When President Donald Trump declared a federal takeover of Washington, DC’s law enforcement this week, he framed it as an emergency order to crack down on crime and disorder. But threaded through his announcement was a broader vision for the aesthetic transformation of the US capital: He promised to “clean up” the city by removing homeless encampments and graffiti. And he talked about grandiose projects like his plan to build a new golden ballroom in the White House. 

Trump’s twin obsessions with crime and ornament hark back to a Gilded Age movement known as City Beautiful: In the 1890s, urban reformers sought to reshape major US city centers, often razing poor and Black communities to make way for gleaming gardens and plazas. In the South, urban beautification came hand-in-hand with building memorials to the Confederacy. More than a century later, Trump is using DC’s unique relationship with the federal government to revive that playbook. Read more from Kriston Capps today on CityLab: Trump’s Politics of Urban Disgust

— Linda Poon

More on CityLab

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Trump’s Gilded Design Style May Be Gaudy. But Don’t Call it ‘Rococo.’
The US president’s taste for gilded decor is often dismissed with comparisons to an ornate European style of the 18th century. But the real Rococo deserves a second look. 

Chicago Launches Flood-Warning System as Rainstorms Intensify
Verizon and startup Hyfi partnered with the city on a network of sensors that will detect flooding as it happens. 

DC sues to block police takeover

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• Texas’ oldest wildlife refuge was set to expand. Then the Trump administration changed course (Texas Tribune)

• Meet the Johnson County moms leading the push to make a sprawling suburb walkable (Kansas City Star)

• Mini weather stations are protecting companies from heat waves and hurricanes (Wall Street Journal)

• Mission to revive abandoned spaces with art expands to NYC public housing (The City)

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