Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1961-10-01
Cities
~' People
Cities Are Put
On the Couch
By ROBERT ]. LEWIS

something in common.
Worries and troubles we
have are not really our fault,
these analysts contend. The
difficulties can be blamed,
instead, on the escapiSt at
traction that cities have for
human beings.
Another thing. People
don't come to live in cities
because they seek new chal-
lenges. Instead of marching
in like conquerors, they re-
treat to cities like defeated
warriors. .-.-
People come to large cities
because there, among other
reasons, they find a wider
range of choice iOithin their
individual limitations than
they are likely to find any
where else" says Karl W.
DeutSch, one of the leading
thinkers in this new school
of urban psychoanalysis.
IN THE WRITINGS of peo-
pie who have adopted this
way of thinking, cities have
diseases just like people.
Instead of govt and lum-
bago, however, cities suffer
from such ailments as com
munication overload" which,
one might gather, is very
serious.
This disease, says Mr..
Deutsch, has a very peculiar
cause, or etiology.
The very fact that a city
gives its people a wider
range Of choice" attracts
them, in the first place. And
then, having this freedom,
they (oh, horrorsD misbe-
have by driving too many
cars thus creating traffic
jams) and make too many
telephone calls (thuS jam
ming the telephone switch
boards.
so, IT APPEARS, the trou-
BILE with cities is the people
who live in them. And the
trouble with people is the
cities they live in.
How does this happen to
be the case?
From what we gather from
Mr.. Deutsch, the real culprit
is the wider freedom of
choice" that cities provide to
people-the essence of the
city's attraction.
Cities must provide this
freedom Of choice to get peo-
pie to come in. And then,
having the freedom, people
behave in such a way as to
cause the city to break out in
a rash of communication
overload" and other ills.
This, If we comprehend
the verbiage, is what Mr..
Deutsch seems to be saying
in his contribution to THE
Future Metropolis" one of a
whole shelf Of books which
recently have been attempt
ing to analyze the psyche
somatic aches and pains of
American cities.
-
JUST TRYING to under
S>nd the fancy lingo
dreamed up by these analysts
Is difficult enough, so it is
quite possible that we're
missing Mr.. Deutsch's point
entirely.
But it does seem clear that
he is very greatly worried
about this matter of the free
dom to choose that people
living in cities possess.
Inevitably" says Mr..
Deutsch, every metropolis
must offer each of its resi-
dents enough freedom for a
wider range of choices to be
significant to him.. and this
also means enough freedom
so that serious problems of
peak loads and of recurrent,
possibly growing, overloads
are imposed on the city's
many but limited facilities. ,"
In this thieket of urban
hazards, there's still another
danger, says Mr.. Deutsch.
"A wider range of relevant
choices implies ordinarily an
additional burden on those
who are choosing" he says.
Just the effort of trying
to decide what to do, from
among many possible choices,
is apt to wear people down.
The result, he says, is "atten-
ton overload" in a "commu-
nication saturated" society.
These, too, are overloadS
in communication, but they
occur not in streets and tele-
phone lines but within the
minds and nervous systems
of people," he concludes.
4 4
CONSIDERING the case
that Mr.. Deutsch has made,
=