the difficulty of improving the inner city, many began advocating multi-
centered growth patterns. Suburbanization was seen as a vital force not only
in urbanizing the countryside, but also in revitalizing the city. ... "

