Professional volunteers and volunteer planners: A history of Jewish women's contributions to urban planning.

详细信息   

• 作者：Rabinowitz Bussell ; Mirle Dora.
• 学历：Doctor
• 年：1999
• 导师：Leavitt, Jacqueline
• 毕业院校：University of California
• 专业：Urban and Regional Planning.;Women's Studies.
• ISBN：0599492104
• CBH：9947049
• Country：USA
• 语种：English
• FileSize：15316421
• Pages：358

文摘

Women have played an important role in urban planning for over one hundred years. While contributions of the more notable figures have been acknowledged to varying degrees, little is known about the efforts of laywomen from diverse socioeconomic backgrounds who have long fought to make cities and neighborhoods more accommodating to people's different social, economic, and spatial needs. This dissertation considers the contributions made to urban planning by an organization of middle class Jewish women volunteers, the National Council of Jewish Women (NCJW), which has been involved in urban planning endeavors since the late nineteenth century. The analysis reveals that the NCJW's awareness of urban planning issues was founded on three factors: (1) its interest in social reform; (2) its dedication to Jewish concerns; and (3) its sense of maternal responsibilities for Jewish children and families. I refer to this overall awareness as urban mothering. Urban mothering considers the extension of women's maternal activities beyond traditional familial responsibilities and into the larger community. It lays a framework for understanding the connections between these activities and their influence on the policies and plans that shape neighborhoods and cities.;The dissertation focuses on the NCJW's advocacy for passage of the first comprehensive federal housing bill, the Housing Act of 1949. The efforts of the national leadership of the NCJW are compared to activities at the local level in the organization's Los Angeles Section. The analysis reveals the different degrees to which urban mothering is expressed and the reasons for such divergences. The majority of data was collected from the NCJW's national archives, the records of the Los Angeles Section of the NCJW, and newspaper articles from Los Angeles' Anglo-Jewish press.;The research presented in this dissertation suggests that throughout its modern history, urban planning has been subject to the influences of a wide range of citizen groups. While it might be tempting to refer to NCJW members as “accidental planners,” their interest in planning was actually quite intentional. The NCJW's commitment to urban development derived from its urban mothering and was the catalyst that propelled it into the planning arena.