ABSTRACT
There is an enormous need, a crying need, in our cities for new life, new structure, new institutions, new ways of doing things. There is a great tide running in America now. It can be seen in the Committee for Economic Development report on public-private partnerships, in the President's Task Force on Private-Sector Initiatives, and in meetings like the Cities' Congress on Roads to Recovery. The deterioration of the American city did not just happen. There were forces at work which we did not see at the time, but we could have. Environmental requirements have made it more difficult and more costly for developers in the suburbs. They must obey new disciplines and new constraints. At the same time, the force of historic preservation has made us appreciate the value of the existing housing inventory; has preserved for rehabilitation housing that in earlier years would have been demolished.
