Visions of the city at the 1939 New York World's Fair

Visitors to the 1939 New York World's Fair witnessed a uniquely American modernism that synthesized different stylistic and ideological strands of modern architecture, design and urban planning. Two such expressions, created by industrial designers, were Democracity and Futurama, popular exhibits that used large models to portray the city of the future. The Democracity model, designed by Henry Dreyfuss, was intended to express the fair's theme, ‘Building the World of Tomorrow.’ Futurama, designed by Norman Bel Geddes and sponsored by General Motors, proclaimed itself a vision of the ‘City of 1960.’ This dissertation examines these models, and the planning and design of the fair itself, as expressions of both the new modern style of industrial designers and contemporary regional planning ideals. Members of two local planning organizations, the Regional Plan Association of New York (RPA) and the Regional Planning Association of America (RPAA), were closely connected to the fair. Chapter 1 documents the involvement of the RPA in the planning of the fair, focussing on the leadership of RPA president George McAneny. Chapter 2 chronicles the selection of the fair's Board of Design and examines the campaign of the ‘Fair of the Future’ committee to make the fair more progressive in its style and theme. Particular attention is given to industrial designer Walter Dorwin Teague's successful bid for involvement in the fair's design. Chapter 3 describes the creation of Democracity's regional vision under the guidance of Board of Design and RPAA member Robert Kohn, emphasizing his struggle to make Democracity an expression of communitarian values. Chapter 4 discusses Futurama's regional vision as a reflection of Bel Geddes' interest in city planning and links the exhibit to the RPA's plan for developing the region surrounding New York City.