Bulldozer: Demolition and Clearance of the Postwar Landscape

In her recounting of mid-century suburban expansion, highway building, and urban renewal, cultural historian Francesca Ammon uses the iconic image of the bulldozer to explore how postwar America came to equate destruction with progress.

Transformed from a wartime weapon into an instrument of postwar planning, the bulldozer helped realize a landscape-altering “culture of clearance” and ushered in one of the most significant transformations of American land and life.

As communities across Minnesota and the nation debate how to repair the worst of this legacy, Ammon’s insights provide a cautionary tale and hope for the future.

Francesca Russello Ammon is an associate professor of city & regional planning and historic preservation in the Stuart Weitzman School of Design at the University of Pennsylvania.

Attendees can choose to attend this program in-person at the Minnesota History Center or virtually via Zoom.

10 AM IN-PERSON TICKETS

10 AM VIRTUAL TICKETS

Please note: This program is also offered at 2 pm

See the full History Forum lecture series.

FULL SERIES IN-PERSON TICKETS

FULL SERIES VIRTUAL TICKETS

This series is made possible in part by the Charles A. Lindbergh Fund and the Maurice Stans Fund.