AHC: Active resistance to suburban sprawl in 1940s-50s

kernals12

Banned
Yeah, some suburbanization was natural, but not to the extent it happened in OTL. It was heavily supported by the government.
The government also built lots of apartments in the cities. It's just that people preferred the suburban lifestyle.
 
Our population growth came to a halt during the 1930s. The Census bureau was forecasting that our numbers would plateau by 1950. There was no housing shortage before the war, in fact, thanks to all the foreclosures,there was a glut of abandoned homes.

Yes for some reason, thousands of new houses popped up after 1945.

affordable houses, too. There was real demand for the new small Starter homes that were Modern.

Running Water. Indoor Plumbing. Electricity--- and close to Cities, not old Rural homes
 

kernals12

Banned
Yes for some reason, thousands of new houses popped up after 1945.

affordable houses, too. There was real demand for the new small Starter homes that were Modern.

Running Water. Indoor Plumbing. Electricity--- and close to Cities, not old Rural homes
The big reason was a lot of people had moved during the war and almost nothing had been built to accommodate them.
 

kernals12

Banned
The demonization of suburbia is just part of a long line of intellectual attacks on how ordinary people live. The ivory tower likes to find ways to look down upon the plebs.
 
The government also built lots of apartments in the cities. It's just that people preferred the suburban lifestyle.

Not in the US. The number of Housing Projects was very small just after the War, and in Chicago, they were Rowhouses, not the high rises many think of when 'Projects' are mentioned. Those came a decade later, after suburbia got started.
 

kernals12

Banned
Not in the US. The number of Housing Projects was very small just after the War, and in Chicago, they were Rowhouses, not the high rises many think of when 'Projects' are mentioned. Those came a decade later, after suburbia got started.
New York City got a ton of public housing under Fiorello LaGuardia's Mayorality.
 
Easy enough to do, if you can find a POD to change government policy. Suburbanization was anything but natural. If you can have SCOTUS get rid of zoning (the OTL vote to allow it was 6-3), that would be a major blow, and if the government doesn't support loans for suburban communities so much, then you would have a lot less of it.
Sorry, what? The first big suburbization began in the second half of the 19th century....in Europe. Most of the parts of modern “Old” cities in Europe sprang up in the 19th century, and in some cases even before. There is a reason why so many European cities have a “old city” within them.

The growth of Asian cities from 1970 onwards saw a similar move.

The difference is, European and Asian countries eventually annexed the expanding suburbs. N American cities, not so much.
 
The situation in the Fargo gap was rapidly becoming untenable. The blight had long since devoured the eastern seaboard and was now spreading from Chicago to Minneapolis into the upper peninsula. Just last night troops under the command of General Bradley had stumbled upon a Starbucks under construction in the proximity of milepost 240 of US Route 10. While the incursion had been dealt with swiftly, with minimal loss of life, more would no doubt be coming.
 
Again, why would they?

That's a local matter.

State's Rights, and this horned in down to the local municipalities School policies?

Not likely in 1945

While some people believe in the ideology of decentralisation, “State’s Rights” has ONLY ever meant a state’s right to discriminate against black people in the minds of politicians. That would be no impediment to supporting government intrusion, so long as racial equality didn’t come with it. Many “state’s-rights-ers” were more than happy to see the fed intervene to help them oppress people.
 
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