Dynamic American City, The (Part II) (1956)
1956 · Ephemeral film · 13 min
Synopsis
Advocates urban redevelopment and renewal, 1950s-style. Supports many planning strategies which are criticized today: the destruction of "blighted" neighborhoods in the name of progress, autocentric planning and construction, and suburban sprawl.
Uploader's description on archive.org
Details
- Running time
- 13 minutes
- Collection
- Prelinger Archives
- Internet Archive item
- DynamicA1956_2
Subjects on the Internet Archive
- Infrastructure: Construction
- City planning
- Urban renewal
Reviews on the Internet Archive
★★★★ · Appreciation comes with time. · Skins222 · 2010-07-15
This movie reflects the "out with the old in with the new" attitude that prevailed during the 1950's and part of the 60's. Things like landmarks, old ornate Victorian design, and other things we have come to appreciate, cherish, and preserve nowadays were considered "old and ugly and obsolete" back then. Modern, streamlined designs were considered the way to go. The automobile was becoming ever popular and man strove to accommodate it. Flash forward to the present and it's kind of ironic how, decades later we have come to appreciate the older architecture and we now seek to preserve it. Over…
★★★ · Tear down old buildings! Make new parking lots! · Spuzz · 2003-09-10
This okay film about the merits of urban sprawl, poopoos any meaning of the word "preservation" or "landmark building" to makeway for office buildings, shopping malls and of course, lots of parking lots. Introduced in the most bizarre way by representative of the "National Chamber, an organization deeply interested in your problens". This introduction is REALLY badly written, with "city" repeated like 50 times, somewhat inappropiately. From there, we get a little history of what makes a city grow, the film doesnt really kick in until the 2nd half where the narrator kicks in what makes cities…

