If the Japanese never bombed Pearl Harbor would we still be living in cities and not suburbia? (WWII, war)
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When you think about it long and hard, the whole reason behind the expansion of cities to suburbia began with Pearl Harbor. After the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor, the US entered WWII and after the surrender of Japan and Germany all the men came back home and decided to settle down since they had money from war bonds and decided to raise a family. And now we're here so what do you think?
Your thesis holds post war affluence as the key to suburban expansion, so all that would have been required was an economic boom, not necessarily a war economy boom.
I think that it had more to do with the proliferation of automobiles and relatively cheap gasoline. People no longer had to live close to where they work and/or public transportation.
When you think about it long and hard, the whole reason behind the expansion of cities to suburbia began with Pearl Harbor. After the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor, the US entered WWII and after the surrender of Japan and Germany all the men came back home and decided to settle down since they had money from war bonds and decided to raise a family. And now we're here so what do you think?
Money from war bonds? Not likely. How about the influence of the GI Bill which allowed house purchases with no money down.
Like many couples, my parents had delayed their marriage until after he got back from the war.They were married in 1947 but couldnt find housing in NYC. They lived with his brother for over a year until they purchased a home in Brooklyn. Many of his contemporaries simply headed to Long Island where new housing was being constructed.
The lack of post war housing and the availability of vacant land outside big cities led to the growth of suburbia. It would have happened even without the war but over a longer timeframe.
Regarding tge proliferation of autos and cheap gas. I think the poster is putting the cart before the horse. Moving to suburbia necessitated the purchse of the car. You could live in a city without a car....impossible in the burbs.
When you think about it long and hard, the whole reason behind the expansion of cities to suburbia began with Pearl Harbor. After the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor, the US entered WWII and after the surrender of Japan and Germany all the men came back home and decided to settle down since they had money from war bonds and decided to raise a family. And now we're here so what do you think?
There were some suburbs constructed before the war.
If things had played out differently suburbia might have been different, like how the prewar burbs had some urban characteristics. There would still have been burbs of some kind, though.
Pearl Harbor or not, going to war was pretty inevitable; not to mention that there was plenty of pre-war sub-urban development, both in the cities and outside of them. Perhaps without the GI Bill, the suburbs wouldn't have taken off so quickly, but they would have taken off just the same; people needed somewhere to live.
Regarding tge proliferation of autos and cheap gas. I think the poster is putting the cart before the horse. Moving to suburbia necessitated the purchse of the car. You could live in a city without a car....impossible in the burbs.
I dunno about that. Nearly every major and minor city in North America had Streetcars, which included interurban service, and that is what enabled people to live outside of the city proper. And where the Streetcar went, buisness, and neighbourhoods followed.
Take the Detroit United Railway Company, for example.
This is 1913.
You could get.....well....everywhere. This is a list of some routes as of 1921. No wonder the auto companies wanted them dead:
Last edited by Magnatomicflux; 07-28-2013 at 05:41 PM..
I dunno about that. Nearly every major and minor city in North America had Streetcars, which included interurban service, and that is what enabled people to live outside of the city proper. And where the Streetcar went, buisness, and neighbourhoods followed.
Take the Detroit United Railway Company, for example.
This is 1913.
You could get.....well....everywhere. This is a list of some routes as of 1921. No wonder the auto companies wanted them dead:
If Detroit had kept those lines it would be in much better shape today.
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