Leonie Sandercock's The Most Segregated City In America
1454 Words6 Pages
Sometimes history leaves out a few important facts that should be included in such. History within the planning profession shows us that, we too, can forget about those who shaped the profession even without mention. Leonie Sandercock highlights these important lessons that so many before have missed when planning history only focuses on visionaries and public figures who see planning as an activity and who do not merely focus on the process of the profession. Sandercock argues that Peter Hall himself has missed these key important lessons in planning history. She argues that, “Hall seems unable to offer any satisfactory explanation for this gap between vision and reality, perhaps precisely because he chooses to focus on individuals rather…show more content… Connerly discusses the very idea of civic leagues in Birmingham whose purpose range from beautification campaigns to working on public safety issues. “Establishment of indigenous black neighborhood organizations that attempted to provide public services that were denied by the white-controlled government (Connerly, 2005).” These established organizations took on the role of the planning profession. They began to take matters in their own hands. Connerly says is best when he claims that it become anti-planning, “which the black community found itself in opposition to plans made by the dominant white community.” Civic leagues understood the need to fill the gaps that were left when the planning profession didn’t seem to understand the needs of those it left out. “Water and sewer issues were addressed by civic leagues (Connerly, 2005).” Connerly continues to address how these organizations did their part in shaping the community and improving the quality of life in cities. It is interesting that Connerly points out these forgotten actors, because Sandercock indicates that there are almost two reasons why the black community are not mentioned as part of planning history. First being the “attention to histories of racial tension and strife in…show more content… From what was gathered within the Hall literature; The City in the Garden, the vision of Garden Cities were to provide housing for the urban poor who lived outside the city. Other concepts of the Garden City sought out design methods centered on the ‘natural limitations’ of the land that was available. This idea sheds light onto the separation of land uses. It was evident from the video entitled, Charley in New Town that Garden Cities attempted to combat and mitigate the effects of what over-crowding was doing to a city. When more people would move into cities, so did industry and industry would be placed next to homes of people because there would be no more room to place it elsewhere – creating an environment not suitable for living. Garden Cities allowed for a spill over, per se, that when it got too crowded in the city, then people would move to a Garden City whose limit of occupancy was fixed. “The garden city would have a fixed limit – Howard suggested 32,000 people, living on 1,000 acres of land…(Hall, 2002)” There would be this “vast planned agglomeration” that would encompass the garden cities who will have many jobs and services at its very core – thus, giving way to economic and social opportunities within the