Magic Lands

John M. Findlay. Magic Lands: Western Cityscapes and American Culture After 1940.
University of California Press, 1992.

Findlay's book focuses on four "magic lands" in the post-World War II era; I presume the choice of 1940 as the beginning of his periodization reflects the importance of the war industry in the growth of the region economically and demographically. The phrase "magic land" is his own descriptor, which he roughly defines as urban areas which were planned districts, distinct from the surrounding metropolitan area, planned in reaction to the specter of unrestricted suburban sprawl, and finally based on or influenced by the first of the four--Disneyland, in Anaheim, California.

Aside from that amusement park, the other three "magic lands" are the Stanford Industrial Park what would become "Silicon Valley"; the Sun City retirement community outside Phoenix, Arizona; and the Seattle World's Fair grounds. Aside from the above-mentioned commonalities, Findlay argues that these collectively had a significant influence on the development of--and, more importantly, the validation of--the distinctively Western style of urban development which came into prominence in from around 1950 through the mid-60's (when concerns about sprawl, crime, poverty, and especially environmental degradation began to resonate in Western politics).

The Western style of urban growth was different from the Eastern style which was grounded in the experience of the 19th century industrial revolution. The latter was centered on a densely-settled central core, and featured mixed-use zoning, an overall high population density, and centered economic and cultural activity in a traditional downtown. According the Findlay, many in the West (including, during this period, many migrants from the East and Midwest) explicitly rejected the Eastern city as the ideal model and sought to create something new. The rapid spread of a newer model based on single-family housing, horizontal rather than vertical growth, and the privileging of the automobile over mass-transit created a radically different model, but it was often a seemingly shapeless and confusingly fast-growing city which struck many as being alienating and featureless. The different "magic lands" in his study were attempts, in various ways, to control, improve, and rationalize the new Western city taking shape.

Findlay makes a strong case that planners, developers, civic leaders, and ordinary citizens in the West sought to create the sprawling, car-centered cityscapes they lived in, and his argument that "magic lands" were archetypal models which influenced the development of much of the suburban built environment much of America calls home today. He works hard--perhaps too hard--to understand these magic lands on their own terms, and to appreciate the ways in which those who lived in them, worked in them, or visited them would have perceived their benefits; while this is laudable and important, he skews the argument so far in that direction that his observations about the ways in which lower-income and non-white communities were adversely affected or at least ignored lack the weight they probably should. And Findlay seems remarkably uninterested in the ultimate costs of the sprawl these magic lands helped legitimize. Or perhaps he believes that is a different story, one which shouldn't overshadow the ways in which these communities were conceptualized and experienced at the time. At any rate, this is a compelling study, worth reading if you are interested in the history of the American West, the postwar suburbs, or the rise of middle-class consumer culture in the post World War II era.