This chapter sets the stage for a discussion of architectural trends and ideas about urban-

ism at the turn of the century with a look at the Chicago Columbian Exposition of 1893-an

event that symbolizes the mounting dominance of the United States in global politics,

economics, and cultural production. The chapter ends in New York City, which had shaped

itself as the capital of the new world-the whole world-and where the “organic” architec-

tural expression of global capitalism had overshadowed the “classicist” White City. While

many professional designers in many parts of the world shared a common core curriculum

of ideas current in Paris, others tackled new technological means, often ignorant of the

academic conventions and frequently in defiance of their authority, to build in alternative

directions. The tension between the past and the future at the turn of the century in New

York, Chicago, Buenos Aires, Santiago, Sao Paulo, and other capitals of wealth and pro-

gress during a period of economic growth in the Americas helped re-center the professional

debates about design from Europe to the New World. By 1900 transportation infrastructure

formed the primary armature for industrialization and urban growth in the Americas. Pop-

ulation surges-mostly through immigration-created opportunities for economic growth

but produced crowded and dangerous conditions for the urban working class.