From Improvement to City Planning: Spatial Management in Cincinnati from the Early Republic through the Civil War Decade

The book emphasizes how efforts to improve urban space were entwined with the evolution of urban governance and influenced by a small group of advantaged families. It also shows that movements for public parks and large-scale sanitary engineering in the 1840s and 50s initiated modern city planning, but there were limitations and consequences to these efforts.

Format: Hardback
Length: 373 pages
Publication date: 10 September 2021
Publisher: Temple University Press,U.S.

Historian Henry Binford delves into the intricate relationship between efforts to enhance urban spaces and the evolution of urban governance in nineteenth-century America. He highlights how a select group of privileged families influenced these initiatives, which were intricately linked to the development of regulations governing cities. Binford's focus is on Cincinnati, Ohio, which at the time was the largest and most significant interior city west of the Appalachian Mountains. He reveals that the desire for improvement extended beyond industrialization, encompassing beliefs about morality, race, health, poverty, and "slum" environments. Consequently, movements for public parks and large-scale sanitary engineering emerged in the 1840s and 50s, marking the early stages of modern city planning.

However, these efforts were not without their limitations and consequences. Many Americans believed that remaking city environments could also remake citizens, shaping their values and behavior. The book explores how city dwellers in the early republic responded to the challenges and opportunities of urban living, leading to the creation of new urban spaces that reflected their changing needs and aspirations.

Through meticulous research and analysis, From Improvement to City Planning offers a comprehensive understanding of the complex dynamics that shaped nineteenth-century American cities. It sheds light on the ways in which individuals, communities, and governments worked together to create and transform urban landscapes, ultimately shaping the nation's urban development.

Dimension: 229 x 152 x 28 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9781439920848