Communitas (book)
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''Communitas: Means of Livelihood and Ways of Life'' is a 1947 book on community and
city planning Urban planning, also known as town planning, city planning, regional planning, or rural planning, is a technical and political process that is focused on the development and design of land use and the built environment, including air, water, ...
by
Percival Percival (, also spelled Perceval, Parzival), alternatively called Peredur (), was one of King Arthur's legendary Knights of the Round Table. First mentioned by the French author Chrétien de Troyes in the tale ''Perceval, the Story of the G ...
and
Paul Goodman Paul Goodman (1911–1972) was an American writer and public intellectual best known for his 1960s works of social criticism. Goodman was prolific across numerous literary genres and non-fiction topics, including the arts, civil rights, decen ...
. Presented as an illustrated primer on how city planning affects socioeconomic order and citizens' empowerment to better their communities, the book reviews historical and modern approaches to urban planning before proposing three of the Goodmans' own provocative community paradigms. The brothers worked on ''Communitas'' through the early 1940s based on an unsuccessful
1939 World's Fair The 1939–40 New York World's Fair was a world's fair held at Flushing Meadows–Corona Park in Queens, New York, United States. It was the second-most expensive American world's fair of all time, exceeded only by St. Louis's Louisiana Purcha ...
proposal. The
University of Chicago The University of Chicago (UChicago, Chicago, U of C, or UChi) is a private research university in Chicago, Illinois. Its main campus is located in Chicago's Hyde Park neighborhood. The University of Chicago is consistently ranked among the b ...
-published book was not well known until it was revised and re-released alongside Paul Goodman's ''
Growing Up Absurd ''Growing Up Absurd'' is a 1960 book by Paul Goodman on the relationship between American juvenile delinquency and societal opportunities to fulfill human nature, natural needs. Contrary to the then-popular view that juvenile delinquents shoul ...
'' in a 1960 edition by
Vintage Books Vintage Books is a trade paperback publishing imprint of Penguin Random House originally established by Alfred A. Knopf in 1954. The company was purchased by Random House in April 1960, and a British division was set up in 1990. After Random Hous ...
. ''Communitas'' became known as a major work of urban planning and influenced historical, anthropological, and educational activists.


