Nashville's future is being built on its history.
Last night in "A Tale of Four Cities," a Chancellor's Lecture Series event, Kenneth Jackson discussed the necessity of understanding the history of American cities, and, more specifically, an individual's city of residence.
"If you don't understand the past you can't make intelligent comments about the present or the future," Jackson said. "The future of the United States is in the inner city, (and) I think Nashville is building on its past."
Jackson, a widely published author and professor of history and sociology at Columbia University, delivered the keynote address Thursday night for the Southeastern Society for Historical Architecture's annual conference, which is being held this year in Nashville.
The event welcomed more than 100 members of the SSHA as well as the general public.
During the presentation, Jackson discussed the history and urbanization of the cities of New Orleans, Houston, Memphis and Nashville with a comparative focus on urban planning initiatives, cultural diversity and population density.
"I thought it was very interesting that he portrayed Southern cities in a context of competing against one another," said Christine Kreyling, an architecture and urban planning critic who works in Nashville. "Any chance you have to put it in that broader perspective is really useful."
Jackson began by emphasizing the level of crime that now exists in the city of New Orleans due to the massive hardships caused by Hurricane Katrina. He also criticized the city for being unwelcoming to foreign-born inhabitants and encouraging a closed, mostly white aristocracy.
"Corruption is deeply entrenched in the culture," he said, citing a tradition of political dishonesty in the historical port city known widely for Mardi Gras.
Of Houston, Jackson spoke of an "entrepreneurial, energetic city" that has "ambition and greed in a good sense."
Having grown to many times the size of New Orleans, he said Houston has surpassed the Big Easy as the leading port city in the South.
Jackson spoke next about Memphis, his hometown. According to him, Memphis has not done enough to refute its growing stigma of being a "dying river town," a classification he said has deeply hurt the citizens of Memphis.
In contrast, Jackson emphasized Nashville's ability to "merge high culture with popular culture."
He complimented the local government for the 1980 merger with Davidson County and also for its city planning decisions, such as the prominent location of the Schermerhorn Symphony Center across from the Country Music Hall of Fame.
He did, however, criticize the crime rate in comparison with Nashville's population density.
"There is no excuse for the crime rate to be as high as it is in Nashville," he said.
The lecture attracted numerous Vanderbilt students, including freshman Daniel Cunningham, who was drawn to the lecture after being exposed to Jackson's work in an American Studies class.
"I like the idea of listening to someone we've read in class," Cunningham said.
