The Curious Case of Marktown: A Conservative Perspective on Urban Planning

Imagine a town where the streets are narrow, the houses are identical, and the entire place feels like a relic from a bygone era. Welcome to Marktown, a peculiar neighborhood in East Chicago, Indiana, designed by architect Howard Van Doren Shaw in 1917. Originally built to house workers for the Mark Manufacturing Company, Marktown stands as a testament to early 20th-century industrial planning. But why should we care about this quaint little area today? Because it serves as a perfect example of what happens when government and industry try to play God with urban planning.

Marktown was conceived as a utopian community, a place where workers could live, work, and play in harmony. The idea was to create a self-sufficient neighborhood that would foster a sense of community and well-being. Sounds great, right? But here's the catch: when you try to engineer society from the top down, you often end up with a mess. The streets are so narrow that cars have to park on the sidewalks, and the uniformity of the houses makes the place feel more like a prison than a paradise. It's a classic case of good intentions gone awry.

Now, let's talk about the architectural style. Marktown is designed in the English Garden City style, which was all the rage in the early 1900s. The problem? This style might look charming in a quaint English village, but it doesn't translate well to the industrial heartland of America. The houses are small, the streets are cramped, and there's little room for modern amenities. It's as if the planners forgot that people actually have to live there. This is what happens when you prioritize aesthetics over practicality.

And let's not forget the economic implications. Marktown was built to serve a specific industry, and when that industry declined, so did the neighborhood. This is a cautionary tale for those who think that government and industry can predict the future. When you tie a community's fate to a single economic entity, you're setting it up for failure. Marktown is a ghost town in the making, a victim of its own shortsighted planning.

But perhaps the most glaring issue is the lack of individualism. In Marktown, every house looks the same, every street is a carbon copy of the next. There's no room for personal expression, no opportunity for residents to make their mark. This is what happens when you try to impose a one-size-fits-all solution on a diverse population. People are not cogs in a machine; they need the freedom to express themselves and shape their own environments.

So, what can we learn from Marktown? First, that top-down planning rarely works. When you try to engineer society, you often end up with unintended consequences. Second, that tying a community's fate to a single industry is a recipe for disaster. And third, that individualism matters. People need the freedom to express themselves and shape their own environments. Marktown is a cautionary tale, a reminder that good intentions are not enough.

In the end, Marktown is a fascinating case study in what not to do. It's a reminder that when you try to play God with urban planning, you often end up with a mess. So let's take a lesson from Marktown and remember that the best communities are those that grow organically, not those that are engineered from the top down.