This is the first of a two-part series dedicated to answering the question “Do we need a new World’s Fair?” It is an honest question that I do not have an answer to. What I aim to do here is share my thoughts on the subject and present historical data on what these sorts of events have done in the past. In the first part, I explore what previous World Fairs have accomplished and what we must certainly avoid. The second part will investigate what a new 21st century fair might look like, and how it would help our economy. Part 2 is here.

A “World Fair” is first and foremost, a grand gesture. They are typically months if not a few years long. Think of them as temporary theme parks, or the the olympics of technological innovation. They are extravagant, optimistic, and brash. But let’s be clear here. All of the World Fairs held in Paris, Chicago, New York, and Seattle had sections that are deeply troubling. The 19th century fairs had human zoos and “freak shows.” The 20th century fairs were, in many ways, launchpads for the corporate take-over of the public realm and the plundering of the very cities that hosted them (more on that later). But that does not mean the form is totally useless or inherently bad. In fact, a new American World Fair might be just what we need.

The World’s Fair in Paris celebrated the 100th anniversary of the storming of the Bastille and asserted France’s prominence as a intellectual and political powerhouse up until the first World War.The Exposition Universelle gave the world the Eifel Tower, popularized Heineken beer, and deeply influenced the work of Claude Debussy.

In Erik Larson’s best-selling book Devil in the White City he describes the many and varied inventions that were first showcased at the 1893 Chicago World’s Fair (also called the World’s Columbian Exposition) which have now become common-place in our lives:

[Visitors to the fair] saw the first moving pictures on Edison’s Kinetoscope, and they watched, stunned, as lightning chattered from Nikola Tesla’s body. They saw even more ungodly things- the first zipper; the first-ever all-electric kitchen, which included an automatic dishwasher; and a box purporting to contain everything a cook would need to make pancakes, under the brand name Aunt Jemima’s. They sampled a new, oddly flavorful gum called Juicy Fruit, and caramel-coated popcorn called Cracker Jack. A new cereal, Shredded Wheat, seemed unlikely to succeed-“shredded doormat,” some called it- but a new beer did well, winning the exposition’s top beer award. Forever afterward, its brewer called it Pabst Blue Ribbon.

And there are many others firsts: Commercially viable electric lights,the ferris wheel, and (unfortunately) the electric chair.

The 1939 New York World’s Fair introduced the American consumer to  nylon, air conditioning, fluorescent lighting and science fiction conventions. But by far, the most popular exhibit was  by General Motors. Entitled “Futurama,” visitors were awed by the huge model city of the future. All visitors left with a (very accurate) pin that read “I have seen the future!” The exhibit promised sweeping highways full of sleek cars and tall buildings. Sure enough, by the 1960s highways had plowed through many urban downtown neighborhoods and everyone heralded the arrival of the easy-motoring lifestyle. There are two ways of looking at GM’s exhibit. First, we can take it as it is- a good, honest guess at what our built environment will look like in the not-too-distant-future. Or we can look at it as a strategic marketing initiative- creating the necessary public support for a massive outlay of public funds for corporate profit.

Kenneth T. Jackson’s Crabgrass Frontier provides an excellent account of the American landscape’s transformation from cities with their hinterlands, to sprawling suburban networks. The decentralization of populations and the rise of cars as the dominant mode of American transportation was no accident. It was a business decision. Jackson writes-

Looking twenty-five years ahead, it offered a “magic Aladdin-like flight through time and space.”… Five million persons peered eventually at such novelties as elevated freeways, expressway traffic moving 100 miles per hour, and “modern efficient city planning…

The promise of a national system of impressive roadways attracted a divers group of lobbyists… In 1943 these groups came together as the American Road Builders Association, with General Motors as the largest contributor.

The ARBA poured millions of dollars into congressional coffers while it attracted even more corporations- tire makers, oil companies, car dealers, and construction companies. GM, since the 20s, had been buying up streetcar lines under the name of a subsidiary, and replaced them with less efficient bus lines.

Technological progress and innovation appears to us as a straight line. We go from the Model T, to the 2012 Mustang through a series of improvements that are based in scientific innovation and capitalist competition. But that is rarely the case. Science is a social process and its material output, technology, has the social embedded within it. World Fairs have the ability to define the future: Give it a frame, and assign the benchmarks of progress. If we want to see a world in which our carbon footprint is minimized (or eliminated) urban poverty is conquered, and our manufacturing base is restored- we need a roadmap. We need to know what that looks like. In the hands of GM, the New York World’s Fair became the launch pad for a particular vision of the United States. A World Fair of the 21st century has the potential to be a more democratic affair. Of course large companies like GE, Google, Verizon, Apple, and even GM would have a large presence. They could attract large crowds. But as we saw at Theorizing the Web 2011 services like Twitter can augment our collective experiences. A small start-up can be discovered, a collective voice can be identified and heard, and powerful companies can be openly and loudly criticized and ignored.

In part two we’ll explore more recent world fair events and consider what an American 21st century fair might look like.