Taubman College Professor Robert Fishman addresses constructing a new middle class at Bauhaus
Robert Fishman, Professor of Architecture and Urban Planning, lectured at Bauhaus Academy in Germany on the topic of “Levittown: constructing a new middle class” on October 26, 2011. “Levittown gets its name from its builder, the firm of Levitt & Sons, Inc. founded by William Levitt, who built the district as a planned community between 1947 and 1951. William Levitt is considered the father of modern suburbia. Levittown was the first truly mass-produced suburb and is widely regarded as the archetype for postwar suburbs throughout the country.”
Fishman is an internationally recognized expert in the areas of urban history, policy and planning, he has authored several books regarded as seminal texts on the history of cities and suburbs including Bourgeois Utopias: The Rise and Fall of Suburbia (1987) and Urban Utopias in the Twentieth Century: Ebenezer Howard, Frank Lloyd Wright, and Le Corbusier (1977). His honors include the 2009 Laurence Gerckens Prize for lifetime achievement of the Society for City and Regional Planning History; the Walker Ames Lectureship, the University of Washington, Seattle, 2010; the Emil Lorch Professorship at the Taubman College, 2006-2009; Public Policy Scholar, the Wilson Center, Washington, D.C., 1999; the Cass Gilbert Professorship at the University of Minnesota, 1998; and visiting professorships at the University of Paris, Nanterre; the University of Pennsylvania; and Columbia University. Recent presentations and publications include “After Sprawl: the financial crisis and the fall of the suburban growth machine,” (Association of Collegiate Schools of Planning Conference, 2010), and “Rethinking Public Housing,” Places (2005).
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