CITY PLANNING. Due to the conges tion of certain portions of cities, and their piecemeal development, without regard to order, with slums and inaccessible suburbs, greater attention is now being paid to the development of the science of city planning, for the purpose of balancing the different elements which con stitute a municipality, and to give a greater de gree of comfort and pleasure to its inhabitants. City planning is not alone a matter of engineer ing and architecture, but vitally concerned with the social, ethical and physical condition of the citizens. It means more light, purer air and more healthful and less expensive living quarters. City planning provides safer and more direct means of transportation, prevents traffic accidents and saves time. Conveniently located parks, places for recreation, public baths and gymnasiums, with access to wood lands and athletic fields, gives greater oppor tunity for physical development. The proper location of municipal markets affords cheap and wholesome supplies of food. These factors, together with the convenient location of schools, libraries, churches and other structures of a public nature, all unite to elevate the life of the citizens. A greater sense of civic responsi bility is instilled in the citizens, their comfort and means of enjoyment are increased and the morale of the entire community is raised. While the movement, as we know it, is recent, the art of city planning is of the greatest antiquity. The remains of the earliest communal abodes of man, however primitive, show a certain definite arrangement. With the development of races, villages became towns, and towns, cities, continually on a larger scale; and it is un doubtedly true that the higher the degree of civilization of a people, the greater will be the size of its cities. The civilization of the Romans was largely expressed in the grandeur of the city of Rome, and the glories of ancient peoples were generally shown in their cities.
In the art of city planning, genius has oc casionally arisen — among the early masters being Merian and Canaletto, the former de veloping the general plan of the city, while the latter excelled in the planning of its internal arrangements. Sir Christopher Wren, in 1666,
after the great fire of London had the genius to present a plan for the reconstruction of the city that would have made it the most beautiful in the world, but he was ahead of his time, and London was permitted to grow up into the dis ordered mass of streets and lanes that makes it such a puzzle to the stranger. L'Enfant.
however, who planned the city of Washington, D. C., admittedly the most beautiful city in America and one of the most beautiful in the world, enjoyed the double good fortune of having the support of the founders of the republic and an unencumbered site upon which to build. Most city planners have had to re organize existing cities. Equally fortunate was Baron Haussmann, who rebuilt Paris. He was given a free hand, and a plan was developed in which conceptions of order, convenience, variety and grandeur were not subjected to in terference by questions of expense. Great avenues were cut through labyrinths of streets, and foul and congested districts were replaced by parks and spacious squares. The plan of the city of Buffalo is notable among American cities. Joseph Ellicott, an agent of the Holland Land Company, laid out the city in 1801-02. He is known as the ((Father of Buffalo," and the city owes him a debt of gratitude for a well-conceived and well-executed plan, the fruit of his genius and foresight. Joseph Ellicott was a younger brother of Andrew Ellicott, the first surveyor-general of the United States, who completed the city of Washington on the designs of the great French planner, L'Enfant. i After him the art of city planning in America seems to have died, for, with the exception of Washington and Buffalo, American cities have been almost wholly built at haphazard.