The Guardian: "The Soviet city is dead: long live Beijing"

"Architecture theorist Jacob Dreyer explains how the Stalinist model of urbanism – a centrally planned component within a national economic unity – is thriving in modern China"

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"If, as Chinese philosopher Wang Hui observed in his book 'The End of Revolution', socialism was the door through which China passed on its voyage into modernity, then it was Russia that opened that door, by exporting models and expertise that laid the foundation for much of what constitutes modern China.

"Perhaps the most tangible of these legacies is the look and feel of the contemporary Chinese city; and since China is a centrally planned economy, this look and feel is remarkably unified. The prime shaping factor for the modern Chinese city was Soviet urbanism – or more precisely, Stalinist urbanism.

"In 1949, when the Communist party came to power, Beijing was a city of half a million people: 95% or more of both the population and built structures in today’s 20 million-person agglomeration emerged from the revolution, and from the Soviet advice that the new government relied on.

"In his book Beijing Record, Wang Jun makes clear the scale of this influence:

"On 16 September [1949], a group of Soviet experts in municipal administration arrived in Beijing. They were supposed to help the new government in its work to plan the city’s development. In reality, however, they were to have absolute say in everything."

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"THE DEATH OF AMERICA'S SUBURBAN DREAM"

"This pattern of 'white flight' to the suburbs was characteristic of American metro areas until the 1970s and 1980s, when newer suburbs – bigger, more spacious, more contemporary – began stealing residents away from the older inner-ring suburbs. And by the 1990s, more minorities were beginning to follow the same aspirational path as the former white city dwellers before them. Just as previous generations did, minorities sought larger homes, quieter environments and better schools. And white residents who craved insulation from the perils of urban living now saw it coming to their front lawns – again.

"The recent events in Ferguson, Missouri have brought this tension into sharp focus. Ferguson, an inner-ring suburb about 10 miles northwest of St Louis, was a city in transition long before officer Darren Wilson shot the unarmed black teenager Michael Brown. In 1990, three-quarters of Ferguson’s 22,000 residents were white; just 20 years later, by 2010, nearly three-quarters of them were black. These two groups of Fergusonians share little in common. In 2012, the median age of white residents in Ferguson was nearly 49; for black residents, it was only 29. The median household income of whites was nearly $52,000; for blacks, less than $30,000. The story of Ferguson is truly a tale of two suburbs.

"... It wasn’t always this way. In the 1960s, two suburbs took a decidedly different approach to racial transition: Oak Park, Illinois and Shaker Heights, Ohio (inner-ring suburbs of Chicago and Cleveland). When faced with the possibility of a destabilising resegregation in the 60s, both communities elected to take a proactive, race-conscious tack. They established community relations commissions, to develop and foster ongoing conversations around race. They worked hard to dispel rumours related to racial transition. They actively sought out white residents who would welcome black neighbours. They encouraged the dispersion of black residents to prevent clustering. They passed local open-housing ordinances. They even established equity assurance programmes to ensure [insure?] residents against declining property values. Both communities weathered the racial transition of the 60s and 70s well. They’re proud of their accomplishments. They should be."