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"THE SPHINX IN THE CITY."
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Analysis of Elizabeth Wilson's 1991 book.... More...
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Paper Abstract:
Analysis of Elizabeth Wilson's 1991 book. Discusses the urban crisis of inequality. Wilson's view of the city as a microcosm of the State trying to meet the needs of diverse interests. Economic restructuring of cities. Big business and multinational corporations and unplanned cities. Wilson's argument that city planning needs to include democratic values of collaboration.

Paper Introduction:
Beyond Good and Evil: Urban Planning In The Sphinx in the City, Elizabeth Wilson (1991) presents her views and those of others on the contemporary urban crisis in America. According to Wilson (1991), “The urban crisis is a crisis of inequality, and out authoritarianism” (158). Wilson’s worldview of the urban landscape views a city much like a microcosm of the State. In a democracy the State tries to meet the needs of diverse interests in the most efficient and effective manner with a limited resource pool. The interest groups with considerable power find it easier to have their needs met than those with limited power. In critiquing several views of postmodern solutions to the urban crisis, Wilson (1991) uses this analogy to undermine the strength of such arguments as those from Jane Jacobs and Richard

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One of the biggest changes necessary to evolve such planningand cities is a chance of the fundamental purpose of current city planning. Beyond Good and Evil: Urban Planning In The Sphinx in the City, Elizabeth Wilson (1991) presents herviews and those of others on the contemporary urban crisis in America.According to Wilson (1991), "The urban crisis is a crisis of inequality,and out authoritarianism" (158). ReferenceWilson, E. Yet Wilson'sprescription for the cure to the urban crisis in America presents adifficult challenge. The Sphinx in the City: Urban Life, the Control of Disorder, and Women. Despite Wilson's criticism that the lack of democratic valuesinvolved in city planning and her optimistic viewpoint that a collaborativeand more egalitarian type of planning will achieve better outcomes for allinvolved, she does not provide a very in depth explanation of the practicalsteps that will be required to create such a transformation. The interest groups withconsiderable power find it easier to have their needs met than those withlimited power. In a democracy the Statetries to meet the needs of diverse interests in the most efficient andeffective manner with a limited resource pool. Yet despite this clarity of how currentplanning works, I think Wilson's views would be much more credible if sheprovided some practical steps or measures for achieving the fairer and moredemocratic construction of cities she envisions as a solution to the urbancrisis. Without providing such solutions, one might agree with her theoryto cure the problems that ail urban planning but is left wondering exactlyhow such changes could be enacted. In critiquing several views of postmodern solutions to theurban crisis, Wilson (1991) uses this analogy to undermine the strength ofsuch arguments as those from Jane Jacobs and Richard Sennett: "Such a viewassumes a plural society in which different interest groups have more orless equal power: 'the community is so diverse that its institutions cannotbe pushed in any one direction'" (151). Berkeley, CA: Univ. of California Press. Economic restructuring of cities has created urban scenarioswhere "the desolation created by insensitive private development andpaternalistic public projects contrasts with the glitter of shops,restaurants and arts projects hanging in the battered urban fabric likebaubles on a worn-out Christmas tree" (Wilson, 1991, 15 ). Wilson is arguing that somehow city planning needs tooccur in a manner where those with capital incorporate the needs of peopleof mixed incomes and mixed uses into planning. Big business and multinational corporationscontinue to plan unplanned cities in an undemocratic fashion. (1991). Wilson's worldview of the urban landscapeviews a city much like a microcosm of the State. Wilson gives us an example of her own neighborhoodto end her essay Beyond Good and Evil. The urban crisis currently being faced by city planners in the U.S.stems from the pulling of planning in certain directions that are notegalitarian. While she maybe correct that this kind of planning leads to wide discrepancies in citylife between the rich and poor, between whites and ethnic minorities andbetween women and men, she does not provide a strategy to change the statusquo of modern planning. The reason forsuch contrasts is the uneven power of different groups who call the urbanlandscape home. Cities have been designed around surveillance and order instead ofpleasure and opportunity, promoting Wilson (1991) to argue, "What needs tochange is the ultimate purpose of planning" (156). This is unlikely since theprimary goal of business is profitability and city development is oftenundertaken by those with profit in mind. Women,ethnic minorities and the working class are the biggest losers in such asystem. Despite the crisis in urban America, Wilson argues that perfectlydemocratic control and expert planning can create environments thatintegrate people of mixed incomes and uses and that allocated and planspace fairly. Instead of communities being built to serve the needs ofall classes of residents, they are constructed from a top-down hierarchyaimed at property development. Wilson (1991) is aware of thisand argues that such a narrow focus and market-driven goal for cityplanning is actually destructive to urban environment and long-term profit,"Market forces, wishing to capitalize on the pleasures and consumerism ofthe city, have as often as not killed the goose that laid the golden egg"(157). In this example she explains herconcerns that the poor and outcast in a blighted part of her neighborhoodwill be "shoveled out to even less desirable locations" as much as the dirtwealthy developers will shovel away to build their profit-makingenterprises (Wilson, 1991, 159).

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