Contents

''Communitas: Means of Livelihood and Ways of Life'' argues for "human scale"
urban planning Urban planning, also known as town planning, city planning, regional planning, or rural planning, is a technical and political process that is focused on the development and design of land use and the built environment, including air, water, ...
, in which buildings, cities, economics, and society are made to suit immediate community needs. It is presented as an illustrated primer on how city planning effects socioeconomic order and citizen empowerment to better their communities. The book's first half addresses historical and modern approaches to urban planning, while the second half introduces the authors' own urban proposals. The authors begin by evaluating three existing approaches to modern urbanism, each in brief: self-contained garden cities, production-focused industrialized plans, and rural–urban integrated plans. Their introduction to garden cities covers the works of
Patrick Geddes Sir Patrick Geddes (2 October 1854 – 17 April 1932) was a British biologist, sociologist, Comtean positivist, geographer, philanthropist and pioneering town planner. He is known for his innovative thinking in the fields of urban planning ...
,
Ebenezer Howard Sir Ebenezer Howard (29 January 1850 – 1 May 1928) was an English urban planner and founder of the garden city movement, known for his publication '' To-Morrow: A Peaceful Path to Real Reform'' (1898), the description of a utopian city in whi ...
, and
Raymond Unwin Sir Raymond Unwin (2 November 1863 – 29 June 1940) was a prominent and influential English engineer, architect and town planner, with an emphasis on improvements in working class housing. Early years Raymond Unwin was born in Rotherham, Yorks ...
. Their survey of urban production includes the American mill town, Chinese and Soviet industrial plans, and
Buckminster Fuller Richard Buckminster Fuller (; July 12, 1895 – July 1, 1983) was an American architect, systems theorist, writer, designer, inventor, philosopher, and futurist. He styled his name as R. Buckminster Fuller in his writings, publishing more t ...
's utopian project. While lukewarm on industrial projects of both American private capitalist and Soviet state capitalist societies, they criticize Fuller's focus on technology. Lastly, the authors overview humane combinations of rural and urban life (i.e., integrated plans) such as Borsodian homesteads,
kibbutzim A kibbutz ( he, קִבּוּץ / , lit. "gathering, clustering"; plural: kibbutzim / ) is an intentional community in Israel that was traditionally based on agriculture. The first kibbutz, established in 1909, was Degania. Today, farming ha ...
,
progressive school Progressive education, or protractivism, is a pedagogical movement that began in the late 19th century and has persisted in various forms to the present. In Europe, progressive education took the form of the New Education Movement. The term ''pro ...
s, the
Tennessee Valley Authority The Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) is a federally owned electric utility corporation in the United States. TVA's service area covers all of Tennessee, portions of Alabama, Mississippi, and Kentucky, and small areas of Georgia, North Carolina ...
, and works of
Frank Lloyd Wright Frank Lloyd Wright (June 8, 1867 – April 9, 1959) was an American architect, designer, writer, and educator. He designed more than 1,000 structures over a creative period of 70 years. Wright played a key role in the architectural movements o ...
. They also write on the integration of work and life, agriculture and manufacturing, and communal and regional development. While the authors lament a perceived loss of collective American spirit, they compare communal experiments to the artistic vanguards in that many are unsuccessful but influential in pollinating subsequent efforts. The Goodmans advocate for
city square A town square (or square, plaza, public square, city square, urban square, or ''piazza'') is an open public space, commonly found in the heart of a traditional town but not necessarily a true geometric square, used for community gatherings. ...
s designed to support rich human interactions. They criticize American obsession with large, industrial buildings and, in the International Style of
Le Corbusier Charles-Édouard Jeanneret (6 October 188727 August 1965), known as Le Corbusier ( , , ), was a Swiss-French architect, designer, painter, urban planner, writer, and one of the pioneers of what is now regarded as modern architecture. He was ...
, a lack of humane aesthetic. The second half of ''Communitas'' presents three of the Goodmans' own community paradigms. Each represents a specific set of socioeconomic values expressed through its community's design. None are meant to be complete, mutually exclusive plans, but rather experimental alternatives upon which a community could deliberate. The Goodmans follow a planning philosophy they call "neofunctionalism". Whereas functionalism provides the appropriate architecture to achieve a specific purpose, the Goodmans' neofunctionalism critically assesses what way of life the plan supports; for example, the extent to which the plan's resulting standard of living contributes to its inhabitants' life satisfaction. Their three plans suggest potential for societal reorganization rather than just amelioration of social conditions. "The City of Efficient Consumption", their first program, imagines the city as a
department store A department store is a retail establishment offering a wide range of consumer goods in different areas of the store, each area ("department") specializing in a product category. In modern major cities, the department store made a dramatic app ...
as a satire for the contemporary American
consumer society Consumerism is a social and economic order that encourages the acquisition of goods and services in ever-increasing amounts. With the Industrial Revolution, but particularly in the 20th century, mass production led to overproduction—the supp ...
. Made to minimize barriers to buying and selling, the program's society and politics are made to mimic the frenetic culture of
advertising Advertising is the practice and techniques employed to bring attention to a product or service. Advertising aims to put a product or service in the spotlight in hopes of drawing it attention from consumers. It is typically used to promote a ...
. The compulsive consumption program ends with a ritual potlatch festival to clear out old goods and begin another consumption cycle. The second program, "The New Commune", is an integrated community with libertarian (anarchist) values of liberating work, industrial democracy, and aesthetics. In these self-sufficient integrated communities, expert workers collectively drive industry and redesign both work and domestic life with psychological, moral, and technical considerations. The communities co-exist in a decentralized federalism. “The Standard of Minimum Subsistence”, the third program, is a dual economy in which a
subsistence economy A subsistence economy is an economy directed to basic subsistence (the provision of food, clothing, shelter) rather than to the market. Henceforth, "subsistence" is understood as supporting oneself at a minimum level. Often, the subsistence econo ...
provides for a minimum standard of
basic needs The basic needs approach is one of the major approaches to the measurement of absolute poverty in developing countries globally. It works to define the absolute minimum resources necessary for long-term physical well-being, usually in terms of c ...
(food, housing, services, worthwhile work) for all, within a larger, affluent,
market economy A market economy is an economic system in which the decisions regarding investment, production and distribution to the consumers are guided by the price signals created by the forces of supply and demand, where all suppliers and consumers ...
in which private enterprise provides luxuries and productive/consumptive activity. Figuring that these basic needs could be freely provided for the nation with only a fraction of its total economic output, the Goodmans propose a tithe in which citizens each serve the subsistence economy for seven years in exchange for lifelong subsistence and economic freedom. They also briefly mention a fourth approach to the surplus economy: endless war production—the likely scenario in which the economy continues to expand for its own sake. Appendices include shorter works by the authors, including a republication of “Master Plan for New York” (first published in ''
The New Republic ''The New Republic'' is an American magazine of commentary on politics, contemporary culture, and the arts. Founded in 1914 by several leaders of the progressive movement, it attempted to find a balance between "a liberalism centered in hum ...
''), a plan for a blighted New York area (from ''
Architectural Forum ''Architectural Forum'' was an American magazine that covered the homebuilding industry and architecture. Started in Boston, Massachusetts, in 1892 as ''The Brickbuilder'', it absorbed the magazine ''Architect's World'' in October 1938. Ownership ...
''), and two other articles about New York urban planning.


