2. Planning Principles Lecture Week 5
19th Century Planning
Early 20th Century
A Brief Review of 1st Four Weeks

3. Assignments – Week 5
Readings 3 - Planning Principles – posted on EduWave 6/3/2010
Homework – Pick a city from early history, Mesopotamia, India, Greece, Egypt or Rome and write about it.
What are its characteristics?
How is it organized?
What are the main civic elements?
Is it planned or organic? Why do you think so?
What was the main reason for it’s existence.?
What was the culture like.
Grade will be based on how thoroughly each question is addressed.
Write it by hand.
Due end of class 13/3/2010

4. A Brief Review

9. What makes a city? Density Trade Culture Religion Circulation
Critical mass to support businesses and commerce
Trade
Near to trade routes
Culture
Traditions, festivals, history. Arts, crafts
Religion
Usually a shared religion andlor tolerance for multiple religions
Circulation
Adequate transportation routes to and thru the city
Government
To administer rule of law, keep the peace
police, fire, public health, courts
Shared Values
A shared culture, religion or trade interest
Recreation Facilities or Opportunities
Adequate areas for people to recreate and relax
Services
Sewers, water supply, roads, power, internet/data

10. What factors act on the city?
Climate
Must be favorable for human habitation given the technology of the time
Geography
Must provide adequate protection form overriding defense or climate concerns
Location
Near water, near trade routes
Agriculture
Near enough good farm land to support the city or near trade routes to obtain food
Trade
Near trade routes to support merchant classes and drive economy
Warfare
Warfare influences the shape and the preoccupation of the residents
Health
City must rid itself of pollutants and garbage to keep good health
Bubonic Plague, Black Death, other epidemics, malaria
Industry

11. Industrial Revolution
US Civil War – Example of impact of technology outstripping man’s understanding of it
Gatling guns, cannons, iron clad ships, steam ships
Machines
Trains, streetcars, factories
Growth of industry, labor conscription, child labor, riots, gangs
Urban Growth - Rural flight
Unregulated growth destroying older poorer neighborhoods with factories and inappropriate uses
City Beautiful
A response to the negative aspects of industrial growth

12. Machines Trains Impact on development – U.S and Europe
Train stops, land speculation, growth of the midwest
U.S. grid system,
Street Car Systems
Health impact on losing the horse
Satellite cities
Factories
Urban Growth and blight
Beginning of suburbs for the rich

13. Urban Public Health as a Focus of Concern
Physician Benjamin Ward Richardson wrote Hygeia, City of Health (1876) envisioning:
air pollution control
water purification
sewage handling
public laundries
public health inspectors
elimination of alcohol & tobacco
the park as the site of children’s play

14. Intelligentsia weighs in
Friedrich Engels observed the misery of mid-19th c. Manchester & wrote: “The Condition of the Working Class in England”, (1844)
worker oppression
pollution
overcrowding
disease
alienation
display of status symbols in the landscape

15. The Parks Movement
Reflected growing recognition of the condition of cities in US and Europe
grew out of landscape architecture and garden design
shifted from private to public settings
naturalistic parks were created in the U.S. by Frederick Law Olmstead, whose career started with Central Park, New York, 1857
goals:
separate transportation modes
support active and passive uses
collect water
promote moral pastimes

16. Garden Cities Ebenezer Howard: Garden Cities of Tomorrow (1902)
“three magnets”
town (high wages, opportunity, and amusement)
country (natural beauty, low rents, fresh air)
town-country (combination of both)
separated from central city by greenbelt
two actually built in England
Letchworth
Welwyn

17. Garden Cities would combine the best elements of city and country
would avoid the worst elements of city and country
formed the basis of the earliest suburbs,
separation from the city has been lost virtually every time due to infill

19. Partial Realization of Garden City ideas
through railroad suburbs

20. Frederick Law Olmsted 1822-1903 advanced from park superintendent
with Calvert Vaux (1847) won the competition for Central Park and went on to design:
Prospect Park ( )
Chicago's Riverside subdivision
Buffalo's park system ( )
the park at Niagara Falls (1887)
In later years worked on Boston’s park system, “the Emerald Necklace” and the 1893 World's Fair in Chicago

21. Olmsted’s parks were not natural but they were “naturalistic” or “organic” in form
This form was seen as uplifting urban dwellers and addressing the social and psychological impacts of crowding

22. Inspiration for Parks
Movement in part from
Landscaped gardens for
Nobility like Stourhead
Gardens

23. The way the western U.S.
was divided

24. Olmsted’s Park Design Principles
SCENERY:
design spaces in which movement creates constant opening up of new views and “obscurity of detail further away”
SUITABILITY:
respect the natural scenery and topography of the site
STYLE:
“Pastoral” = open greensward with small bodies of water and scattered trees and groves create a soothing, restorative atmosphere
“Picturesque = profuse planting, especially with shrubs, creepers and ground cover, on steep and broken terrain create a sense of the richness and bounteousness of nature, produce a sense of mystery with light and shade
SUBORDINATION:
subordinate all elements to the overall design and the effect it is intended to achieve
SEPARATION:
of areas designed in different styles
of ways, in order to insure safety of use and reduce distractions
of conflicting or incompatible uses
SANITATION:
promote both the physical and mental health of users
SERVICE:
meet fundamental social and psychological needs
Source: National Association of Olmsted Parks:

25. Garden City Legacy in the U.S.
Garden City idea spread rapidly to Europe and the United States
Under the auspices of the Regional Planning Association of America, the garden-city idea inspired a “New Town,” Radburn, N.J. (1928–32) outside New York City
The congestion and destruction accompanying World War II greatly stimulated the garden-city movement, especially in Great Britain
Britain’s New Towns Act (1946) led to the development of over a dozen new communities based on Howard's idea
The open layout of garden cities also had a great influence on the development of modern city planning
Most satellite towns fail to attain Howard's ideal
residential suburbs of individually owned homes
local industries are unable to provide enough employment for the inhabitants, many of whom commute to work in larger centers

26. A New Town in the U.S.
Radburn, VA

27. The Roots of Urban Planning
Roots derived from philosophical, intellectual and moral ideals opposed to the negative aspects of trends in human relations and environmental conditions of the 19th century
Planners were often utopian visionaries
Who attempted to balance city/country opposition within an urban fabric
Who seldom saw their plans actualized in full
Who had a major influence on planning profession
Were motivated by a desire to reduce poverty and the harmful effects of poverty