The Neighborhood Ideal: Local Planning Practices in Progressive-era Women's Clubs

Abstract

In the years between 1883 and 1914, women of the Wednesday Club of St. Louis and the Chicago Woman's Club embarked on a series of neighborhood planning initiatives. Their initiatives encouraged the formation of cross-class coalitions of residents, reformers, and city officials; the cultivation of neighborhood identity; and the formation of democratic public spaces. Club women's vision of the city as a conglomeration of smaller neighborhood units challenged the dominant practices of urban development and contributed to citywide debates over urban planning. By identifying the voice of women's collective activism in discussions of municipal responsibility, citizenship, and urban design, this article provides insight into women's local planning efforts and their relationship to urban development.