Between Justice and Beauty: Race, Planning, and the Failure of Urban Policy in Washington, D.C.

by Howard Gillette Jr.

As the only American city under direct congressional control, Washington has served historically as a testing ground for federal policy initiatives and social experiments -- with decidedly mixed results. Well-intentioned efforts to introduce measures of socialjustice for the district's largely black population have failed. Yet federal plans and federal money have successfully created a monumental federal presence -- a triumph, argues Howard Gillette, of beauty over justice. Beginning in 1790, Gillette traces the ambiguous legacy of congressional involvement in Washington's urban development.

Genres: History, Urban Planning, Urbanism, Race, Nonfiction, Politics, Cities

Hardcover

First published August 1, 1995

Reviews

[ambyr · Rating 3 out of 5]

A dry-as-dust, 10,000 foot overview of DC urban planing policy that draws insightful connections between seemingly disparate eras. I'm glad I read it but would struggle to recommend it to anyone else; there is unique and valuable information about the tension between urban renewal and social justice here, but man is it a slog to unearth. Gillette's prose is impenetrable, and he provides neither background for the individuals whose pronouncements and policies he discusses nor historical context on how anything happening in DC reflected (or spurred) national and international trends. Fortunately, I have just enough background knowledge to mostly fill in the blanks for myself. If I didn't, I don't think I could give this three stars. As it is, I struggle, because I do not think it is a good book. But it is an important one, and I don't know of any better treatment of this particular material.

The best part is Part II, where Gillette, a historian by training, is clearly in his element rummaging through newspapers and other archival material. Some of the quotes and figures he unearths are fascinating. Part III suffers from his continued reliance on the same research techniques even as he moves into the last decades of the twentieth century, rather than expanding his toolbox to include interviews with the people discussed, many of whom are still living, or even looking at television, radio, and "new" media sources.

The Conclusion, an out-of-left-field argument for retrocession, feels like it belongs in a different book entirely, and I don't even know what to say about the Afterword, which offers a passionate paean to Al Gore. But Part II was pretty good. Read that, if you're interested, and skip the rest.

A note on this edition: even ignoring Gillette's prose, it is close to unreadable. As far as I can determine, University of Pennsylvania Press failed to acquire the original files from Johns Hopkins University Press and elected to simply scan and reprint a copy of the first edition. The result, well, looks like a bad copy--moire-distorted images, blurry and wavy text, and weirdly uneven margins. It is quite possibly the worst professionally published book I have ever seen in terms of typesetting. (The ebook is even worse.) If you are going to read Part II, do yourself a favor and pick up the original hardover edition.

[Rachel · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not quite what I was expecting, but an interesting and informative reas about race & urban planning in DC historically. Also particularly interesting was his interpretation of political movements for statehood in DC-- definitely not something I had considered.

[Maria · Rating 3 out of 5]

very informative and interesting read on DC history, but it is also a very difficult read and requires much concentration and reading back to fully understand what is being said, once you make it past this, you learn so much about urban policy and dc

[Magda · Rating 4 out of 5]

Beauty would be yoked to enterprise.

"This is a big country, and there is good reason why its inhabitants should spread out and enjoy it, instead of cooping themselves within city walls."

"The plea that 'thousands of Negroes will lose their life savings and become renters or objects of charity; hundreds of Negro business enterprises will be wiped out; hundreds of Negro churches will be destroyed and their membership scattered; Negro professional men will lose their clientele' is seen as a poor excuse for not making Washington the most beautiful city in the world."

it was clear that any pretext the nation might have had to use Congress's power of exclusive jurisdiction over the District to establish a model city for the rest of the country had failed.

If any city in the United States has borne the burden of serving as a symbol of American aspirations and has simultaneously been the place, as Mumford says, where the issues of civilization have been focused, it has been the nation's capital. Given Congress's power of exclusive jurisdiction as well as the historical absence of powerful indigenous economic as well as cultural traditions, Washington invited efforts to mold it. Whether it was George Washington's determination to use Washington to bind the new republic together, Charles Sumner's effort to forge new opportunities regardless of race, or Marion Barry's determination to utilize black political power for social renewal, each generation embraced a "New Washington" where it could put to work its vision for urban development.

[Bitsy · Rating 2 out of 5]

While this book contained interesting information, I found it very hard to actually extract this information. Much of the book was presented as a series of actions taken by individuals who were not well introduced, and for whom I had little context. The best part of the book were the quotes from nineteenth century newspapers highlighting different points of view in the debates about Washington city planing--these are almost all in part two, which was by far the most readable part of the book (and I suspect the best researched as well).