Description

In the aftermath of World War II, the global housing crisis was immense and seemingly insurmountable: whether in the developed or developing world, decent shelter was in scarce supply, savings limited, and development funds in hot demand. Americans understood well the danger of slum proliferation, and acted promptly in key hot spots. Specifically, the International Housing Service within the Housing and Home Finance Agency targeted Taiwan and South Korea as the two most urgent sites for experimentation beginning in 1948 and 1953, respectively; technical assistance programs, mortgage guarantees, and support for new savings and loan institutions could potentially instill capitalist values of self-help while making good use of short-term foreign and local government aid. Results did not match expectations, however, as Taiwanese and Korean housing programs became increasingly dependent on state aid. This paper explores some of the causes and consequences of “bootstraps capitalism” in American overseas housing aid programs.

Nancy Kwak is interested in the evolution of cities and urban spaces in the twentieth century, with a particular focus on the role of planners, architects, and policymakers in reshaping neighborhoods and communities. While trained specifically in US urban history, Prof. Kwak currently pursues transnational, international, and comparative approaches to American urban history; in her current manuscript, Homeownership for All: American power and the politics of housing aid post-1945, she examines the impact of traveling American experts and advisers on housing policies in the developing world after 1945. Prof. Kwak has published various articles and coauthored a special edition of the Journal of Urban History on public housing in the Americas.