Downtown: Its Rise and Fall, 1880–1950
One of the nation's leading urban historians, Fogelson (urban  studies, MIT; The Fragmented Metropolis: Los Angeles, 1850-1930)  examines the history of the American city center, from a  position of business and commercial dominance in 1880 to one of  obsolescence in the mid-20th century. Drawing on his  comprehensive research, Fogelson presents a detailed portrayal  of downtown's fragmented reaction to residential dispersal, the  decentralization of business, traffic congestion, the  Depression, and want of vision by downtown's leaders and  advocates. He tracks controversial and conflicting public policy  debates over rapid transit systems, limited building heights,  zoning, traffic regulations, and public parking, which highlight  uncoordinated and shortsighted attempts to reshape a  once-dominant central city. Fogelson concludes with the  perceptive and perhaps rueful observation that downtown's  decline in the first half of the 20th century was mostly the  result of an American vision of "bourgeois utopia," a nation of  suburbs, which brought the beginning of urban sprawl. A superbly  thorough analysis of the causes of inner-city blight,  congestion, and economic decline in mid-20th century urban  America, this is essential reading for American historians and  an excellent addition to academic and urban libraries. John E.  Hodgkins, Yarmouth, MECopyright 2001 Reed Business Information, Inc.--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.