Urban Geography Blog Post #3 Posted on February 26, 2016 by saorsa2014 Usual rules…500 words… Share this:TwitterFacebookLike this:Like Loading... Related
34 thoughts on “Urban Geography Blog Post
Urban Geography Blog Post #3 Posted on February 26, 2016 by saorsa2014 Usual rules…500 words… Share this:TwitterFacebookLike this:Like Loading... Related
34 thoughts on “Urban Geography Blog Post #3”
These six images describe post-World War II residential trends in the United States. Due to economic conditions and policies the majority of post-war residential development in the US was new-build, single family, detached housing. Programs such as the Federal Housing Administration and Veterans Administration made mortgages possible to returning veterans and others who were searching for housing in the late 1940’s and early 1950’s.
The quintessential post-war housing development is demonstrated in Levitt Towns. These developments were located outside of cities but within commuting distance. Locations included an area of Long Island that made commuting to New York City possible and Levittown, PA which was close to Philadelphia and Trenton, NJ. Traveling to and from work was made possible through the Interstate Highway system constructed under the Eisenhower administration. The network of large, controlled access highways connecting major cities can be seen in the bottom right image. An important aspect of this program was the defense measures that the interstate highway system allowed and is reflected in its official name “The National System of Interstate and Defense Highways”. The unforeseen consequence of the interstate system was that it allowed the dispersal of populations over a larger swath of land.
Newly built, single family, detached houses are shown in the upper right image. These 700-1400 square foot houses promised “every modern city convenience plus country comfort”. This advertisement compares the positive aspects of living in Levittown to the negative aspects of city life. These included inconveniences like nearby factories and traffic congestion. Levittown promised a utopian community set in the “country” where everyone could own their own slice. Lists such as this enforced the disregard for American cities in favor of a peripheral community away from city problems.
The three images on the left show the modern conveniences that each Levittown house was equipped with. The use of air conditioning, refrigeration, and other appliances speak to several aspects of post-war life in America. The widespread use of technology, such as air conditioning facilitated widespread building that didn’t have to respond to regional conditions. The widespread use of appliances such as an oven, a stovetop, and a refrigerator show the industrial strength and mechanization of products during this era in the United States. Growth of the American middle class consumer market is also shown by the complete equipment of each Levittown house. These electrical conveniences became the new norm in residential domestic life and required that each house have adequate electrical supply, which also became standard. Additionally, the image on the lower left showcases the new social, gender-specific, domestic realm of women in the US in the 1950s. As families moved away from cities to areas such as Levittown, women became sequestered to the home and domestic responsibilities. Modern appliances made daily chores (cooking and cleaning) simpler, however larger households (both in square footage as compared to inner-city apartments and family size) increased the amount of work that needed to be done in the house. The common way of life for families who lived in places such as Levittown was that the fathers would go off to work (commute to the city) and the mothers would take care of the house, take the children to and from school, and take care of things such as cooking and cleaning. This was a specific social shift from previous decades in which a considerable amount of women worked outside of the home in various roles.
World War II left the United States in a completely different state than before the war and was a vehicle for lasting social and economic gains. Prior to World War II, the United States was in severe depression and dictatorship was rising in Europe. However, this massive world war gave women more opportunities, lifted the United States out of depression with the mass production of war materials, and helped boost the economy into a better state that it had seen before. The images above show some of the post-war trends in North America, looking specifically at the economic and housing developments.
The typical housing development in the post-war era was that of the Levittown. Shown in the upper right and upper left hand corners, these homes were located just outside of the large cities; close enough to commute to work but far enough away to be in the suburbs. Usually about 1000 square feet, these single family, detached houses were convenient and contented. Each family could own their own land with a house on it, and no longer had to live in the inner city near the industrial belts. These neighborhoods had schools nearby and created a sense of belonging that wasn’t felt before the war.
These houses also came with the ability to have air conditioning, stovetop appliances and refrigeration, all of which were not available to the pre-war comm