Publication

The brothers
Percival Percival (, also spelled Perceval, Parzival), alternatively called Peredur (), was one of King Arthur's legendary Knights of the Round Table. First mentioned by the French author Chrétien de Troyes in the tale ''Perceval, the Story of the G ...
(Percy) and
Paul Goodman Paul Goodman (1911–1972) was an American writer and public intellectual best known for his 1960s works of social criticism. Goodman was prolific across numerous literary genres and non-fiction topics, including the arts, civil rights, decen ...
, an architect and a humanist, respectively, co-authored ''Communitas''. The idea developed from Percy's exhibition concept for a "city of tomorrow", which he had unsuccessfully proposed for
Otis Elevator Otis Worldwide Corporation ( branded as the Otis Elevator Company, its former legal name) is an American company that develops, manufactures and markets elevators, escalators, moving walkways, and related equipment. Based in Farmington, Connec ...
at the
1939 World's Fair The 1939–40 New York World's Fair was a world's fair held at Flushing Meadows–Corona Park in Queens, New York, United States. It was the second-most expensive American world's fair of all time, exceeded only by St. Louis's Louisiana Purcha ...
. As was customary for Paul's collaboration style, he rewrote the concept as a satirical pastiche of
consumerism Consumerism is a social and economic order that encourages the acquisition of goods and services in ever-increasing amounts. With the Industrial Revolution, but particularly in the 20th century, mass production led to overproduction—the supp ...
. Secure in his own career and proud of his brother's analytic imagination, Percy did not take offense and the pair worked together without rivalry. Paul wrote the book in his theoretical style, suggestive and practical in tone rather than definitive or normative. Percy provided the book's illustrations. ''Communitas'' was first written in the early 1940s, and edited in 1946 for publication the next year. The
University of Chicago Press The University of Chicago Press is the largest and one of the oldest university presses in the United States. It is operated by the University of Chicago and publishes a wide variety of academic titles, including ''The Chicago Manual of Style'', ...
published 2,000 cloth cover copies on April 21, 1947.
Vintage Books Vintage Books is a trade paperback publishing imprint of Penguin Random House originally established by Alfred A. Knopf in 1954. The company was purchased by Random House in April 1960, and a British division was set up in 1990. After Random Hous ...
(a
Random House Random House is an American book publisher and the largest general-interest paperback publisher in the world. The company has several independently managed subsidiaries around the world. It is part of Penguin Random House, which is owned by Germ ...
imprint) released a revised second edition in August 1960 alongside Paul Goodman's landmark ''
Growing Up Absurd ''Growing Up Absurd'' is a 1960 book by Paul Goodman on the relationship between American juvenile delinquency and societal opportunities to fulfill human nature, natural needs. Contrary to the then-popular view that juvenile delinquents shoul ...
''. The revised ''Communitas'' rearranges the book's contents and tightens some passages, including the conclusion. The Goodmans added some examples (such as a Chinese commune and
Black Mountain College Black Mountain College was a private liberal arts college in Black Mountain, North Carolina. It was founded in 1933 by John Andrew Rice, Theodore Dreier, and several others. The college was ideologically organized around John Dewey's educational ...
) and updated others (e.g., highway materials). Though the revised edition puts more emphasis on the role of "affluence", the book remained mostly the same. Altogether, Vintage printed 117,000 paperback copies between 1960 and 1974. ''Communitas'' received translations into Spanish (1964), Japanese (late 1960s), and Italian (1970).


