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Tangential to this piece, but a critical context, was the USA's mobilization for WWI around 1917 - a time of explosive growth for industrial production and the overnight creation of many centralized Federal functions for the planning of new towns, infrastructure, etc. in support of the war effort. The 'burbs may have been built post WWII, but they were conceived thirty years prior by outfits like the Emergency Fleet Corporation and US Housing Corporation of WWI.

And Kahn was right there too: it was he who designed the USA's first military air bases for the US Army Signal Corp, a string of four in the hinterlands around Chicago. ]]> http://places.designobserver.com/feature/albert-kahn-diego-rivera-edsel-ford-in-detroit/33018/#comments 2012-04-16T13:01:46-05:00 http://places.designobserver.com/feature/albert-kahn-diego-rivera-edsel-ford-in-detroit/33018/#comments 2012-04-12T17:59:46-05:00