European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - May 08, 1977, Darmstadt, Hesse Has the City outlived its usefulness n Mito ant associated press huh ho1 lbs of Vears ago. Man invented his Gran dest Ami Xirui to milk some institution the Civ with it came legions of clerks bureaucrats muggers int i Kings a new look he a British author looks at the Urban world and Sug gifts that Civ Hui itself May i the Root of in nil evil Klaine Morgan an Oxford educated woman from the backhands of Wales modern cities in a two possible fates both Bleak whether Thev re a Hall he Dallas or a decaying new York her Book. Falling apart. The re and f ill of i Xvi i Annliza Titan traces the history of the idea of the Riv from the time the Isnit Lites toppled Seridio Luda when Urban Walls from new York to Bangkok threaten to crumble. Morgan dismisses those who believe that we could have a Well oiled urbanized world that someone will find better ways to plea up garbage wipe out poverty and crime and bring City and suburb into Harmony. Her Book says that the world cell her will continue us present course toward huge cities and what she Calls an unsolvable mess or people will learn that Small is stable it gets you further from live now. Pay later and closer to pay now. Live Freer " the problem lies in Why cities exist Morgan believes that perhaps 5.000 years ago Farmers settled on some unusually Fertile land and found that they could produce More than they could use. At some Point the beneficiaries of the work became separated from the performers. Somebody got the Bright idea with crops like that if he d Only put his Back into it he could grow enough for to second one could be it did t take Long to learn that crops could be taxed and artisans could build tools for the Farmer the better to produce even More food suddenly the Farmer was a service consumer and those who provided the services needed his food then Laws and accountants were needed rulers armies and gods Lent legitimacy to the enter prise and cities were bom for most of history cities relied on muscle Power from the country poor the Colonl Ted or the enslaved to create surpluses needed to build and feed them the slogan All roads Lead in Rome thus takes on an especially sinister meaning in Morgan s Book. Cities always have sapped their Rural surroundings of goods Talent and Hope Kven now. When most cities can Only Promise newcomers a slum Hope of a better life for their children draws the Young and talented fr.,m the Hills to the Cit but something has gone wrong until a Centi Irv ago. Muscle Power fuelled the City it was cheap and plentiful and cities produced things i. Troit. Not suburbs built cars. The City poor could get jobs in inner City factories along the Way. Cities Learned that substituting Coal and Oil for muscle Power led to undreamed of wealth to impoverished Rural people and immigrants the Industrial cities seemed paved w Ltd Goldone developed new services and services to serve services Tut lately the party is ending fur older and larger cities. Those living outside the established metropol Itan areas began to Reali a if Gnu can t lick pm. Join who not build a Metropolis right thei a in the Cornfields new metropolitan areas sprang up in the Sunbelt near the dial Fields in places where larger More modern fac tories could in built the wealth that older cities once i just bought Manhattan Jack for half Price sunday May 8, 1977 monopolized began to seep it now is flooding into the newer cities the new Yorks Are decaying the Ballases seem to be thriving hut there s a catch Morgan says the bigger and More concentrated a Civ is. The More it tends to favor services Over production and the poor arrive ill equipped to enter an increasingly while Collar Job Market thus cities lend to grow hollow and decay at the Core where the poor collect living in eve shot of minks and Cadillac it s hard for the poor to believe that there is no Niones to help them hence crime ear and despair worse cities running on Oil Power now must face the Prospect of Power running out Morgan concludes that what happens to cities in the future depends on How Mankind faces this Energy crisis. Turning full Force to nuclear Power would Supply ample Energy. The cities will have the Means to grow again this time at a Pace of change much faster than anything we have dreamed of but the size and com plus ill of Urban problems would reach unimagined pro portion eventually she predicts people would not Only aban Don Bangkok they would throw away new York when the problem of what to do about it grew too tedious and move Down to the Sunbelt until they d turned that into the same kind of other better Choice is to harness the Sun. Earth heat and muscle Power to turn our engines but that would mean smaller engines smaller factories and smaller cities if cities at All tills course would be daunt Melv and Morgan concedes the adjustments could take pain Jil year the big City Rich would have the Means to leave Urban disaster areas while the rest suffer the consequences of dwindling resources she says of those forced to remain behind their financial Power base will shrink their re sources will shrink their morale will decline they Are Likely to hear from the outside the same cold Comfort that they were in the habit of dishing out Well you Don t have to stay there " the Only Light Morgan holds is that those left behind will rebuild with sobered expectations and fewer Delu Sions of grandeur " the stars and stripes Page 11
