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Title
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Megalopolis vs. the masses: Lewis Mumford and the politics of 20th century romantic urbanism.
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Identifier
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AAI9986380
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identifier
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9986380
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Creator
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Smith, Thomas Gerard.
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Contributor
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Adviser: Marshall Berman
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Date
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2000
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Language
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English
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Publisher
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City University of New York.
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Subject
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Political Science, General | Urban and Regional Planning | History, United States
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Abstract
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In "Megalopolis vs. the Masses: Lewis Mumford and the Politics of 20th Century Romantic Urbanism," I consider Lewis Mumford's view that modern urban social arrangements must be planned democratically, with concern for the health and welfare of the citizens and the harmony of human society with nature, uppermost in mind. I show that Mumford's animus toward the modern, overly congested metropolitan/suburban complex, and his insistence that planning be regional in scope, grows out of these concerns.;In Chapter I, "Introduction," I sketch my concept of "romantic urbanism"---urbanism which aims to fulfill human needs and aspirations, including our aesthetic needs for access to nature as well as love, fulfilling work, and community---and introduce my belief that this is the essence of Mumford's thought. In Chapter II, " Mumford's Radical Mentors," I discuss Mumford's intellectual debt to various European and American political thinkers, including the European and American Romantics, the nineteenth century European urban novelists, utopian thinkers, socialists, and social scientists of the 20th century. In Chapter III, "The Story of Utopias," I discuss Mumford's first book (The Story of Utopias) in which he outlines his basic views on ideology and consciousness, for which he shows his indebtedness to Friedrich Nietzsche's and Randolph Bourne's concept of the "idol." In Chapter IV, "The Contradictions of Megalopolis," I discuss Mumford's and other urban romantics' critique of the contradictions of the modern metropolitan urban form: its congestion, anomie, lack of decent housing, access to nature, etc. In Chapter V, "Garden Cities and the Restoration of Existing Cities," I discuss Ebenezer Howard's, Patrick Geddes', Lewis Mumford's, and other writers' scheme for a decentralized "garden city" as a resolution to the problems of Megalopolis. In Chapter V, "The Spatial Articulation of Urban Function," I discuss Mumford's concepts of how urban space ought to be selectively utilized to permit maximum enjoyment for the citizenry. In Chapter VII, "Mumford's Theory of Regionalism," I discuss Mumford's theory of regionalism within the context of prior and contemporary regionalist thought. In Chapter VIII "Elite and Democratic Planning," I first discuss Mumford's critique of the Regional Plan Association, headed by Thomas Adams, as an example of poor, elitist planning which largely acquiesced in Megalopolitan trends, and then go on to outline Mumford's vision of what democratic socialist urban planning would involve. In Chapter IX, "A Preface to Action," I discuss an unpublished Mss., found in Mumford's papers and written in 1931, which presents Mumford's critique of the existing political parties---fascists, agrarians, liberals, social democrats, and Stalinist "Communists," and then outlines Mumford's plan to create a "vanguard" leadership for bold, innovative, revolutionary social change, whose inspiration would be the bold Roman Stoic general, Scipio Africanus (the "Scipians"). In Chapter X, "Bases for transition to the new regime," I discuss Mumford's analysis is of the social bases for change---the school, science, the "service state" (a concept I critique, with the help of Meyer Schapiro), and above all, the radical housing movement which his companion Catherine Bauer led in the 1930s. At length, I discuss Bauer's work, Modern Housing, published in 1934. Finally, in Chapter XI, Conclusion, I discuss the relevance of Mumford's thought to today's social problems and movements.
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Type
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dissertation
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Source
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PQT Legacy CUNY.xlsx
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degree
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Ph.D.