Reception

For a book that would become well-known, ''Communitas'' generally did not generate much published commentary. Among the main critiques was sociologist
David Riesman David Riesman (September 22, 1909 – May 10, 2002) was an American sociologist, educator, and best-selling commentator on American society. Career Born to a wealthy German Jewish family, he attended Harvard College, where he graduated in 1931 ...
, who later wrote ''
The Lonely Crowd ''The Lonely Crowd'' is a 1950 sociological analysis by David Riesman, Nathan Glazer, and Reuel Denney. Together with '' White Collar: The American Middle Classes'' (1951), written by Riesman's friend and colleague, C. Wright Mills, it is considere ...
''. The sociologist notes issues with the Goodmans' sparse treatment of history and comments on the book's intellectual forebears, with a particular focus on its dependence on scholar of cities
Lewis Mumford Lewis Mumford (October 19, 1895 – January 26, 1990) was an American historian, sociologist, philosopher of technology, and literary critic. Particularly noted for his study of cities and urban architecture, he had a broad career as a wr ...
and perceived unfairness towards
garden city movement The garden city movement was a 20th century urban planning movement promoting satellite communities surrounding the central city and separated with greenbelts. These Garden Cities would contain proportionate areas of residences, industry, and ...
founder
Ebenezer Howard Sir Ebenezer Howard (29 January 1850 – 1 May 1928) was an English urban planner and founder of the garden city movement, known for his publication '' To-Morrow: A Peaceful Path to Real Reform'' (1898), the description of a utopian city in whi ...
. ''Communitas'' was markedly unlike most other books on physical city planning. Reviewers described its style and unorthodox proposals as brave, daring, startling, and provocative. Mumford described the brothers as bringing a "fresh method ... which has as yet few exponents", existing in its own class as a wholly original approach to city planning between its wit, provocations, and emphasis on the moral underpinnings for planning. Throughout ''Communitas'', historians Theodore Roszak and Talbot Hamlin saw the spirit of artistry, from the wit and bite of the authors' words to its interwoven illustrations, as city planning from the perspective of a novelist. From page to page, housing expert
Charles Abrams Charles Abrams (September 20, 1901 – February 22, 1970) was a Polish-born American lawyer, writer, urbanist, and housing expert who created the New York City Housing and Development Administration in the 1960s. He was one of the first to use the ...
found himself manically oscillating between agreement and disgust. The oblong book itself is also unordinary in presentation. Reviewers variously found Percival's illustrations to be an attractive supplement, part blueprint, comic strip, and William Blake, or as one reviewer put it, "bizarrely unrelated". "Frankly", wrote ''
The Nation ''The Nation'' is an American liberal biweekly magazine that covers political and cultural news, opinion, and analysis. It was founded on July 6, 1865, as a successor to William Lloyd Garrison's '' The Liberator'', an abolitionist newspaper tha ...
'' reviewer, "the book is a circus." Others commented on the book's unclear language and jargon. Whereas ''Communitas'' sought to integrate social and planning perspectives, housing expert Charles Abrams and the American Society of Planning Officials newsletter instead saw the Goodmans as haphazardly mixing their disciplines. Reviewers mentioned jargon-laden, rambling, unclear writing with heavy, "closed-packed" sentences. Though writer and intellectual
Dwight Macdonald Dwight Macdonald (March 24, 1906 – December 19, 1982) was an American writer, editor, film critic, social critic, literary critic, philosopher, and activist. Macdonald was a member of the New York Intellectuals and editor of their leftist maga ...
admired ''Communitas'', he criticized Goodman's prose for being “fuzzy” in a manner unlike the author's thoughts. To Abrams, the authors wrote with high disdain for their readers. Throughout ''Communitas'', the authors, as New Yorkers, are dismissive of cultures unlike the megacity's, potentially conflating historical precedent with the natural effects of environmental design.


