From Warfare to Welfare: Defense Intellectuals and Urban Problems in Cold War America

During the early decades of the cold war, large-scale investments in American defense and aerospace research and development spawned a variety of problem-solving techniques, technologies, and institutions. From systems analysis to reconnaissance satellites to think tanks, these innovations did not remain exclusive accessories of the defense establishment. Instead, they readily found civilian applications in both the private and public sector. City planning and management were no exception. Jennifer Light argues that the technologies and values of the cold war fundamentally shaped the history of postwar urban America."