The document discusses the history and development of New York City from 1609 to 1941. It describes how New York was founded by the Dutch and focused on trade and commerce. It grew rapidly in the 19th century as a multi-cultural and multi-racial society driven by business. Major events like the American Revolution, slavery, and the Stock Market Crash of 1929 impacted the city's development. Figures like Robert Moses helped shape New York through large-scale infrastructure projects during the 20th century. The emergence of skyscrapers and new building technologies also transformed the urban landscape.

1. American Urbanization
& New York City
Brooke Soto
M. Arguello

2. The Country & the City
(1609-1825)
• NY was founded by the Dutch, and they didn’t care about anything else but
making money.
• The NY hustle and bustle has been happening for over 350 years
• Place to create yourself & of great opportunity
• Modern Capitalism created in Amsterdam
• People don’t think of NY as historic, but this city has lots of history.
• Fastest growing city in the world in the 19th century
• A multi-cultural, multi-racial society based on a commercial culture

3. The Country & the City
(1609-1825)
• New Amsterdam changed its name to New York in honor of the Duke of York.
• England ruled NY for more than 100 years
• Lands of the harbor were reorganized: Land around Brooklyn named King’s County after King Charles, regions of
the north named Queens in honor of his wife, and Statin Island was called Richmond after the Duke of Richmond
• Trade through the Erie Canal started a successful route around the world.
• The Declaration of Independence was recited in Manhattan
• Revolutionary war raged for 7 years
• After NY had gone up in flames, it started from scratch in rebuilding its city
• The vision of NY: Imperial- sense of expansion and success, Democratic- Streets were numbered, not named,
Efficient- easy to navigate, Triumphant- you can change anything

4. The Country & the City
(1609-1825)
• Slavery
• African Americans were brought to Wall Street against their will
• Slaves built the “wall” for which Wall Street is named.
• Not just literally, but figuratively as they traded in African flesh that provided
the fundamental capitol of which the financial Wall Street is built.
• 1741 was worse than the Salem witch trials
• Slaves were tortured, burned at the stake, and hanged.
• Equality was something that was going to take a long time to achieve.

5. City of Tomorrow
(1929-1941)
• NY is a constellation of magic moments
• Brooklyn Bridge
• Central Park
• Building of bridges & highways
• Franklin D. Roosevelt’s New Deal

6. City of Tomorrow
(1929-1941)
• Stock Market Crash of 1929
• This caused the Great Depression
• Millions unemployed, doing anything they could for a
dollar
• Economy declined so fast in one day than ever before
• Prices and values of everything dropped
• All hope was lost until FDR’s new deal provided federal
aid for each area of NYC.
• The new deal provided unemployment relief, health, social
security, housing and labor reform.

7. City of Tomorrow
(1929-1941)
• Robert Moses
• Master builder of the 20th century in New York
• Moses needed a plan to help with the traffic congestion in
NY
• Plan developed into building bridges and tunnels
• Triborough Bridge was built
• All of these additions to the city only created more traffic
problems
• Built more bridges, houses, and playgrounds
• The toll roads that were created ended up collecting large
amounts of money that Moses used whenever he wanted
to build something new
• Unfortunately, the system that was created, didn’t reflect
the voice of the people

8. -A Merger that puts New York on Top-
Mike Clough
• New York - the unrivaled capital of the old American national industrial economy
• NY has faced its challenges in creating its “national metropole status”
• The principle entreport for trade on the Mississippi River network challenged the commercial center
of the nation
• The key to success was the ability to focus on the future path & economy by using strategies to their
advantage
• What could bring them to the top? The building of the Erie Canal & Triangle Trade (the cotton trade
between the South & England)
• NY dominated through its discoveries and inventions such as electricity, the telephone, motion
pictures, and wireless radio.
• NY’s most remarkable quality: ability to capture economic gains from commercial developments
• The debate about which region should take over AOL Time Warner depends on the economy that can
handle it

9. Immigrants & Cities
The City in the Land of the Dollar
• Cities in the U.S. have a distinctive look compared to Europe
• We have the same restaurants, museums, railroads, and hotels everywhere
• There’s no mistaking Los Angeles from London
• Our cities are conventional grids of long, straight streets with a commercial downtown of tall office buildings &
residential neighborhoods
• Rybczynski focuses on everything that are cities ARE instead of everything that are cities are NOT
• More importantly, how did they get this way in the first place?

10. Immigrants & Cities
The City in the Land of the Dollar
• How did our cities get to be the way they are today?
• 19th century Chicago started urbanism where the skyscraper was built & given its definitive architecture form
• Commercial & industrial expansion occurred where railroads & business took off like a rocket
• After the Chicago fire in 1871, Thomas Edison invented electricity, which spurred other electrical inventions such as
street cars & elevators.
• With the elevator invention, buildings were able to expand its height from 4-6 stories to 16-20 stories
• Building material also changed to a more lightweight structured steel that made buildings more durable at higher
limits
• Skyscrapers increased the value of real estate and started the movement of residential building
• Workinmen’s cottages replaced villas, duplexes replaced cottages, and apartment complexes replaced duplexes
• Suburban communities were created & the modern American city was born

11. Immigrants & Cities
The City in the Land of the Dollar
• Downtown was considered to be a commercial concentration of offices,
hotels, and stores where people worked and played, but didn’t live.
• American cities were places for doing business & making money.
• Urban parks were created to show a devotion to clarity & order with classical
buildings
• Chicago tried to incorporate European design into American cities by
introducing axial views, formal buildings
• This was called the City Beautiful Movement (1900-1910)
• Unfortunately, this movement shifted from “city beautiful” to “city profitable”
when they realized that they had to face reality of the American cities