About | HeinOnline Law Journal Library | HeinOnline Law Journal Library | HeinOnline

314 Annals Am. Acad. Pol. & Soc. Sci. 1 (1957)

handle is hein.cow/anamacp0314 and id is 1 raw text is: Metropolis Lost, Metropolis Regained
By MARTIN MEYERSON and BARBARA TERRETT
Abstract: In a period of deep concern for the condition of the American
metropolis and amid questions which raise doubts about the continued viability
of cities, the authors argue that there is an essential soundness in urban life
which preserves cities and keeps them in balance over time. Within this argu-
ment, however, they examine some of the problems which need intensive in-
vestigation, and subtle evaluation, and which above all require discussion and
understanding as a preface to planning and action.

E ACH year more American commu-
nities grow to metropolitan size.
As their populations increase and their
activities expand beyond one political
jurisdiction into one or more others,
they assume many of the attributes of
a crazy quilt. Like the quilt itself,
they are both haphazard and planned.
Every metropolis is characteristically a
practical patchwork of income, race, and
age; of private and public ownership;
of the new and the old; of identical and
of mixed land uses; of households, firms,
and institutions whose interests con-
verge, diverge, conflict with, and com-
plement each other. Business and in-
dustrial establishments compete with
each other in seeking those locations
which promise to be profitable. Fami-
lies compete in seeking out the most
esteemed, or accessible, or pleasant resi-
dences possible within that portion of
their incomes which they are willing to
devote to shelter. Municipal agencies
compete for tax revenue from other por-
tions of the citizens' incomes. Political
parties compete for the votes and pa-
tronage which can keep them in office.
All of these competitions draw together,
just as the patches do in the quilt, and
provide a perceptible fabric. Compro-
mises, conflicts, congruities, incongrui-

ties, agreements, and disagreements in
behavior and interest come together in
that colorful make-do, the metropolis.
Obvious though it be, the comparison
to a crazy quilt is probably a good one.
Who is to deny it its function, however
imperfectly performed? Or its random
beauty-purple taffeta stitched in among
the drab homespun? Or its associations
of history and sentiment? Or its sturdy
claim to a place on the closet shelf even
when the acrilan blanket comes from the
discount store? We wish to press the
point no further. We hasten to make it
plain that the acrilan special attracts us
mightily, and if it can be bought at a
discount, all the better. We hasten to
protest that we have no sentimental re-
gard for the moth-eaten, or for our
great-great-grandmothers' taste if it was
ugly, or for the exasperatingly out-
moded, or for the evidently inadequate.
Thoughtful and articulate people all
over the country have taken up the
theme of improvement of American com-
munities, and we of course applaud them
and count ourselves among them.
SATISFACTIONS OF PRESENT
URBAN SCENE
However, we reject the dramatic por-
trait of the problems and harassments

Martin Meyerson is Williams Professor and Director of the Center for Urban Studies,
Harvard University, and Vice-President of ACTION, The American Council To Improve
Our Neighborhoods. With Edward C. Banfield, he is the author of Politics, Planning
and the Public Interest (1955). Barbara Terrett is Deputy Director of Research for
ACTION.
1

What Is HeinOnline?

HeinOnline is a subscription-based resource containing thousands of academic and legal journals from inception; complete coverage of government documents such as U.S. Statutes at Large, U.S. Code, Federal Register, Code of Federal Regulations, U.S. Reports, and much more. Documents are image-based, fully searchable PDFs with the authority of print combined with the accessibility of a user-friendly and powerful database. For more information, request a quote or trial for your organization below.



Short-term subscription options include 24 hours, 48 hours, or 1 week to HeinOnline.

Contact us for annual subscription options:

Already a HeinOnline Subscriber?

profiles profiles most