The Environment and the People in American Cities, 1600s-1900s

by Taylor, Dorceta E.

• ISBN13: 9780822344513
• ISBN10: 0822344513
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2009-11-01
• Publisher: Duke Univ Pr

Summary

InThe Environment and the People in American Cities, Dorceta E. Taylor provides an in-depth examination of the development of urban environments, and urban environmentalism, in the United States. Taylor focuses on the evolution of the city, the emergence of elite reformers, the framing of environmental problems, and the perceptions of and responses to breakdowns in social order, from the seventeenth century through the twentieth. She demonstrates how social inequalities repeatedly informed the adjudication of questions related to health, safety, and land access and use. While many accounts of environmental history begin and end with wildlife and wilderness, Taylor shows that the city offers important clues to understanding the evolution of American environmental activism.Taylor traces the progression of several major thrusts in urban environmental activism, including the alleviation of poverty; sanitary reform and public health; safe, affordable, and adequate housing; parks, playgrounds, and open space; occupational health and safety; consumer protection (food and product safety); and land use and urban planning. At the same time, she presents a historical analysis of the ways race, class, and gender shaped experiences and perceptions of the environment as well as environmental activism and the construction of environmental discourses. Throughout her analysis, Taylor illuminates connections between the social and environmental conflicts of the past and those of the present. She describes the displacement of people of color for the production of natural open space for the white and wealthy, the close proximity between garbage and communities of color in early America, the cozy relationship between middle-class environmentalists and the business community, and the continuous resistance against environmental inequalities on the part of ordinary residents from marginal communities.

Table of Contents

Figures, Tables, and Boxes	p. ix
Acknowledgments	p. xi
Introduction	p. 1
The Condition of the City	p. 41
The Evolution of American Cities	p. 43
Epidemics, Cities, and Environmental Reform	p. 69
Reforming the City	p. 113
Wealthy Urbanites: Fleeing Downtown and Privatizing Green Space	p. 115
Social Inequality and the Quest for Order in the City	p. 131
Data Gathering as a Mechanism for Understanding the City and Imposing Order	p. 181
Sanitation and Housing Reform	p. 199
Urban Parks, Order, and Social Reform	p. 221
Conceptualizing and Framing Urban Packs	p. 223
Elite Ideology, Activism, and Park Development	p. 251
Social Class, Activism, and Park Use	p. 296
Contemporary Efforts to Finance Urban Parks	p. 338
The Rise of Comprehensive Zoning	p. 365
Class, Race, Space, and Zoning in America	p. 367
Land Use and Zoning in American Cities	p. 380
Reforming the Workplace and Reducing Community Hazards	p. 405
Workplace and Community Hazards	p. 407
The Industrial Workplace	p. 446
Conclusion	p. 501
Notes	p. 507
Index	p. 60
Table of Contents provided by Ingram. All Rights Reserved.