| This study is a deep historical analysis of the industrial suburb which states that our current understanding of the contemporary urban condition is incomplete because scholars have generally ignored the use of municipal incorporation for the purpose of protecting corporate wealth and creating an environment for profit. The scholarly suburbanization literature deals almost exclusively with residential uses of incorporation laws. Today these industrial suburbs have characteristics which resemble central cities, but the two have taken very different evolutionary paths to get to the same point.;Industrial suburbs were enabled by three factors. First, local interests were nationalized by industry (specifically railroads) which meant that local infrastructure decisions, such as bridge location, became extremely important to far-away interests. Second, states created loose incorporation laws in the nineteenth century to encourage urban development at private expense. In many states, loose incorporation laws were readily used and misused. Third, entrepreneurs at the local level merged public and private prosperity. Conflicts of interest abounded during the late-nineteenth century and city "planning" was guided by profitability, not social benefit.;A threefold argument is presented. First, industrial suburbs are not founded on the social contract, but rather business principles which place industrial profitability before residential needs for city services. Second, industrial suburbs, though detached from the central city, exert an influence on central city operations (specifically by encouraging corruption, skewing urban development and land use, and altering demographics). Third, industry has a capacity to abandon industrial suburbs when they no longer suit the business plan, leaving behind a government incapable of serving the needs of residents. Each point corresponds to a phase of industrial suburb existence (respectively creation, operation and abandonment). The three elements combine to play a unique role in urban decline.;The study attempts to show the evolutionary process of industrial suburbs using the East St. Louis, Illinois, industrial area as a case study. The problems of industrial suburbs may resemble those of central cities, but have evolved along a distinct path which may mean that they require a distinct solution. |
