Dublin Core
Titre
The lost dream : Businessmen and city planning on the Pacific coast, 1890 - 1920
Sujet
, aménagement urbain, histoire de l'urbanisme, Oakland, Seattle, Portland, San Francisco, Los Angeles, business, Blackford Mansel G., twentieth century, vingtième siècle
Description
Abstract from the publisher :
During the opening years of the twentieth century, the business and political leaders in each of these cities began developing comprehensive city plans encompassing harbor improvements, new street and transportation facilities, civic centers, and parks and boulevards. As Blackford shows, businessmen worked through both established political channels and newly formed bodies outside of those channels to become leaders in the planning process. As the planning campaigns evolved, businessmen found themselves both joined and opposed by ever-changing coalitions of professionals, politicians, and workers.
The way that businessmen had previously interacted with these other parties greatly affected their success in obtaining their goals, but ultimately, Blackford claims, politics lay at the heart of planning. The proposed plans were accepted or rejected in heated citywide elections in which, to be successful, businessmen had to convince others to vote with them—a feat they achieved in only one city. Nevertheless, these plans were often later adopted in some piecemeal fashion, and Blackford concludes his study with an analysis of the legacy of Progressive Era city planning for later periods.
The Lost Dream makes significant contributions to our understanding of city planning in America and particularly in the American West.
Mansel G. Blackford is professor of history at The Ohio State University and is the author of a number of books on business history.