Reddit Reddit reviews Fragmented Metropolis (Classics in Urban History)

We found 2 Reddit comments about Fragmented Metropolis (Classics in Urban History). Here are the top ones, ranked by their Reddit score.

History
Books
American History
United States History
U.S. State & Local History
Fragmented Metropolis (Classics in Urban History)
Check price on Amazon

2 Reddit comments about Fragmented Metropolis (Classics in Urban History):

u/mindkiller317 · 5 pointsr/LosAngeles

The Fragmented Metropolis. The rise of Los Angeles and how politics, greed, and infrastructure led to a dispersed city that is torn apart logistically and emotionally. Health schemes, shady property deals, and good old racism saw new residential developments in far flung areas like the west side and east LA that ensured a legacy of a city too widespread to be tight-knit. Car manufacturers killed the public transit system before it was even really born and paved the way for a future of hellish commutes and isolated neighborhoods. And despite the amazing fact that most of LA residents have usually been generally on the same side when it comes to politics, the power structure of the city allowed for some devastatingly harsh class and political struggles that are still going to to this day.

I read this book a few years ago in a grad school class and didn't quite "get it." It was only when I visited New York this summer that I understood how people use public space differently in each city. It suddenly clicked, and I understood that LA is fragmented and on so many levels, and that we were doomed to experience this strange sense of still-born culture and emotional limbo from the moment that greed and modernity began planning and shaping this city.

A wonderful study of LA and a great - if depressing - comment on the great city of the 20th century that was promised but never came to pass: Los Angeles as a failed urban and human experiment.

u/nickpickles · 2 pointsr/LosAngeles

As someone who previously worked in urban planning and has been spending some time learning about his newly adopted city- thank you for this!

For those interested in the history of LA from a planning perspective, here are two really good books:

The Fragmented Metropolis: Los Angeles, 1850-1930

The Reluctant Metropolis: The Politics of Urban Growth in Los Angeles