Page 370 - 1970S

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CAN OUR
CITIES
BE SAVED?
11
Not unless
we
so/ve their problems
now,"
say a growing .
army
of experts.
This article explains what is causing the
cleath
of our
cities
-
ancl what
must
be clone to avert
ultimare urban clisaster.
by
Garner Ted Armstrong and Paul Kroll
A
CCORDING
to Herman Kahn of the
~
Hudson lnstitute "Think Tank,"
40 perce'nt of Americans will
soon be living in three gigantic, sprawl–
ing multi-cities. A projected 120 mi!lion
Americans will caU these cities "home."
Kahn calls one "Boswash" - an
intertwined chain
o{
cities Iinking Bos–
ton, New York, Philadelphia and
Washington, D.C.
The second he named "Chipitts." It
will indude Chicago, Pittsburgh and
everything in between.
Kahn's third super-city is "Sansan"
- a massive 600-mile-long urban mon–
strosity stretching from San Francisco to
San Diego.
But that's only an intermediate step
in metropolitan mergers. Later, we can
expect "Chipitts" and "Boswash" to
rnerge into "Chiboswash." Population?
Well over 100 million.
Big -City Problems Worldwide
On the other side of the Atlantic,
HALF
of all Britons are already living in
seven grcat rnulti-city chains - Loo–
don, Manchcster, Birrningharn, Glasgow,
Leeds, Liverpool, and Newcastle. And
they are crowded
!
Britain has
SO%
wo,·e people per
Ambossodot Co/le9e Pnolo
square miie
than teeming, populous
India. Sorne
SS
rnillion Britons are
cornpressed togcther on a srnall island
only three fifths the size of California.
On this crowded island, London is
but a srnall arca. Yet,
ONE SIXTEENTH
of the British people call this city homc.
Tokyo, Paris, Calcutta are other teem–
ing world rnetropolists. All have
big-city problems of congestion and
pollution. City planners admit they have
littie or no control
-
especially in the
United States - over lirniting the size
of these cities. Of all the world's major
and medium cities, only London, New
Delhi and Brasilia could be said to have
made any real progress in this area.
There is a reason
WHY
people flock to
cities in such uncontrolled nurnbers.
Those coming to cities or already liv·
ing
in
them expect to find
greater
rewards,
not increased troubles. People
leave an arca because they hope to live
better sornewhere else.
They look to cities and suburban cen–
ters to provide them with higher-paying
jobs, increased cultural opportunities,
greater educational benefits, more free·
dom of choice in life style.
What, then, are the chances of find-