Description
Book SynopsisEd Bacon is the first biography of the innovative and controversial urban planner who transformed Philadelphia in the mid-twentieth century.
Trade Review"Gregory Heller's
Ed Bacon: Planning, Politics, and the Building of Modern Philadelphia provides a thorough, engaging, and compelling story about the career of Philadelphia's most prominent urban planner. . . . The book's content is extremely well documented and provides the reader with a new perspective on many of the city's rather famous midcentury plans and development projects. Aside from the rich historical narrative, which is valuable in and of itself, the book succeeds at making clear connections to contemporary planning practice. . . . A terrific contribution to the literature on planning history, the politics of urban planning and development, and the value of physical planning." * Stephanie Ryberg-Webster,
Journal of Planning Education and Research *
"Heller's book gives us a fascinating-and sympathetic-account of Bacon's accomplishments." *
The New Republic *
"Edmund Bacon, probably the most relentless and determined of all planners, believed that the most important and difficult thing to do was deciding what to advocate and that the trick in making that decision was selecting something that you could bring to fruition. . . . We are fortunate in having this stunning biography by Gregory Heller. The result is an engrossing story explaining how modern Philadelphia took shape." * From the Foreword, by Alexander Garvin *
Table of ContentsForeword
—Alexander Garvin
Preface
Introduction
Chapter 1. Planning for a New Deal
Chapter 2. Toward a Better Philadelphia
Chapter 3. Planning for People
Chapter 4. The Architect Planner
Chapter 5. Reinvesting Downtown
Chapter 6. The Planner Versus the Automobile
Chapter 7. Articulating a Vision in a Shifting World
Chapter 8. New Visions of Philadelphia
Conclusion
List of Abbreviations
Notes
Index
Acknowledgments
