Town and City Planning

Great Britain and the Dominions.

Town planning legis lation was first introduced into England in 1909. The emphasis has always been on its social features. Although still limited in its application to undeveloped land, it has inaugurated new con ceptions of city building that will gradually influence all forms of civic growth. Under the amended act of 1923 all urban areas having a population of 20,000 and more must prepare a plan.

The development of town planning in England has been asso ciated with and received much of its impetus and direction from the building of garden cities (q.v.) and suburbs. Planning of large regions comprising many adjacent urban and rural districts is being carried out extensively. Many regional schemes, includ ing the Manchester, Tyneside, Sheffield, Doncaster, Bristol, Kent, Surrey, Sussex, Essex and other city and county districts, have been prepared or are in course of preparation. A committee has been appointed to inaugurate the preparation of a plan for the whole of metropolitan London. The development of the Aldwych Kingsway area in central London and the fine civic centre at Cardiff are two prominent examples of architectural town plan ning. A movement has been started to preserve the English coun tryside from spoilation by unregulated building development.

Of modern plans for new cities two of the most important that have been prepared in recent years are for the capital cities of New Delhi in India and Canberra in Australia. (See also Gov ERNMENTAL ARCHITECTURE.) There are town-planning laws and much activity in preparing schemes of civic improvement in Can ada, Australia and New Zealand. This legislation is largely based on the British model. In some Canadian provinces it is com pulsory. Several Canadian cities had comprehensive plans made during 1912-14, and the improvement of the lake waterfront of Toronto was carried out on the scale of a large town-planning operation.

Orient.

In Asia, Russian and Japanese architects and engi neers have done much geometrical planning. An example of the former is the plan of Dalny and of the latter the work done in recent years in the replanning of Tokyo after the earthquake. Extensive plans have been made for several cities in India in addition to New Delhi, and for Manila, Singapore, Canton, Khar toum, Jerusalem and other cities in eastern countries. The Straits Settlements has a town planning department attached to its government.

United States.

In the United States the harmonious and spacious grouping of monumental buildings in the Columbian Exposition in Chicago (see EXPOSITION ARCHITECTURE) and in the University of California, both in 1893, gave an incentive to the promotion of what was called the "city beautiful." A few years later Daniel H. Burnham, the supervisory architect of the Chicago exposition, with the aid of Edward Bennett and others, prepared the plan of Chicago (completed in 1907), whose publica tion, with its inspiring pictures by Jules Guerin, was a landmark in city-planning history ; much of it is being gradually realized. Comprehensive plans were subsequently made for San Francisco, while Cleveland, Buffalo and other cities prepared civic centre plans in quick succession. An important town-planning event in 1901 was the creation of the Senate Park Commission for the improvement of Washington with Daniel H. Burnham, Charles F.

McKim, Frederick Law Olmsted, Jr., and Augustus St. Gaudens as members. They reported their findings in 1902, which in cluded the recommendation that the L'Enfant plan be adhered to, and its principles extended to new areas, and that where mis takes had been made in altering the original plan they should be corrected. The street plan of Washington has since been con stantly restored to the original conception and its 'architectural growth has been brought up to the standard of the finest capitals of the world.

In America the most popular form in which piecemeal plan ning is done is known as zoning (q.v.). In 1926, 525 communities in the United States, as against six in 1916, had prepared zoning plans, or ordinances for the purpose of controlling uses, heights and densities of buildings (City Planning Quarterly, April 1928). There are also 30o planning agencies at work in America, dealing with problems other than zoning. Many cities are preparing major highway or transit plans, independently of zoning or architectural features. A few small towns such as Mariemount and Palos Verdes have been completely planned, and many comprehensive replanning schemes and surveys have been made. The most hope ful form in which planning is being done is in the making of regional plans for great metropolitan areas, such as New York, Washington, D.C., Philadelphia, Buffalo and the Niagara region, and Los Angeles.

The most elaborate regional survey and plan that has so far been initiated is that prepared for the New York region, which comprises 5,528 square miles. Consideration was given to archi tectural as well as engineering, economic, social and legal prob lems, and groups of leading architects and landscape architects assisted in preparing designs for specific projects. Their conclu sions were published in May 1929. One of the chief purposes of this plan is to improve the approaches to New York by water, rail and highway, and to secure a more dignified treatment of its immense waterfront.

Along with the great increase in local planning activity in the United States, the progress of the movement is indicated by the extension of State planning laws, a more favourable attitude of courts towards planning regulations, and the appointment of an advisory committee on zoning by the Department of Commerce. One of the ways in which architectural projects have been prom inent in recent years has been in the improvement of railway terminals in America. New railway stations in New York, Wash ington, Chicago and other great centres have been built in such a way as to afford dignified entrances to these cities. (See INDUS TRIAL ARCHITECTURE.) The planning and construction of parkways which was begun in Boston many years ago has now been extended to many cities. The Fairmount parkway in Philadelphia is an outstanding exam ple of a fine central avenue linking the hub of the city with its extensive park system and including important architectural fea tures. In the environs of New York probably the most extensive county park system in the world is being created by the West chester park commission, and its success is largely due to the extent to which architectural design has. been used for its land scape and structural features. New civic centres have been planned in many cities including Camden, Toledo, Denver and Pasadena.