Metropolitan Processes: An Overview

Ennis, Philip H.

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https://hdl.handle.net/2142/1527 Copy

Description

Title

Metropolitan Processes: An Overview

Author(s)

Ennis, Philip H.

Issue Date

1965

Keyword(s)

Libraries and metropolitan areas

Abstract

In this brief review of some of the major social developments in the metropolis, two important difficulties should be noted at the outset. First, the subject is so vast and has been studied by so many different kinds of specialists that there is little standardization of concepts and generalizations. I can give, therefore, only a partial view of the scene, indicating the variety of approaches to metropolitan problems. Second, even if we were able to assimilate all the perspectives, the implications for policy planning are far from clear. There are too many contingencies open; there are too many voices demanding their own solutions. The situation is too fluid and too diverse. Indeed, a major conclusion I have come to concerning the future of the metropolis is that each situation is different; the diversity of history and the present variety of population, social organization and economic base is so great that generalizations as to social processes in the metropolitan areas have to be at such a level of abstraction that they are likely to be of little help in concrete planning. They can provide at best a general orientation for policy planning. At worst, such generalizations floating above everyday practice can become a screen for mindless, short-termed expediency. Later in this paper I will discuss, as one of the metropolitan processes, some related problems of decision-making in the planning field.

Publisher

Graduate School of Library Science. University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

Series/Report Name or Number

Allerton Park Institute (12th : 1965)

ISSN

0536-4604

Type of Resource

text

Language

en

Permalink

http://hdl.handle.net/2142/1527

Copyright and License Information

Copyright owned by Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois. 1965.

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