Owen Gutfreund
Affiliation
Research
Owen D. Gutfreund teaches history and urban studies at Barnard College, and is Director of the joint Barnard-Columbia undergrduate Urban Studies Program. His specialty is urban history in the United States, as well as from a global perspective. His most recent book, 20th Century Sprawl: Cities, Highways, and the Decentralization of the United States (Oxford University Press, 2004), explains and describes the overhaul of the U.S. over the last century, as government highway-building programs have encouraged automobile use and guided the citizenry towards the undeveloped countryside, away from crowded and congested urban areas, with devastating consequences for American cities.
Professor Gutfreund is currently working on Cities Take Flight: Airports, Aviation, and Modern American Urbanism, a book about the impact of airports and air travel on American cities and towns. He is also currently an Associate Editor for the 2nd Edition of the Encyclopedia of New York City. Professor Gutfreund was formerly a Vice President at the investment banking firm Lazard Freres & Company, where he worked in public finance, assisting states, cities, and public benefit corporations in raising funds for a wide range of purposes. He is active in civic affairs, serving as Chair of the New York Council for the Humanities, Vice-Chair of Blythedale Children's Hospital, and as a founding member of the Board of The Skyscraper Museum.
Selected Work
- 20th Century Sprawl: Cities, Highways, and the Decentralization of the United States Oxford University Press, forthcoming
- "The Path of Prosperity: New York City's East River Drive, 1922-1990" Journal of Urban History, Volume 21, Number 2, January 1995
- "L'envahissment Des Campagnes par les Villes: L'Expansion Metropolitaine aux Etats Unis" in La Ville Insoutenable, edited by A. berque, P. Bonnin, and C. Gobin (Paris: Belin, 2005)
- "Rebuilding New York in the Auto Age: Robert Moses and His Highways" in Robert Moses and the Modern City, edited by Kenneth T. Jackson and Hilary Ballon (W.W. Norton & Co., forthcoming)
- "Strangled: New York City Traffic Conditions in the 1920s" Seaport: New York City's History Magazine, Volume 24, Number 2, Fall 1990
See Also
- Featured publication: Twentieth-Century Sprawl: Highways and the Reshaping of the American Landscape
