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Box 7, Folder 20, Document 16
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o Vewsletter
TRAL ATLANTA Proaress, |Nc.
_C Address is: Suite 1211, 615 Peachtree Street NE, Atlanta, 30308, Tel. 873-6983
SUITE 2740 @ 2 PEACHTREE STREET gp ATLANTA, GA. 30303
NUMBER 3 TELEPHONE 577-3976 JANUARY 19, 1967
What It Takes bs fr"
to Make Great Cities getty a6"
An attack on slums isn't enough. Ex R a"
Cities need middle-class residents — and downtowns that are “cathedrals.”
FORTUNE January 1967
by Edmund K. Faltermayer
Two characteristics, however, are common reat City planners, surprisingly, are not clear on what causes a
sities. They all have an exciting downtowy filled with a ighborhood to start renewing itself, or how the process can
great variety of shops, theatres, museums, and other at- be encouraged. Research is needed here. A selective form of
tractions, and laid out as a place of great beauty—de- urban renewal, in which only the worst eyesores and hope-
signed, in the words of architect Louis Kahn, to be “the lessly run-down buildings are demolished, unquestionably
cathedral of the city.” Equally important, they have a has helped encourage the middle-class people who are re-
large middle-class population residing near_downtown furbishing houses on Philadelphia’s Society Hill and on
possessing the purchasing power and the tastes to help Baltimore’s Bolton Hill.
sustain its activities,
fread ke cative arHe/e
The anti-city bias shows in the limited aspirations
of most recent city building. Urban-renewal funds avail- (¥ you ba ve Yan e,
able each year have been only a fraction of what the coun- Ale LSP
try spends on farm subsidies or space exploration. And
they have been employed mainly for only two purposes,
to revitalize central business districts—mostly through 6 THE ATLANTA CONSTITUTION, Thursday, Jan. 12, 1967
face-lifting rather than true “cathedral” designing—and * |
to eradicate the worst slums. It takes more than that to rT
achieve greatness. SS 9
Despite the high-sounding rhetoric used to promote it, J C [
the demonstration-cities program passed last year by Con- f § J US t ar
fress is not going to create great cities, either, It promises
a stepped-up attack on the slums, with physical recon- *
struction and social services closely coordinated. While And Betty A OCT
this kind of effort is commendable and long overdue, 2
the program will do nothing directly toward rebuilding By ACHSAH NESMITH
downtowns or making cities attractive places for middle- . The guard had changed quickly early Tuesday night and
class citizens to live. ex-Gov. and M 3 anders were free to go home to their
Robert C. Weaver, Secretary of Housing and Urban De- before the final official duties
velopment, argues that the new legislation will help mid- 8 y- 3 a
dle-class neighborhoods by removing’ the blighting effects 1 got up about 7 after sleep- [ist the world go
: : = s lared.
of slums that adjoin them. “There is nothing inconsistent ie Fy rusts Owe pie [ee ae Chose-/n,
in working on the cancerous part and improving the whole and looked out the window -
city,” he says."But many authorities on urban affairs are red Seley ston cam COAV CAs ‘One tiving
rply critical of th -sided emphasis on the slums. He. Sire ®
“For political reasons,” as one of them puts it, “we have ho 45 OAC ox” Awe Ae
decided to throw most of our resources into the deficient frO st Cx¥r Eee A; o gS ¥o-@ a os ‘
areas of the cities, and let the others fend for themselves.”
The middle-class citizen who prefers the city’s side-
walks to suburbia’s lawns is the forgotten man_in today’s
city-building efforts. Cities have devoted only the scantiest
of resources to making urban living appealing to him, and
federal housing programs are tailored qwainly to the gub-
ban cadaver is its heart.
urbanite and t and the slum dweller. ae
Soe Bob Bivens
The difference between a living city and
TRAL ATLANTA Proaress, |Nc.
_C Address is: Suite 1211, 615 Peachtree Street NE, Atlanta, 30308, Tel. 873-6983
SUITE 2740 @ 2 PEACHTREE STREET gp ATLANTA, GA. 30303
NUMBER 3 TELEPHONE 577-3976 JANUARY 19, 1967
What It Takes bs fr"
to Make Great Cities getty a6"
An attack on slums isn't enough. Ex R a"
Cities need middle-class residents — and downtowns that are “cathedrals.”
FORTUNE January 1967
by Edmund K. Faltermayer
Two characteristics, however, are common reat City planners, surprisingly, are not clear on what causes a
sities. They all have an exciting downtowy filled with a ighborhood to start renewing itself, or how the process can
great variety of shops, theatres, museums, and other at- be encouraged. Research is needed here. A selective form of
tractions, and laid out as a place of great beauty—de- urban renewal, in which only the worst eyesores and hope-
signed, in the words of architect Louis Kahn, to be “the lessly run-down buildings are demolished, unquestionably
cathedral of the city.” Equally important, they have a has helped encourage the middle-class people who are re-
large middle-class population residing near_downtown furbishing houses on Philadelphia’s Society Hill and on
possessing the purchasing power and the tastes to help Baltimore’s Bolton Hill.
sustain its activities,
fread ke cative arHe/e
The anti-city bias shows in the limited aspirations
of most recent city building. Urban-renewal funds avail- (¥ you ba ve Yan e,
able each year have been only a fraction of what the coun- Ale LSP
try spends on farm subsidies or space exploration. And
they have been employed mainly for only two purposes,
to revitalize central business districts—mostly through 6 THE ATLANTA CONSTITUTION, Thursday, Jan. 12, 1967
face-lifting rather than true “cathedral” designing—and * |
to eradicate the worst slums. It takes more than that to rT
achieve greatness. SS 9
Despite the high-sounding rhetoric used to promote it, J C [
the demonstration-cities program passed last year by Con- f § J US t ar
fress is not going to create great cities, either, It promises
a stepped-up attack on the slums, with physical recon- *
struction and social services closely coordinated. While And Betty A OCT
this kind of effort is commendable and long overdue, 2
the program will do nothing directly toward rebuilding By ACHSAH NESMITH
downtowns or making cities attractive places for middle- . The guard had changed quickly early Tuesday night and
class citizens to live. ex-Gov. and M 3 anders were free to go home to their
Robert C. Weaver, Secretary of Housing and Urban De- before the final official duties
velopment, argues that the new legislation will help mid- 8 y- 3 a
dle-class neighborhoods by removing’ the blighting effects 1 got up about 7 after sleep- [ist the world go
: : = s lared.
of slums that adjoin them. “There is nothing inconsistent ie Fy rusts Owe pie [ee ae Chose-/n,
in working on the cancerous part and improving the whole and looked out the window -
city,” he says."But many authorities on urban affairs are red Seley ston cam COAV CAs ‘One tiving
rply critical of th -sided emphasis on the slums. He. Sire ®
“For political reasons,” as one of them puts it, “we have ho 45 OAC ox” Awe Ae
decided to throw most of our resources into the deficient frO st Cx¥r Eee A; o gS ¥o-@ a os ‘
areas of the cities, and let the others fend for themselves.”
The middle-class citizen who prefers the city’s side-
walks to suburbia’s lawns is the forgotten man_in today’s
city-building efforts. Cities have devoted only the scantiest
of resources to making urban living appealing to him, and
federal housing programs are tailored qwainly to the gub-
ban cadaver is its heart.
urbanite and t and the slum dweller. ae
Soe Bob Bivens
The difference between a living city and
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