Post-World War II Urban Development in American-Dutch Perspectives: Levittown, PA & Rotterdam, NL 1945-1965
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2016-08-15
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en
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Abstract
After WWII, the way people lived changed drastically in both the United States and
the Netherlands. In the United States, the end of the war meant an influx of veterans
looking for a place to start their families outside of the cities, which had gone neglected for
decades. Government policies favored suburban housing, and pioneers like the Levitt & Sons company handily picked up on these by constructing massive developments such as
Levittown, Pennsylvania. Levittown focused on creating communities through homogeneity
in spatial layout and social structure. In the Netherlands, the German occupation during
WWII left its marks. People were housed in appalling residences, which called for a large
scale reconstruction (“wederopbouw”) of the country. The centers of cities like Rotterdam
were bombed, giving urban planners an opportunity to rebuild them using new ideas.
Rotterdam was rebuilt with a city center focused on shopping and public services, while
residential areas were located on the edges of the city. These new residential areas followed
the “neighborhood model”, which meant that they had a certain level of self-sufficiency and
were supposed to encourage the formation of socially diverse communities.
Keywords: urban planning; suburbs; Levittown; Rotterdam; reconstruction; wederopbouw
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