The Paradox Of Ideal And Reality

New Town is a form of urban planning and development which has been popular inEurope and America since the World War II. It’s a production of urbanization. In the UnitedStates, new towns are closely connected with its suburbanization. In the late1920s and30s,there were garden cities and greenbelt towns, they were important experiences of Americannew towns. Since the World War II, suburb has been taking control of metropolitan area inthe U.S. In the process, most suburbs lacked master planning; as a result, it caused a series ofsocial and environmental issues, which gave rise to sprawl. On the other hand, as for centralcities, their dominant advantages in the metropolis have been weakened, and various kinds ofcontradiction and conflict have been aggravated. In the1960s, many cities got into “crisis”.Confronted with such kinds of problems in central cities and suburban areas, the United Stateslaunched widely discussion. And many urban planners, social reformers, property developersand local governments actively advocate for new town development. Based on a large numberof primary literatures of the United States governments, reports of all kinds of researchinstitutions and scholars related writings, I intend to explore suburban new towns, usinghistorical research perspective and comprehensive approach.The dissertation is consisted of three parts: introduction, five chapters, and conclusion.The introduction mainly introduces the reasons of choosing such a topic, an overview of theprevious research works by American and Chinese scholars, research objectives, innovationsand shortcomings of this dissertation.Then Chapter One reviews the origins and evolutions of American new towns, includingthe British garden city theory and practice, and case studies of Letchworth and Welywn;American garden cities in the late20s, and the greenbelt towns during the “New Deal”.Chapter Two focuses on the reasons for the spring up of new towns development in the1960sand1970s, mainly including two aspects, they were the transformation to post-industrialsociety and the problems existing in metropolitan area. Consequently, points out somecharacteristics of American new towns, that is what were “new” in new towns. Chapter Threeand Chapter Four mainly discuss new towns’ social goals, including social integration,environmental protection and federal new communities policies. As for Chapter Three, basedon the suburban critique of race and economic class segregation, environmental pollutions anddestroys, it does case studies of Reston, Colombia, and The Woodlands. Chapter Fouremphasizes on the federal government role in the development of new towns, including thelegislation and execution of Housing and Urban Development of1968, Title IV, and Housingand Urban Development of1970, Title VII. Chapter Five summarizes the status and influence of American new towns movement, comparing with conventional suburbia and NewUrbanism, and concludes that new towns movement provided important experience andlessons for urban planning and development, as well as the cooperation between governmentsand private enterprises in developing communities. The Conclusion part briefly generalizesthe history of American new towns, especially the ones in1960s and1970s, but the politicaland economic systems and complex social conditions determine the difficulties of the newtown developments in the United States.