Christopher Klemek

Christopher Klemek traces the political and intellectual shifts affecting urban policy over the second half of the 20th century. He is currently completing his first book, which compares the fate of older industrial cities in Europe and North America, including Berlin, London, Toronto, Boston, New York, and Philadelphia. He has been named a Visiting Scholar at the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, as well as a Schwartz Fellow at the New-York Historical Society. Professor Klemek also takes an active interest in public history. In 2007, he co-curated a New York Municipal Art Society exhibition on Jane Jacobs, sponsored by the Rockefeller Foundation. In 1997, he co-founded Poor Richard's Walking Tours, a Philadelphia-based public history enterprise, and has since been featured as a guide to cities on radio, television, and in print media. (Complete C.V.)

Selected Publications

Urbanism as Reform: Modernist Planning and the Crisis of Urban Liberalism in Europe and North America, 1945-1975. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, forthcoming.

"The Rise and Fall of New Left Urbanism." Daedalus: Journal of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences 138, no. 2 (Spring 2009): 73-82.

"From Political Outsider to Power Broker in two 'Great American Cities': Jane Jacobs and the Fall of Urban Renewal Order in New York and Toronto." Journal of Urban History 34, no. 2 (2008; special issue on "Politics and the American City, 1940-1990"): 309-332.

"Jane Jacobs and the Future of New York." In Block by Block: Jane Jacobs and the Future of New York, ed. Timothy Mennel, Jo Steffens, and Christopher Klemek, 7-11. New York: Princeton Architectural Press, 2007.

"Bacon's Rebellion: Philadelphia's Master Planner as False Prophet." Context: Journal of the AIA Philadelphia 1, no. 1 (Spring 2007): 34-40.

"Jane Jacobs' Urban Village: Well Preserved or Cast Adrift?" Journal of the Society of Architectural Historians 66, no. 1 (March 2007): 20-23.

"Placing Jane Jacobs within the Transatlantic Urban Conversation." Journal of the American Planning Association 73, no. 1 (Winter 2007): 49-67.

"Always a Divided City? Segregation, Fragmentation, and 'the Problem of the Color-Line' in Twentieth Century Urban History." Archiv für Sozialgeschichte 46 (2006; special issue on "Integration und Fragmentierung in der europäischen Stadt"): 557-564.

"Mall Meets Maker: Suburban Developer as Failed Reformer." Journal of Planning History 4, no. 3 (2005): 268-279.

Courses Taught

Hist 72: Introduction to American History from 1865
Hist 186: US Urban History
Hist 101: Comparative Urban History: 20th Century
Hist 198: Readings for the Major
Hist 199W: Undergraduate Thesis Seminar
Hist 297: Urban History

Education

Ph.D., University of Pennsylvania, 2004.