Abstract

What Are Our Goals? I. Cities Fit to Live In

American cities, to a large degree, have been the products of the private land monopolist, the speculative builder, the too canny banker and insurance administrator, the centralizing business bureaucrat, bent on seizing and displaying power. With profit, prestige, and power the controlling influences in city development, more rational and humane ends have become secondary. Accordingly, if Americans dare to ask themselves what kind of cities they want, they must be prepared to liquidate many of their present financial activities and to transform the remainder into social enterprises. The kind of city they want, accordingly, is one adequately planned and equipped for the fulfillment of life at every stage from cradle, to grave. A city might be composed of houses and open spaces of the most excellent design, from one end to the other, without meeting this requirement.