{"id":22610,"date":"2022-06-01T13:07:57","date_gmt":"2022-06-01T20:07:57","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/?p=22610"},"modified":"2022-06-01T13:07:59","modified_gmt":"2022-06-01T20:07:59","slug":"american-urbanisms-forgotten-hero","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/2022\/06\/01\/american-urbanisms-forgotten-hero\/","title":{"rendered":"AMERICAN URBANISM\u2019S FORGOTTEN HERO"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

by Randy Shaw<\/a> on May 30, 2022 (beyondchron.org)<\/h4>\n\n\n\n
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Whyte\u2019s Groundbreaking Critique of Cities<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

When we think of the foundational heroes of progressive American urbanism, Jane Jacobs often first comes to mind. Jacobs\u2019 1961 classic, \u201cThe Death and Life of Great American Cities,\u201d transformed our view of cities and urban renewal. The next name that may come to mind is UCLA Professor Donald Shoup. His 2005 \u201cThe High Cost of Free Parking\u201d remains scripture for backers of parking reform.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One name unlikely to emerge is William H. Whyte. When I tried to read all relevant books about cities for my own Generation Priced Out<\/a>, I never considered Whyte\u2019s works. Earlier this year I turned down Island Press\u2019s offer of a review copy for Richard Rein\u2019s new book on Whyte, American Urbanist<\/em><\/a>. But after I picked up a copy in the library I could not put it down.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rein\u2019s book is truly impressive. He shows how Whyte criticized planners for their housing, density, suburban sprawl and parking policies long before others. Whyte pioneered the strategy to secure open space through scenic easements. Whyte recruited Jacobs to write her book, and she always credited him for his support. Yet Whyte\u2019s name is primarily associated with his first major book, The Organization Man,\u201d not with his influential books on cities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A Visionary Before His Time<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rein rescues Whyte\u2019s legacy by chronicling his visionary critiques of urban and suburban America. He was the Paul Revere of critics of American urbanism and suburbanism, yet his warnings were not heeded. Whyte advanced many of the policies that YIMBYs and other urbanists push today. But he did so in a post-war era driven by faith in freeway and suburb construction and in the racist, displacement causing \u201curban renewal.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Nothing bothered Whyte more than the vast stretches of land cities devoted to parking lots. He fought for true open space in urban areas at a time when developer incentives were given to create ill-conceived spaces that people would rarely use. He famously said, \u201cIt is difficult to design a space that will not attract people. What is remarkable is how often this has been accomplished.\u201d He even got involved in the proper design of playgrounds. He said playgrounds looked like they were designed by planners who didn\u2019t like kids.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Whyte had very specific guidelines for successful open spaces. And he often had the influence to implement them. Bryant Park is one of the nation\u2019s most successful public spaces. Chief credit for this goes to William Whyte. Whyte was always very blunt with his criticisms. In some cases, as in Dallas, that led city officials to reject his plans. But Rein shows how Whyte\u2019s perspectives usually influenced both planners and developers to do better projects.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The irony of Whyte\u2019s life was that he became best known for a book, The Organization Man, widely misinterpreted today. His books that helped remake cities\u2014\u2013The Social Life of Small Urban Spaces, City: Rediscovering the Center, and The Exploding Metropolis to name a few\u2014got less public attention.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Why was Whyte Forgotten?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Toward the end of his life Whyte expressed concern that he had no legacy. After all, much of his work came from his books and role as consultant to planners, developers and other powerful figures like Lawrence Rockefeller. Rein cites various scholars and conferences directly influenced by Whyte, while recognizing that Whyte had limitations that impacted his legacy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

First, Whyte was always part of the Establishment. A Princeton grad whose work was often funded by Rockefeller, Whyte would never have considered himself an activist\u2014a role Jacobs combined with her scholarship. Whyte cheered on Jacobs\u2019 battle with Robert Moses and against freeway expansion but he was not someone who attended protests and or was affiliated with neighborhood groups. Peter Laurence notes in his brilliant book on Jacobs<\/a> that she resented being portrayed as a mom who rode a bicycle; it downplayed her serious scholarship and training. Yet this image of Jacobs a regular neighborhood activist encouraged her legacy over an Establishment insider like William Whyte.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Whyte\u2019s characterizations of women were sometimes less than woke. He measured public spaces by their success in attracting \u201cgirl-watching.\u201d This was part of his view that public spaces\u2019 success depended on their ability to attract women.  Whyte denounced the displacement of Black and Brown residents via urban renewal but never connected to groups resisting this. He saw \u201cgentrification\u201d solely as a function of disinvestment rather than of speculators transforming once affordable housing into homes for the more affluent.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Yet in the big picture, Whyte\u2019s ability to use establishment connections to promote what were then radical urban policies is likely unprecedented in American urban history. I turned the pages at Rein\u2019s book marveling how Whyte saw the future so much clearer than almost everyone else.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

YIMBYs and urbanists will likely have the same response. Thanks to Richard Rein for bringing the forgotten legacy of William H. Whyte back to life.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Randy Shaw<\/a><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Randy Shaw is the Editor of Beyond Chron and the Director of San Francisco\u2019s Tenderloin Housing Clinic, which publishes Beyond Chron. Shaw\u2019s latest book is Generation Priced Out: Who Gets to Live in the New Urban America. He is the author of four prior books on activism, including The Activist\u2019s Handbook: Winning Social Change in the 21st Century, and Beyond the Fields: Cesar Chavez, the UFW and the Struggle for Justice in the 21st Century. He is also the author of The Tenderloin: Sex, Crime and Resistance in the Heart of San Francisco<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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by Randy Shaw on May 30, 2022 (beyondchron.org) Whyte\u2019s Groundbreaking Critique of Cities When we think of the foundational heroes of progressive American urbanism, Jane Jacobs often first comes to mind. Jacobs\u2019 1961 classic, \u201cThe Death and Life of Great American Cities,\u201d transformed our view of cities and urban renewal. The next name… Continue reading → <\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22610"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=22610"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22610\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":22611,"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22610\/revisions\/22611"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=22610"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=22610"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=22610"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}