User:Chi-Yu Chuan/Robert Goodman

Robert Goodman is a Professor Emeritus of Architecture in Hampshire College who has spent a majority of his life dedicated towards community design. He has also taught in Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), the University of Massachusetts, and the Columbia University Graduate School of Architecture Planning. He had published three books and many articles about his perspectives on many issues that were created by the city, or state planning. Robert Goodman was an important pusher towards many large public housing, and housing redevelopment projects.

Early career

In around 1970, Robert was working with many different communities, and low-income groups to help them fight against the impact of urban renewal, highway invasions, and housing demolitions. He pointed out the architecture, and planning during that time frame has problems that are making communities more segregated.

In the first book he wrote, After the Planners, the book talks about how highways are separating the communities, and making different social groups more distant from each other. He also pointed out the purpose of the Urban Renewal Movement was not helping the communities to build a healthier community. A response to the crisis, many people were packed in the park area to reduce the crowdedness in the cities. Many large public housing, and redevelopment projects which represent a barrier between neighborhoods, thus resulting in a more isolated community. Robert criticises the conventional planning at that time as “a mask of rationality, efficiency, and science.” Participatory programs are designed to help and retain those masks by allowing the poor communities to administer their own state of dependency.

Later work

In recent years, while Robert is teaching in Hampshire College on architecture, arts, and cultural study related subjects, he has also been urging the Massachusetts gaming regulators to pause the works on licensing casinos due to the lack of research.

In December 17, 2013 he attended an interview on Difficult Dialogues with Lynn Pasquerella the president of Mount Holyoke College, and Karen Jacobus the coordinator of health education at  Mount Holyoke College. He brought up many valuable points on why Massachusetts should pause the legalization of casinos until further research has been conducted. He pointed out there is already the existence of Las Vegas, it will be much harder for the state of  Massachusett to develop towards tourist attractions. It has a high potential, and symptoms to make Massachusetts casinos business plans targets more towards the local people. They are afraid that the casino might have a negative impact on their local residents' well being. In one of the books he wrote, The Luck Business, talks about his perspective on this situation.

After all, what he and the community was asking for was “why other states can have biotech, or computer science as a state development for better alternative economic development, but they have to rely on industries that have the potential to damage the local people's well being?” Robert Goodman has been fighting for a better community till his later time.

Published books

Each book he wrote, he wrote about his experiences after working with several communities, and often includes many of his perspectives on the issue. After the Planners was published in 1971 (The right one of the picture). The Last Entrepreneurs/ America's Regional Wars for Jobs and Dollars was publish in 1979 (The middle one of the picture). The Luck Business which is the most recent one was published 1995 (The one on the left of the picture).

References

• Alperovitz, Gar (February 6, 1972). "A 9-Cent Radio and Guerrilla Architecture". The New York Times.
• Difficult Dialogues (2013). "Difficult Dialogues: Robert Goodman & Karen Jacobus". Youtube.
• Ring, Dan (July 17, 2012). "Hampshire College Professor Asks Massachusetts Gaming Officials to Halt Process for Licensing Casinos". MassLive.