Americas Original Gi Town: Park Forest, Illinois; Author: Randall, Gregory C.; Hardback; Book

Author: Randall, Gregory C.
Creating the North American Landscape (Hardcover); Hardback; Book; 53 Halftones, 10 Line Drawings
272 pages
Published: January 2000
The Johns Hopkins University Press
ISBN: 0801862078
This item non-returnable. Order may not be canceled.

At the close of World War II, Americans became increasingly concerned about the problem of housing for returning veterans, relocated defense workers, and their families. Designs such as thegarden city that dated from the turn of the century or earlier were prominent once again, as planners saw a renewed need for ready-made communities. One such community -- among the first and, perhaps, most representative -- was Park Forest, Illinois, a privately built and publicly managed town twenty-six miles south of Chicago.In this book, Gregory Randall presents the history of the planning,design, construction, and growth of Park Forest. He shows how planners -- who dubbed the new community a GI town -- drew on lessons learned from English garden cities and New Deal greenbelt towns toPost-World War II, America needed to rehouse returning veterans, defence workers and their families, and planners saw a renewed need for ready-made communities. This work explores the planning, design, construction and growth of one such town at Park Forest, Illinois, dubbed a GI town.