Read and Download eBook Full
Author: William Henry Wilson
Publisher:
Published: 1964
Total Pages: 208
ISBN-13:
DOWNLOAD EBOOKHistory of the planning that began in 1890s Kansas City for beautiful parks and boulevards by George Kessler and city officials.
Author: William Henry Wilson
Publisher:
Published: 1989
Total Pages: 392
ISBN-13:
DOWNLOAD EBOOKCritics of the turn-of-the-century's City Beautiful Movement denounced its projects--broad, tree-lined boulevards and monumental but low-lying civic buildings--as grandiose and unnecessary. In this masterful analysis, William H. Wilson sees the movement as its founders did: as an exercise in participatory politics aimed at changing the way citizens thought about cities.
Author: Charles L. Marohn, Jr.
Publisher: John Wiley & Sons
Published: 2019-10-01
Total Pages: 262
ISBN-13: 1119564816
DOWNLOAD EBOOKA new way forward for sustainable quality of life in cities of all sizes Strong Towns: A Bottom-Up Revolution to Build American Prosperity is a book of forward-thinking ideas that breaks with modern wisdom to present a new vision of urban development in the United States. Presenting the foundational ideas of the Strong Towns movement he co-founded, Charles Marohn explains why cities of all sizes continue to struggle to meet their basic needs, and reveals the new paradigm that can solve this longstanding problem. Inside, you’ll learn why inducing growth and development has been the conventional response to urban financial struggles—and why it just doesn’t work. New development and high-risk investing don’t generate enough wealth to support itself, and cities continue to struggle. Read this book to find out how cities large and small can focus on bottom-up investments to minimize risk and maximize their ability to strengthen the community financially and improve citizens’ quality of life. Develop in-depth knowledge of the underlying logic behind the “traditional” search for never-ending urban growth Learn practical solutions for ameliorating financial struggles through low-risk investment and a grassroots focus Gain insights and tools that can stop the vicious cycle of budget shortfalls and unexpected downturns Become a part of the Strong Towns revolution by shifting the focus away from top-down growth toward rebuilding American prosperity Strong Towns acknowledges that there is a problem with the American approach to growth and shows community leaders a new way forward. The Strong Towns response is a revolution in how we assemble the places we live.
Author: Sherry Lamb Schirmer
Publisher: University of Missouri Press
Published: 2002-04-02
Total Pages: 271
ISBN-13: 0826263631
DOWNLOAD EBOOKA City Divided traces the development of white Kansas Citians’ perceptions of race and examines the ways in which those perceptions shaped both the physical landscape of the city and the manner in which Kansas City was policed and governed. Because of rapid changes in land use and difficulties in suppressing crime and vice in Kansas City, the control of urban spaces became an acute concern, particularly for the white middle class, before race became a problematic issue in Kansas City. As the African American population grew in size and assertiveness, whites increasingly identified blacks with those factors that most deprived a given space of its middle-class character. Consequently, African Americans came to represent the antithesis of middle-class values, and the white middle class established its identity by excluding blacks from the urban spaces it occupied. By 1930, racial discrimination rested firmly on gender and family values as well as class. Inequitable law enforcement in the ghetto increased criminal activity, both real and perceived, within the African American community. White Kansas Citians maintained this system of racial exclusion and denigration in part by “misdirection,” either by denying that exclusion existed or by claiming that segregation was necessary to prevent racial violence. Consequently, African American organizations sought to counter misdirection tactics. The most effective of these efforts followed World War II, when local black activists devised demonstration strategies that targeted misdirection specifically. At the same time, a new perception emerged among white liberals about the role of race in shaping society. Whites in the local civil rights movement acted upon the belief that integration would produce a better society by transforming human character. Successful in laying the foundation for desegregating public accommodations in Kansas City, black and white activists nonetheless failed to dismantle the systems of spatial exclusion and inequitable law enforcement or to eradicate the racial ideologies that underlay those systems. These racial perceptions continue to shape race relations in Kansas City and elsewhere. This study demystifies these perceptions by exploring their historical context. While there have been many studies of the emergence of ghettos in northern and border cities, and others of race, gender, segregation, and the origins of white ideologies, A City Divided is the first to address these topics in the context of a dynamic, urban society in the Midwest.
Author: James R. Shortridge
Publisher: University Press of Kansas
Published: 2012-11-07
Total Pages: 262
ISBN-13: 0700618821
DOWNLOAD EBOOKThink of Kansas City and you'll probably think of barbecue, jazz, or the Chiefs. But for James Shortridge, this heartland city is more than the sum of its cultural beacons. In Kansas City and How It Grew, 1822-2011, a prize-winning geographer traces the historical geography of a place that has developed over 200 years from a cowtown on the bend of the Missouri River into a metropolis straddling two states. He explores the changing character of the community and its component neighborhoods, showing how the city has come to look and function the way it does—and how it has come to be perceived the way it has. Proximity to Great Plains ranches and farms encouraged early and sustained success for Kansas City meatpackers and millers, and Shortridge shows how local responses to economic realities have molded the city's urban structure. He explores the parallel processes of suburbanization and the restructuring of older areas, and tells what happens when transportation shifts from rivers to railroads, then to superhighways and international airports. He also reveals what historians have missed by tending to focus attention only on one side or the other of the state boundary. The book is a virtual who's who of KC progress: without selective law enforcement under political boss Thomas Pendergast, Kansas City would not enjoy its legacy of jazz; without the gift of Thomas Swope's namesake park, upscale residential expansion likely would have gone east instead of south; and without J. C. Nichols, Johnson County suburbs would have developed in a less spectacular manner. Its insight into important molders of the city includes nearly forgotten names such as William Dalton, Charles Morse, and Willard Winner, plus important figures from more recent years including Kay Barnes, Charles Garney, and Bonnie Poteet. With more than 50 photos and dozens of maps specially created for this book, Kansas City and How It Grew is unique in treating the entire metropolitan area instead of just one portion. With coverage ranging from ethnic neighborhoods to development strategies, it's an indispensable touchstone for those who want to try to understand Kansas City as both a city and a place.
