Transforming California : a political history of land use and development / Stephanie S. Pincetl.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Pincetl, Stephanie Sabine, 1952-

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Land use--California--History.

Land use.

Land use--Government policy--California--History.

Land use--Environmental aspects--California--Planning--History.

Land use--Economic aspects--California--Planning--History.

Cities and towns--California--Growth--History.

Cities and towns.

Land use--Economic aspects.

Planning.

History.

Land use--Environmental aspects.

Land use--Government policy.

California.

Growth.

Physical Description:

xix, 372 pages : illustrations, maps ; 24 cm

Place of Publication:

Baltimore, Md. : Johns Hopkins University Press, 1999.

Summary:

California's Central Valley once teemed with wildlife -- from swan to sturgeon, from golden beaver to grizzly bear, its forests, marshes, and other ecosystems supported a wide range of flora and fauna. increasing development brought rapid environmental change and the withering and collapse of many of these ecosystems. In the San Joaquin Valley, Tulare Lake and Buena Vista Lake disappeared completely. Today, the grizzly is gone.

In Transforming California, Stephanie Pincetl argues that the transformation of nature in order to enhance economic development lies at the heart of much of the state's recent history She sees late-twentieth-century California on a path of continued environmental degradation and gripped by cynicism about government. Transforming California describes the evolution of the state's institutions of government as they apply to land use and development, and it shows how land-use decisions affect people's quality of life and heir daily interactions with each other and with their environment.

The author emphasizes the political reforms of the Progressive era, demonstrating how those reforms concentrated political power in the hands of economic elites (because these people were deemed the most capable decisionmakers at the time) and established the contemporary balance of power and system of governance. Mindful of that system's failures, Pincetl offers an alternative vision for the renewal of the democratic spirit and process in California and for a reconciliation with nature.

Contents:

1. The Formative Years: California in the Gilded Age 1

2. Reformers Ascend to Power: The California Progressives 25

3. Transitional Interwar Years: Establishing Business Associationalism 74

4. The Problems and Politics of Growth 132

5. Unfulfilled Visions: The Jerry Brown Years 186

6. Years of Malign Neglect: The Real Era of Limits 239

7. Conclusion: Reconstructing California's Public Sphere 304.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages [347]-359) and index.

ISBN:

0801861101

OCLC:

40602888