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

front & back covers shown above.
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Home Page 		Noted planning historian Laurence C. Gerckens Planning historian Larry Gerckens takes a closer look at what he considers the ten most significant successes and failures that shaped the development of America's cities in the 20th century.

Feel free to sample four pages from this twenty page article (pdf file). As part of this Special Offer you will receive Planning Commissioners Journal Issue #38 -- the entire issue consists of these two companion articles.

The Ten Failures:

  • 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

    The Ten Successes:

  • 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