Author: Diane Mutti Burke
Publisher: University Press of Kansas
Published: 2018-11-29
Total Pages: 368
ISBN-13: 0700627065
DOWNLOAD EBOOKKansas City is often seen as a mild-mannered metropolis in the heart of flyover country. But a closer look tells a different story, one with roots in the city’s complicated and colorful past. The decades between World Wars I and II were a time of intense political, social, and economic change—for Kansas City, as for the nation as a whole. In exploring this city at the literal and cultural crossroads of America, Wide-Open Town maps the myriad ways in which Kansas City reflected and helped shape the narrative of a nation undergoing an epochal transformation. During the interwar period, political boss Tom Pendergast reigned, and Kansas City was said to be “wide open.” Prohibition was rarely enforced, the mob was ascendant, and urban vice was rampant. But in a community divided by the hard lines of race and class, this “openness” also allowed many of the city’s residents to challenge conventional social boundaries—and it is this intersection and disruption of cultural norms that interests the authors of Wide-Open Town. Writing from a variety of disciplines and viewpoints, the contributors take up topics ranging from the 1928 Republican National Convention to organizing the garment industry, from the stockyards to health care, drag shows, Thomas Hart Benton, and, of course, jazz. Their essays bring to light the diverse histories of the city—among, for instance, Mexican immigrants, African Americans, the working class, and the LGBT community before the advent of “LGBT.” Wide-Open Town captures the defining moments of a society rocked by World War I, the mass migration of people of color into cities, the entrance of women into the labor force and politics, Prohibition, economic collapse, and a revolution in social mores. Revealing how these changes influenced Kansas City—and how the city responded—this volume helps us understand nothing less than how citizens of the age adapted to the rise of modern America.
Author: Shen Hou
Publisher: Springer Nature
Published:
Total Pages: 354
ISBN-13: 9819778271
DOWNLOAD EBOOKAuthor: Leigh Ann Little
Publisher: Arcadia Publishing
Published: 2013
Total Pages: 130
ISBN-13: 0738590967
DOWNLOAD EBOOKIn 1821, François Chouteau set up a fur-trading outpost along the Missouri River, bringing the first settlement of Europeans to what would become Kansas City, named after the Kansa tribe of Native Americans who inhabited the area. At the center of a growing nation, the "City on the Bluff" would build and thrive as a river town, a gateway to the West, and a railroad hub, absorbing the influences of pioneers and immigrants traveling through or making it their home. Striving to become "A City Beautiful," its parks and boulevards drew attention from around the world. These are the beginnings of a town carved out of a hillside in the wilderness, transformed into an exciting metropolis that would eventually be called home by Walt Disney, Ernest Hemingway, Jesse James, and many others who left a lasting mark on history.
Author: Patrick Alley
Publisher: Arcadia Publishing
Published: 2012
Total Pages: 130
ISBN-13: 0738588504
DOWNLOAD EBOOKHyde Park, located on Westport's outskirts south of early Kansas City, was the first stop on the long trek down the Santa Fe Trail. Good pasture and a natural cave spring were early attributes. During the real estate boom of the 1880s, the area was platted, but the crash of 1888 intervened, and only a few houses were built. By 1900, with the recovery of the economy and the development of Janssen Place as a private street, the area became the preferred community for Kansas City's wealthy. The architectural style is Queen Anne, Prairie School, Neo-Georgian, Colonial Revival, Kansas City Shirtwaist, and Shingle. These homes glitter with original brass fixtures, lead and stained-glass windows, and oak, mahogany, and walnut interiors. Some of Kansas City's most famous and notorious have lived in Hyde Park, from wealthy businessmen and entertainment stars to serial killers.
Author: Neil L. Shumsky
Publisher: Routledge
Published: 2013-12-16
Total Pages: 436
ISBN-13: 1135603057
DOWNLOAD EBOOKFirst Published in 1996. Part of a series that brings together more than 200 scholarly articles pertaining to the history and development of urban life in the United States during the past two centuries. The physical development of cities and their infrastructure is considered in Volume 2, which focuses on city planning and its origins in the Rural Cemetery Movement, the City Beautiful Movement, and the role of business in advocating more rational and efficient urban places. Volume 2 also contains articles about essential aspects of the urban infra structure and the provision of basic services essential for urban survival—water, sewer, and transportation systems.
