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This paper explores the development and legacy of nineteenth-century "animal suburbs," focusing on Boston and Brighton, Massachusetts. As domesticated animals were pushed from downtowns—and as large-scale animal industries emerged in the 1800s—urban areas grappled with what to do with livestock populations for urban consumers and markets. Animal suburbs like Brighton marked important developmental forms—marking key changes in human-animal relationships, and also in urban development, law, politics, and environmental change. These animal suburbs had distinctive built environments, ecologies, economies, and social landscapes that shaped development in the nineteenth century and in the many decades that followed. This paper explores the life and death of one animal suburb—Brighton—and shows the centrality of these marginal spaces in explaining why parts of American cities look the way they do today, while also providing insight into developments of nineteenth-century law, political development, and capitalism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Lillian Wald brought public health nursing to New York City's congested Lower East Side in summer 1893, where she recorded tenement dwellers' suffering from cuts, burns, breaks, deaths, illness, and childbirth. Together, nurses traveling streets, alleys, rooftops, and hallways, alongside dwellers acting as "local guides," inaugurated vernacular mappings. Drawing on letters Wald wrote to her benefactor, Jacob Schiff, in July 1893, describing visiting, cleaning, healing, and connecting, this article uncovers a spatial dimension to pain that invites historians of urban America to discover the sick city. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This essay explores airplane manufacturing in twentieth-century Seattle to trace the correspondence between major developmental moments in the city's history and broader transitional moments in American empire. In doing so, it argues that Seattle is best understood as an imperial city characterized by four ongoing features: extensive connections beyond the city's nominal borders; sustained alliance between private commercial interests and the state that made such connections possible; a built environment of technological infrastructure made to serve that alliance; and labor forces, segmented by race, subject to the evolving needs of empire. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article explores three recently published books on urban planning that delve into the characteristics and resilience of ideal, iconic communities. One book, "Iconic Planned Communities and the Challenge of Change," offers case studies of planned communities from around the world. Another book, "Sunnyside Gardens," focuses on a specific community in Queens, New York. The third book, "John Nolen: Landscape Architect and City Planner," traces the career of America's first city planner. The article highlights the connections and influences among different planners and designers of these communities, emphasizing the belief that well-designed physical environments can promote social well-being and a sense of community. It also discusses common design elements of planned communities, such as grid patterns, mix of housing types, and the presence of a town center. The article examines the resilience and challenges faced by planned communities over time, using case studies like Sunnyside, Greenbelt, and Seaside to illustrate how they have adapted to changes in transportation, governance, housing preferences, and population diversity. It underscores the importance of community support and a sense of place in preserving the original design and heritage of planned communities, concluding that the quality of the initial planning is vital for ensuring the long-term viability and distinctive features of iconic planned communities. [Extracted from the article]

"The Decorated Tenement: How Immigrant Builders and Architects Transformed the Slum in the Gilded Age" by Zachary J. Violette and "How the Working-Class Home Became Modern" by Thomas C. Hubka are two books that provide insight into the lives of ordinary people in the late 19th and early 20th centuries in the United States. These books challenge the dominant narrative that focuses on the wealthy and their lavish homes, instead exploring the housing conditions and changes experienced by the working class and poor. Violette's book specifically examines the tenements in New York City, highlighting how immigrant builders and architects adapted these structures to meet the needs and desires of the new American residents. The books also discuss the tensions between housing reformers and tenants, with reformers often imposing their values on lower-class immigrants who were satisfied with their homes. The text mentions that Violette criticizes reformer Jacob Riis for his views on tenements, while Hubka focuses on the middle 60% of the income distribution and their housing improvements. It notes that Hubka's book lacks a racial analysis, but praises Violette for addressing the anti-Semitism faced by Jewish immigrants. Both books demonstrate the improvement in living standards for working-class people during this time period, with Hubka's book specifically examining the modernization of homes and its impact on people's lives. [Extracted from the article]

Keywords: planned communities; public space; neoliberalism; public-private partnerships; racial segregation EN planned communities public space neoliberalism public-private partnerships racial segregation 1388 1393 6 10/12/21 20211101 NES 211101 Samuel, Lawrence R. (2019). At a time of an acute housing shortage in the city, Parkchester offered improved living conditions for residents eager to leave slums in tenement neighborhoods but unable to pay high rental fees in Manhattan apartment buildings. Parkchester, like Stuyvesant Town, perpetuated racial segregation in New York, revealing the limitations of private and public housing programs at the time. The New York City Housing Authority (NYCHA), possessing the legal power of eminent domain to take private property for public use, had already embraced slum clearance methods to remake impoverished neighborhoods with public housing for the working poor. [Extracted from the article]