Zoning & Suburban Development
What movement inspired suburban planning with self-contained communities and green spaces?
Garden City Movement
What is Bauer’s definition of modern housing?
Modern Housing is the quality, not quantity, of dwellings produced, being constructed for use rather than profit. Modern Housing also includes “comprehensively planned neighborhoods,” where parks and schools would be nearby.
How does Agee describe the purpose of his work in the preface, and why does he reject traditional documentary approaches?
Agee says his work is not just journalism or sociology but an attempt to fully capture the tenant farmers’ lives. He rejects traditional methods because he believes facts alone cannot express their true experience.
According to Frank Lloyd Wright, what does the key word "Usonia" focus on?
Usonia is a term coined by Frank Lloyd Wright (but not invented by him) to describe his vision of an American style of architecture, characterized by affordable, simple, and functional homes that blend with the natural environment, and it's known as racially coded.
After World War II, housing was seen as more than just a place to live and became a matter of public concern. “Housing is _________’_ ________.” (Hint: It was the title of the chapter that we read.)
“Everybody’s Business”
What 1909 event discussed German town planning and supported land-use zoning in the U.S.?
1909 National City Planning Conference
What was the RPAA known for?
The RPAA was known for its support of the garden city movement, trying to develop more human centered environments in an urban society.
How does Agee describe the physical homes of the tenant farmers in the preface, and what does this suggest about their living conditions?
Agee describes the homes as small, plain, and worn down, made from simple materials. This shows the farmers’ poverty and the tough conditions they live in.
What is "Fisher housing"?
The Fisher Houses according to Wright refers to a pair of private residences designed by him for the Fisher family in the 1940s. These houses are part of Wright’s Usonian architecture style, which aimed to create affordable and functional homes for middle-class Americans.
Name 2 people whose work was on display in the museums/symposiums.
Franco Albini, Piero Bottoni, Giancarlo De Carlo, Henry-Russell Hitchcock, Philip Johnson, William Lescaze, Adalberto Libera, Le Corbusier, Giuseppe Pagano, Ludovico Quaroni, Ernesto Nathan Rogers, Mario Ridolfi.
What 1928 suburban design featured cul-de-sacs and separated pedestrian paths to accommodate cars?
Radburn, New Jersey
What was Radburn?
A rural area in Fair Lawn, New Jersey that would be a comprehensively planned town combining the advantages of twentieth-century technology with access to nature. Radburn failed simply because it was too small in the long run, as well as any plans for a huge success being doomed by the aftermath of the depression.
According to Wolff, how do maps influence the way people perceive and interact with landscapes?
Wolff explains that maps don’t just show land; they influence how people see and use it. Older maps focused on ownership and industry, while new ones reveal ecological and cultural details.
What is Catherine Bauer's view/opinion on Frank Lloyd's Wright Housing approach?
Catherine Bauer criticizes how Wright's "broadacre city" was fundamentally anti-urban, and she argues that it neglected the needs of working class, and low income populations, and how the city relied on automobiles.
Governments helped shape housing after the war. What role did they play?
They helped fund, plan, and support housing for the public good.
Why did the 1909 Los Angeles zoning ordinance aim to separate industrial and residential areas, and what broader impact did it have?
To reduce conflicts between factories and homes, driven partly by racial and ethnic biases.
Who was Edgar Kaufmann and why was he important to Catherine Bauer?
Kaufmann put up the prize money for the Fortune magazine contest which Catherine Bauer won, but was also the commissioner of Frank Lloyd Wright’s Fallingwater house. As well as this, because Bauer won, this transformed and strengthened her career as a housing expert.
What example does Wolff give of how landscape perception has changed over time, and what does this mean for urban design?
Industrial sites were once seen as useless, but now they are being turned into parks and public spaces. This shift encourages architects to reuse land in creative ways.
True or False? "Form and Function" are one in Broadacres?
True
Architects in the post-war era believed housing could help shape people’s lives. What idea does this connect to?
Social Responsibility
Why did Henry Ford’s assembly line revolutionize American society, and how did it contribute to suburban expansion?
It made cars affordable for the average American, enabling longer commutes and suburban living.
From the standpoint of economics, what were the main reasons the RPAA did not like the current way of American Housing, what contributed to it, and why?
The banking system as well as American housing being more expensive than necessary are the main reasons the RPAA did not like American housing compared to European. They criticized suburban development for a lack of community structures and remoteness, which related to something Bauer noted that America would not readily accept her modern housing because of the favorability of individual cottage-like housing.
How do Agee/Evans and Jane Wolff define a "region" differently, and what role does architecture play in their definitions?
Agee and Evans define a region through the lived experiences of tenant farmers, using vernacular architecture (ex:worn pine-wood homes) to reflect social conditions. Wolff shows the TVA defining the Tennessee Valley as a region through engineered landscapes (dams, planned towns) that blend tradition with modernization. Both use architecture, Agee/Evans to document reality, Wolff to construct an idealized identity.
What social ideas play into the role of development of houses and how does that influence them according to the broadacre city?
Wright’s vision emphasized individual freedom and self-sufficiency. He believed that every family should have its own plot of land, fostering independence and personal expression.
Housing design after the war tried to balance being new and forward-thinking while still feeling familiar. What two ideas are being balanced?
Modernity and tradition