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Issue #38: Spring 2000
Special Issue: The Promise of America

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*The Promise Kept: Ten Successes article is on pages 3 through 11. Then turn the issue over and read The Promise Broken: Ten Failures article from the reverse.

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THE PROMISE OF AMERICA:

Ten Successes & Ten Failures that Shaped the 20th Century American City
by Laurence Gerckens

A look at the ten most significant successes and failures that shaped the development of America's cities over the past century. 		A Note from the Editor: Understanding Our Past

Planning Commissioners Journal columnist Mike Chandler noted in a recent column that "planners are doers." Our goal as a journal is certainly to help you as a "doer."

So why are we devoting this issue of the PCJ to events from the past century?

As citizen (or professional) planners we're often so focused on getting things done that we don't take the time to get a clearer understanding of our past. Yet coming to grips with what's behind us is essential to planning for what lies ahead.

Over the years we've run occasional articles by noted historian Laurence Gerckens on different aspects of American planning history, ranging from the development of early parkway systems to the origins of the City Beautiful movement. I'm pleased that Gerckens agreed to take a broader look at those key "successes" and "failures" of the past century that helped shape our nation's growth and development.

The Promise Kept

  • Provision of Pure Water and Effective Sewage Treatment
  • The Isolation of Dangerous and Disharmonious Land Uses
  • Abolition of Corrupt Boss Governments
  • Development of Integrated Roadway Systems
  • Electrification of Cities and Regions
  • Advent of Universal Communications
  • Widespread Extension of Home Ownership
  • Realization of Metropolitan and Regional Park Systems
  • The Control of Land Subdivision
  • The Environmental Movement

    The Promise Broken
  • The Demise of Community-Oriented Design & Development
  • The Lost Vision of Regional Planning
  • The Fragmented Nature of Metropolitan Governance
  • The Unfulfilled Promise of High Tech Housing
  • The Landscape of Racial and Economic Segregation
  • Disinvestment in Public Transit
  • Defaulting on the Promise of Public Housing
  • Abandonment of the Quest for a "Great Society"
  • Narrowing the Mission of HUD
  • Comprehensive Planning Constrained

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