从“失败论”到“迷思说”:美国公共住房研究叙事模式的演变

The Evolution of the Narrative Pattern of the American Public Housing Study:From 'Failure Theory' to 'Myth Theory'

20世纪60年代兴起的美国城市史学,对公共住房研究尤为关注。至今,该研究领域的叙事模式经历了三次重要的变化。首先是六七十年代基于高层公共住房衰败个案的研究,形成了"高层公共住房失败论";80年代,这一否定性叙事扩展至对公共住房政策的整体叙事上,出现了"公共住房彻底失败论";2000年以来,"公共住房迷思说"问世,认为之前研究过于偏重衰败个案,两度"失败论"不足以涵盖公共住房政策发展的历史全貌。从"失败论"到"迷思说"的演变过程,说明美国城市史学界的公共住房研究逐步走出偏重个案研究导致的"以偏概全"误区,开创了个案研究与总体史研究互补的新局面。这对美国乃至世界各国城市住房保障理论与制度创新兼具学理与现实意义。

The public housing has particularly attracted attentions since the emergence of the study of the American urban history in the 1960s.The narrative pattern of the research went through three major transitions thereafter.In the 1960s-70s,the study on failure cases formed on the basis of‘doomed failure theory of high-rise public housing’.In the 1980s,this negative narrative spread to the whole research field of public housing policies,which accordingly lead to the appearance of‘complete failure theory of public housing’.Many scholars proposed the‘myth theory of public housing’since 2000 and argued that the previous studies excessively focused on the failure cases and the two failure theories cannot cover the overall development of public housing policies.The transition indicates that the study of American urban history has gradually broken away from the misconception of overgeneralization caused by the particular stress on the case study and started a new phase by combining the case study with the study of total history.This has academic and practical significance for the theoretical and institutional innovation of the urban housing security worldwide.