This thesis looks at the Greater St. Louis urban area in Missouri and Illinois, USA, roughly in the second half of the twentieth century. It takes as its central theme the notion of urban crisis,...Show moreThis thesis looks at the Greater St. Louis urban area in Missouri and Illinois, USA, roughly in the second half of the twentieth century. It takes as its central theme the notion of urban crisis, which refers to a number of interrelated phenomena that arose in numerous American cities during the second half of the twentieth century. These include suburbanization, deindustrialization, depopulation, physical blight, pollution, and increases in crime, drug addiction, poverty, unemployment, and racial inequality. Much of the historiography that tries to explain the urban crisis approaches decline from an economic and statistical perspective, and focusses on long-term, large-scale developments. While this approach has been fruitful, it also creates a gap: it reveals little about cultural context and pays little attention to the agency and experience of ordinary individuals who experienced the urban crisis. In order to help fill this gap, this thesis examines documents that reflect personal experience or opinions, such as diaries, memoirs, interviews, and opinionated newspaper articles. More specifically, the thesis consists of three smaller case studies into specific aspects of St. Louis's urban crisis: residential segregation, public housing, and suburban deindustrialization. While this project does not lead to a new 'big picture' of urban crisis, it yields various new insights, which sometimes contradict the existing historiography.Show less
