Whatever Happened to “Urbanism”? A Comparison of Premodern, Modernist, and HOPE VI Morphology in Three American Cities

Abstract

In the United States, urban form and design changed tremendously during the twentieth century. From the early twentieth century, a time when small-scale, highly diverse city blocks or what Douglas Rae called “urbanism” predominated, urban redevelopment came to be dominated by large-scale modernist superblocks, often promoted by federal policy. In the last two decades of the century, some urban designers argued for recapturing the physical qualities of the premodern city, while others argued that large-scale, autonomous city areas were both inevitable and ideal. This study undertakes a morphological investigation of three “twice-cleared” urban sites in three American cities—Boston, Chicago, and New Orleans—to measure the changes occurring in eight morphological variables. The study examines three eras: 1910, when all three sites were dominated by small-scale buildings and city blocks, or premodern development; 1950, when all three sites had been redeveloped for Modernism-inspired public housing; and 2010, when all three sites had again been redeveloped under the federal, historicist-inspired HOPE VI public housing improvement program. The study found that HOPE VI was able to recover only some of the “urbanism” that Modernism eradicated in the mid 20th century. The study concludes that urban design is influenced by seemingly unalterable forces like technology and economy, but that purposeful design ideals can also have substantial effects.

Acknowledgements

The Harvard Graduate School of Design provided early support for this research with a Dean's Research and Faculty Development Grant. Karina Milchman, Sarah Spicer, Sarah Nusser, Thomas De Simone, and Christine Wu provided helpful assistance with research and editing. Charles Hoch, Lawrence Vale, and David Smiley helpfully reviewed drafts of this study. D. Bradford Hunt and Steven Moga shared resources and information on Chicago and New Orleans.

Notes

1. HOPE VI is a somewhat strained acronym for Housing Opportunities for People Everywhere. The “VI” refers to the program's place in a lineage of federal public assisted housing programs, most of which achieved far less visibility than HOPE VI. Initiated in 1992, the program has rebuilt over 246 public housing developments nationwide (Cisneros and Engdahl 2009, 85) via more than $6.2 billion awarded to local public housing agencies. See Cisneros and Engdahl (2009) for more information, much of it frankly promotional, about HOPE VI.