Legacy

Following the resurgence of interest in Paul Goodman's works late in his life, ''Communitas'' became known as a major work of urban planning, sometimes considered Goodman's masterpiece. After becoming an influential essay in the 1960s, it remained regarded as a classic text of city planning into the 21st century. Three decades from its publication, despite some details growing outdated, literary critic Kingsley Widmer considered the book's "imaginative sociology" approach to utopian social thinking and urban planning—combining real social problems with speculative moral philosophy—to have continued relevance. Widmer likened ''Communitas'' to "libertarian footnotes on
Plato Plato ( ; grc-gre, Πλάτων ; 428/427 or 424/423 – 348/347 BC) was a Greek philosopher born in Athens during the Classical period in Ancient Greece. He founded the Platonist school of thought and the Academy, the first institution ...
's ''
Republic A republic () is a "state in which power rests with the people or their representatives; specifically a state without a monarchy" and also a "government, or system of government, of such a state." Previously, especially in the 17th and 18th c ...
''" and considered it Paul Goodman's best book, worthy of inclusion in a compilation of Goodman's best works. The book was among the foremost influences of American historian
Gar Alperovitz Gar Alperovitz (born May 5, 1936) is an American historian and political economist. Alperovitz served as a fellow of King's College, Cambridge; a founding fellow of the Harvard Institute of Politics; a founding Fellow at the Institute for Policy ...
and was British anarchist
Colin Ward Colin Ward (14 August 1924 – 11 February 2010)
's favorite work from Goodman's oeuvre. The "communitas" concept in
Victor Turner Victor Witter Turner (28 May 1920 – 18 December 1983) was a British cultural anthropologist best known for his work on symbols, rituals, and rites of passage. His work, along with that of Clifford Geertz and others, is often referred to as ...
's anthropology of ritual borrowed from the Goodmans, as did some communal experiments of the 1960s, including progressive schools,
free universities A free university is an organization offering uncredited, public classes without restrictions to who can teach or learn. They differ in structure. In 1980 in the United States, about half were associated with a traditional university, about a ...
, and living–working communes. Gate Hill Cooperative, an intentional community in
upstate New York Upstate New York is a geographic region consisting of the area of New York State that lies north and northwest of the New York City metropolitan area. Although the precise boundary is debated, Upstate New York excludes New York City and Long Is ...
, was influenced by the Goodmans' ''Communitas''. Percival Goodman, who became an architect of some renown, later released ''The Double E'' (1977) as a sequel to ''Communitas'', following his brother's death.


Notes


References

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Further reading

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External links

* * {{Portal bar, Architecture, Books 1947 non-fiction books Books by Paul Goodman University of Chicago Press books Books about urbanism Architecture books Urban planning in the United States American non-fiction books English-language books