Affiliation Book Review: First Planned City in America

Book Review
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Institutional affiliation Book review
The first book by Douglas W. Rae talks about the first planned city in America and its downfall as perceived by the author. The first city was the new haven in Connecticut where Puritans settled in 1638. The author argues that the 19th century saw the rise of city life in the United States. Among the factors that contributed to the city life include unexpected and unplanned events in various sectors, for instance transport development, immigration patterns and shifts in energy and industry. The author describes how political, social and economic factors combined to form American cities. He goes on to explain how these system unevenly corroded because of the concentrated city space and regards to it as the end of urbanism. In the declining town, leaders found it difficult to manage and revitalize new haven. Here the author gives detailed examples of the efforts used and the people behind them. A good example is Mayor Richard Lee who together with his administration, the author suggests were the smartest and yet most ignorant people to run the city. The book explains how cities die because of incremental shifts over time. He argues that the fall of cities does not come with a huge bang or something that captures the headlines of local newspapers. He claims that it is a gradual process that is brought about by the accumulation of small changes which are difficult to undo (Rae, 2003). The book argues that in the American system of capitalist’s democracy, cities are the most agile creatures. It continues to maintain that they are the slowest to change and respond to programs initiated by the other athletic organizations. Rae paints a good image of how a city can rise and fall by looking at the inner workings of municipality leaders, the development of the railroad and its impacts and the rise of the capitalist enterprise.
The other book is “Who Governs? Democracy and power in an American city” by Robert Dahl. In the book, the author uses an analytical approach combined with interviews to determine who has ultimate power to make decisions in the new haven. The author looks at previous decisions made and uses interviews to see who played a significant role in the making of those decisions. Dahl uses specific examples of people who for any reason chose to exert the power they possess. He argues that the amount of power depends on how someone chooses to use his or her resources for instance money (Dahl, 1989). Access to these resources does not necessarily contribute to political influence, he argues that some wealthy people choose to ‘collect’ politicians instead of getting involved in politics. The choices made heavily depend on the interests of the individual with the resources. In most cases, these interests may be for the betterment of the community maybe for selfish gains. He argues that the process of democracy depends on those with many resources and not by the people’s opinions. At times the decisions lead to the fall of a city for instance new haven. Dahl continues to argue that the local upper class was not among the business community. He additionally states that the business community was passive and not very influential. He argu...