'GREATER RICHMOND' AND THE 'GOOD CITY: ' POLITICS AND PLANNING IN A NEW SOUTH METROPOLIS, 1900 - 197

Between 1900 and the mid-1970s, Richmond grew from a small industrial city into a major New South Metropolis. Leading downtown business interests pushed for continued urban expansion under the banner of a "Greater Richmond." Although successful in their efforts in the early part of the century, urban growth proponents faced stiff opposition to their "metropolitan conception" by the early 1960s. The failure of a consolidation movement, aimed at joining together Richmond and adjacent Henrico County, frustrated the efforts of local boosters to unleash the force of urban expansion.;The emergence of a "planning function" in Richmond after 1900 coincided with this desire to expand the city. Planning provided a rationale for growth as well as a means to improve city life. Rather than offering a vision of the "Good City" which addressed the broad range of local needs, planning concentrated only on those issues deemed important to local elites: improved access to the central business district, expansion of commercial areas in the downtown area and elimination of blight. Efforts to introduce better planning in Richmond exacerbated an already critical housing problem and played a major role in the dissolution of the social fabric of central Richmond.;The "planning function" also related to efforts to shift control of policy-making into the hands of a self-styled "progressive" elite. Local governmental reform in the early part of the century aimed at wresting control of policy-making from a conservative and obstructionist city council to facilitate urban expansion. Throughout the 1940s and 1950s, "Greater Richmond" proponents again faced opposition to the idea of local government as a promoter of development, not only from white conservatives, but also from a rising black political force.;The emergence of black political power in the 1960s questioned the motivations behind the planning agenda set out in Harland Barthlomew's 1946 Master Plan. Although the plan underscored the importance of conserving the neighborhood fabric of the city, the actions of planners during the 1950s and 1960s indicated greater regard for expanding the commercial potential of the city than for preserving or improving social conditions. Blacks criticized the excessive disruption of their community following implementation of the plan as well as the desire of whites to curtail their political influence. Yet the massive dislocation of blacks because of planning engendered white flight during the 1950s and 1960s and paved the way for a black political majority by the mid-1970s.;The history of planning in Richmond reveals that planning was far more concerned with issues involving "metropolitanism" and "race" than with creation of a "Good City". Planning offered Richmond little beyond what the Chamber of Commerce and other city business groups tendered as urban panaceas. This may explain why city blacks consistenly showed hesitancy to support the idea of greater public planning. The ineffectiveness of planning in improving conditions for all Richmonders stemmed from its reluctance to chart a course for the city that diverged from the local political mainstream. The failure of planning in twentieth century Richmond owed to the absence of a coherent idea of city life which reflected pluralistic values and the means to realize that idea through direct political action.