Dissertation Information for Robert Bruce Stephenson NAME: - Robert Bruce Stephenson
DEGREE:
- Ph.D.
DISCIPLINE:
- History
SCHOOL:
- Emory University (USA) (1988)
ADVISORS: - Dan T. Carter
COMMITTEE MEMBERS: - None
MPACT Status: Incomplete - Inspected
Title: Duel in the sun: Competing urban visions in St. Petersburg, Florida, 1900-1985
Abstract: "There was in the twenties," Clarence Stein, a member of the Regional Planning Association of America, reminisced, "a tremendous enthusiasm to build a new and better world." For city planner John Nolen, an associate of Stein, Florida represented "a great laboratory of town and city building" to conduct the experiments an urbanized nation needed to make. In 1922, Nolen signed a contract with St. Petersburg to develop Florida's first comprehensive city plan. An "ideal site of rare distinction," with miles of waterfront and virgin territory, St. Petersburg was the perfect place to create a pleasant alternative to the nation's existing urban morass.
Nolen's environmentally based plan envisioned a "regional city" in harmony with nature. Like any utopian vision, this work advocated a new set of communal values. It required citizens to make a radical break from their pioneering traditions, and sacrifice some individual rights for a common goal.
Nolen's proposals sparked a bitter political battle. "The city planning referendum," according to one commentator, "was as abusive as any election ever held in St. Petersburg." Those opposing Nolen's plan also held a utopian image of the future. Their vision, however, was based on the promotion of growth, not its control. For the plan's opponents, government existed to foster development, and to establish a planning board "with dictatorial powers" was a perversion of democracy. On August 28, 1923 the plan suffered an overwhelming defeat, managing only 13% of the vote.
Four years later, St. Petersburg stood as a precursor to the coming economic collapse. A city of 40,000, it lay bankrupt after building an infrastructure to support a metropolis of 250,000. In 1929, the community adopted a scaled down version of Nolen's plan to coordinate the provision of public improvements. Five decades would lapse, however, until St. Petersburg adopted an environmentally based plan. While Nolen's dream of creating an American Riviera is lost, planning in St. Petersburg and Pinellas County is still noteworthy. With "its rapid growth and fragile environment," Pinellas County, according to John Naisbitt, "is dealing with the problems that will confront the rest of the state and nation in the future."
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MPACT Scores for Robert Bruce Stephenson A = 0
C = 0
A+C = 0
T = 0
G = 0
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TD = 0
TA = 0
calculated 2008-06-01 16:26:42
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