Before Renaissance: Planning in Pittsburgh, 1889–1943 by John F. Bauman, Edward K. Muller (review)

BOOK REVIEWS Ibe Hooking Valley Railway represents a lifetime of work. Miller has compiled a truly remarkable array of facts and details surrounding the business deals and operation of this regionally important industrial artery. Miller punctuates his narrative with memorable anecdotes about notable events, including the planned collision of two locomotives for the opening of Buckeye Park, memorable fires, the 1899 auction,and the flood of 1913. Train enthusiasts will be particularly impressed with the numerous photographs of depots, locomotives and engineers, passenger cars,hotels, and bridges; maps of the railroad and towns along the route; detailed descriptions of each station on both the trunk line and branches; tables listing earnings and equipment;reproductions of tickets and timetables;blueprints; and elevation graphs. Miller' s documentation of the Hocking Valley Railway is incredibly thorough and far exceeds the modest goals he set for himselfwhen he thought back in 1971, " Why not a book?" ( ix). Lou Martin West Virginia University John E Bauman and Edward K. Muller. Before Renaissance: Planning in Pittsburgb,18891943 . Pittsburgh: University of Pittsburgh Press, 2006. 352 pp. ISBN 0822959305 ( paper), $ 27.95. Given the conterns about environmental change and the demands ofconsumercen tered lifestyles, explorations of city planning 's formative decades have garnered both scholarly analysis and wider awareness from the general public in recent years. In examining Pittsburgh' s planning past,John E Bauman and Edward K.Muller add to this dialogue by arguing that the steel city deserves special attention because it reflected key trends in US. urban planning history. In significant ways, the city was central to the modern planning ethos. Before Renaissance: Planning in Pittsbui'gb, 18891943 provides a broad interpretative framework ; as such, it parallets ground explored in Jon A. Peter's 7be Birth of City Planning in tbe United States, 18401917 2003), and expands on the insights offered by Rov Lubove' s Twentieth CenturyPittsburgh : Government, Business, and Environmental Change 1969). Using a varietv of archival sources, including government documents, newspapers, organization records, and manuscripts, the book creates a new picture of Pittsburgh as a laboratory for city planning ideas. Between 1889 and 1943 the authors focus on the people and institutions that " create a solid legal framework for planning practice " that shaped urban development ( 2) Bauman and Muller's exploration of the city's planning ethos provides a fresh perspective on the established process of urban planning' s transition from a progressive movement to a scientific process that garnered public support and municipal action. They trace how the " contested space of the nineteenth century industrial metropolis was transformed into an arena for city building that moved away from special purpose planning to embrace comprehensive plans informed by fears of the " civic and soci·al disorder wrought by untrammeled urban industrialism" ( 15). 3[ he authors identify important local figures beyond their roles in creating Pittsburgh' s urban landscape,placing them in the larger national planning context that strove to recreate U.S. civic space along significant FALL 2007 87 Wlln F.Bal, mall alll E[ llam K. MUI BOOK REVIEWS scientific and social lines. The city's centrality to modern planning ideas made it a showcase for the evolving planning trends between City Beautiful and City Practical, demonstrating how public and private interests created relationships, embraced uniform planning perspectives, and managed to incorporate both reform aims and expert perspectives. Yet Pittsburgh's experience also highlights the nagging realities posed by political decisions that undermined planning's visionary zeal. To be successful,professional planners needed to educate the public,a task they often failed to accomplish, leaving planning goals unfulfilled and the community planning vision hazy. Like so many cities in the 1920s, Pittsburgh had zoning and planning apparatuses in place, reflecting strong practical concerns. However, the visionary perspective typified by more communitarian aspects of city planning,such as the Garden City Movement, pushed innovation and led Pittsburgh planners to straddle the line between practicality and innovation ( 137).Pittsburgh' s planning ethos reflected an institutionalized structure focused on creating healthy community and managing urban growth. Yet, the planning process posed ethical and legal challenges that forced public and private interests to negotiate urban progress even as it vexed planning officials ( 187). lhe traditional urban...