The suburbanization of the inner city : urban housing and the pastoral ideal

This dissertation examines the influence of vernacular suburban architectural and neighborhood design on new inner-city housing developments in Detroit, Michigan, and Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The central research hypothesis of the dissertation is that the widespread pastoral ideal of American culture is acting in concert with the weak land market of inner cities to produce a reshaping of these places in the image of the American vernacular suburb. I call this shift inner-city suburbanization. This dissertation offers a needed new perspective on the study of American urban revitalization. Most current debate concentrates on the alleviation of economic and social problems in inner cities, a focus which leaves the physical dimensions of the situation underexamined, while urban design theory advocates a different physical vision from that which many distressed urban neighborhoods are actually experiencing. The result has been a lacuna of academic research on the form of inner cities while significant decisions are being made in the world of practice. This dissertation attempts to bring these two worlds closer together. The dissertation begins with an introduction that frames the central research questions of the study. It continues with a review of the role of the suburb, the inner city, and of low-income housing in the history of American urbanism in Chapter Two.

Department dc:contributor.department

Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Dept. of Urban Studies and Planning.

Grantor dc:publisher

Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Year dc:date.issued

2002

Author dc:creator

• Ryan, Brent D., 1969-

Advisor dc:contributor.advisor

• Lawrence J. Vale.

• Urban Studies and Planning.

Statement dc:rights

• M.I.T. theses are protected by copyright. They may be viewed from this source for any purpose, but reproduction or distribution in any format is prohibited without written permission. See provided URL for inquiries about permission.

Licence dc:rights.uri

• http://dspace.mit.edu/handle/1721.1/7582

Language dc:language.iso

eng

Handle dc:identifier.uri

http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/69767

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:dspace.mit.edu:1721.1/69767