How States Shaped Postwar America: State Government and Urban Power

376 Pages·2019·5.859 MB·English

by  Nicholas Dagen Bloom

How States Shaped Postwar America

How States Shaped
Postwar America
State Government and Urban Power
nicholas dagen bloom
University of Chicago Press
Chicago and London
The University of Chicago Press, Chicago 60637
The University of Chicago Press, Ltd., London
© 2019 by The University of Chicago
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner
whatsoever without written permission, except in the case of brief quotations in
critical articles and reviews. For more information, contact the University of Chicago
Press, 1427 E. 60th St., Chicago, IL 60637.
Published 2019
Printed in the United States of America
28 27 26 25 24 23 22 21 20 19 1 2 3 4 5
isbn- 13: 978- 0- 226- 49831- 7 (cloth)
isbn- 13: 978- 0- 226- 49845- 4 (e- book)
doi: https:// doi .org/ 10 .7208/ chicago/ 9780226498454 .001 .0001
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Bloom, Nicholas Dagen, 1969– author.
Title: How states shaped postwar America : state government and urban power /
Nicholas Dagen Bloom.
Description: Chicago : University of Chicago Press, 2019. | Includes bibliographical
references and index.
Identifi ers: lccn 2018041637 | isbn 9780226498317 (cloth : alk. paper) |
isbn 9780226498454 (ebook)
Subjects: lcsh: Urban policy—New York (State)—History—20th century. | Urban
renewal—New York (State)—History—20th century. | Rockefeller, Nelson A.
( Nelson Aldrich), 1908–1979. | Urban policy—United States—History—
20th century. | Urban renewal—United States—History—20th century.
Classifi cation: lcc ht176.n7 b56 2019 | ddc 307.3/4160974709044—dc23
lc record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2018041637
This paper meets the requirements of ansi/niso z39.48– 1992
(Permanence of Paper).
For Brenna Roxie Bloom, the writer

Contents
The Urban Challenge
1 Planning for Prosperity 3
2 Nelson Rocke feller: America’s Urbanist Governor 23
Urban Planning and Redevelopment
3 State Urban Redevelopment Policy 37
4 State Capital Offi ce Complexes and Cities 56
5 The Challenge of Regional Planning 70
Transportation
6 White- Collar Rail: Mass Transit and Urban Prosperity 85
7 State Government and the Metropolitan Highway Network 130
Higher Education
8 The Metropolitan State University System 149
9 Unheralded Anchors: Center- City State Universities 186
Metropolitan Housing
10 Housing Finance Agencies Rethink Subsidized Housing 203
11 The Sad Tale of Decentralized Subsidized Housing 234
12 States and the Limits of Fair Housing Laws 246
13 The Urban Consequences of Deinstitutionalization 256
The Environment
14 Cities of Sludge: The Urban Water Crisis 269
15 Parks for City People 281
16 Regional Recreational Planning 293
Postscript 312
Acknowledgments 315
Notes 317
Index 359

The Urban Challenge