Oakland, the Story of a City by Beth Bagwell

The East Bay city appeared to have several advantages such as a larger and flatter surface area for development, lower land costs, a balmier climate, and proximity to the rail and vehicular corridors linking California to the rest of the nation. Oakland had long competed with San Francisco for regional dominance. In a leap beyond the civic buildings and beautifications undertaken by prior city administrations, 1 the ORA strove to address the market failure corroding downtown by retooling the district as competitive commercial node benefiting from its central position within the region’s evolving transit network: several completed and planned freeways as well as the anticipated Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) system. Coordinated by the recently created Oakland Redevelopment Agency (ORA), City Center aimed to replace the deteriorating, fine-grain built fabric near the city’s core-Fourteenth Street and Broadway-with a modernistic superblock development composed of glass office towers, an enclosed shopping mall, and a high-end hotel linked to a convention center. All subjects Allied Health Cardiology & Cardiovascular Medicine Dentistry Emergency Medicine & Critical Care Endocrinology & Metabolism Environmental Science General Medicine Geriatrics Infectious Diseases Medico-legal Neurology Nursing Nutrition Obstetrics & Gynecology Oncology Orthopaedics & Sports Medicine Otolaryngology Palliative Medicine & Chronic Care Pediatrics Pharmacology & Toxicology Psychiatry & Psychology Public Health Pulmonary & Respiratory Medicine Radiology Research Methods & Evaluation Rheumatology Surgery Tropical Medicine Veterinary Medicine Cell Biology Clinical Biochemistry Environmental Science Life Sciences Neuroscience Pharmacology & Toxicology Biomedical Engineering Engineering & Computing Environmental Engineering Materials Science Anthropology & Archaeology Communication & Media Studies Criminology & Criminal Justice Cultural Studies Economics & Development Education Environmental Studies Ethnic Studies Family Studies Gender Studies Geography Gerontology & Aging Group Studies History Information Science Interpersonal Violence Language & Linguistics Law Management & Organization Studies Marketing & Hospitality Music Peace Studies & Conflict Resolution Philosophy Politics & International Relations Psychoanalysis Psychology & Counseling Public Administration Regional Studies Religion Research Methods & Evaluation Science & Society Studies Social Work & Social Policy Sociology Special Education Urban Studies & Planning BROWSE JOURNALSįrom the early 1960s through the early 1980s, a time of stagnation downtown, Oakland’s revitalization was premised on a massive urban redevelopment project, City Center, intent on capturing the kinds of businesses and attractions that were either relocating to the suburbs or making San Francisco their sole inner Bay Area destination.

Oakland, the Story of a City by Beth Bagwell