Cities and World Fairs: From “A Stone in a Pond” to “A Meteorite from Another World”

Authors

  • Clovis Ultramari PUCPR
  • Gisela Solheid Meister PUCPR UTP

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.4013/arq.2018.142.09

Abstract

This paper discusses the understanding revealed by the media about five World Fairs held in the United States: Centennial Exposition, Philadelphia, 1876; World’s Columbian, Chicago, 1893; Pan American Exposition, Buffalo, 1901; Louisiana Purchase Exposition, St. Louis, 1904; and Panama-Pacific International Expo, San Francisco, 1915. The main source of data for the case study is the Chronicling America Project, with two thousand newspapers online. The objective of this article is to compare reactions to these events in their contemporary societies and identify possible distinctions and convergences when compared to ours. Its conclusions reveal an intriguing and ubiquitous apology for these events and the dormancy of controversies they may have generated: The hypothesis that current criticism would be similar in content, form and volume to the analyzed period (1876-1915) was thus not confirmed. The theoretical reference permeates the text and prioritizes distinctions between the perception of the five selected fairs at the time they were held and those more commonly found nowadays concerning large urban events.

Keywords: great exhibitions, city marketing, epistemology of urban studies.

Author Biographies

Clovis Ultramari, PUCPR

Arquiteto e Urbanista pela UFPR

Doutor em Arquitetura e Urbanismo

Professor no Doutorado em Gestão Urbana - PUCPR

 

 

Gisela Solheid Meister, PUCPR UTP

Designer Gráfico pela UFPR

Mestre em Comunicação e Linguagens pela UTP

Doutoranda em Gestão Urbana pela PUCPR

Professora na UTP

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Published

2018-12-30

How to Cite

Ultramari, C., & Meister, G. S. (2018). Cities and World Fairs: From “A Stone in a Pond” to “A Meteorite from Another World”. Arquitetura Revista, 14(2), 204–220. https://doi.org/10.4013/arq.2018.142.09

Issue

Vol. 14 No. 2 (2018): Jul-Dec

Section

Articles

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