REAL ESTATE
AND
(Copyright. 1017. by The Record and Guide Co.)
NEW YORK, FEBRUARY 17, 1917
WHAT HAS BEEN ACCOMPLISHED IN CITY PLANNING
Adfdress Delivered at the Annual Convention of
the National Municipal League by George B. Ford
' I 'HE year 1916 was one of tremendous
*â– significance to the cause of city
planning. Of the fifty-odd cities having
more than one hundred thousand popula¬
tion in the United States, twenty-two
have made a distinct and notable con¬
tribution in the past year to the rapidly
increasing volume of city planning his¬
tory and achievement. Of the cities of
from 25.000 to 100.000 population, which
number about two hundred, twenty-nine
may be counted on the roll of those that
have made important and constructive
advances in city planning during the same
period. A large number of cities and
towns of lesser size have to their credit
accomplishments which, in the mass, are
not of the least importance. In Canada,
despite the preoccupation of the people
of the cities with the war, Thomas
Adams, Town Planning Adviser of the
Committee of Conservation, reports a
widespread interest and activity there,
both in the formulation and passage of
laws and in organization for construc¬
tive work.
In Europe, and particularly in France
and England, which countries I have had
the good fortune to visit in the course of
the past three months, city planning- is
not only alive—it is making enormous
strides, as evidenced in the work which
I saw under way in Paris, Marseilles,
Lyons, Limoges, Rheims, and in Loncfon,
not to mention numerous lesser places.
In India, even, where one would be led
to expect but little, British enthusiasm for
city planning has roused the great and
congested cities, such as Madras, Bom¬
bay and Calcutta to a realization of their
city planning needs, and we are regularly
in receipt of reports of progress being
made there—progress which indeed
would put many of our proud American
cities to shame. Thn city planning move¬
ment has never enjoyed a more hopeful,
indeed, more constructive, year than that
just past.
It is peculiarly significant—and preg¬
nant with a lesson of the utmost impor¬
tance—that in the United States nearly
forty-five per cent, of the cities of over
100,000 have taken great forward steps in
town planning in the past year—as
against fifteen per cent., less than one-
si.\th, of the cities of lesser size (25,000
to 100,000 population), which show prog¬
ress. Although it may be said that the
larger cities contain a proportionately
larger number of persons capable of ap¬
preciating and participating in a city
planning movement, I believe the conclu¬
sion may be safely drawn that the larger
cities are finding the handicap of hap¬
hazard and uncontrolled city develop¬
ment intolerable, and are being forced
to undertake scientific planning, at great
expense in many cases, out of sheer self-
preservation, and to retrieve the losses,
economic and social, which the piled-up
neglect of past years has brought about.
For the lesser cities the lesson of the
larger cities is assuming increasing sig¬
nificance. The cities of from 25,000 to
100,000 inhabitants have begun to realize
—at least one-si.xth of them have done so
in the past year—that the way to avoid
the costly construction, the losses to in¬
dustry and trade—the social ills, and hy¬
gienic hardships which follow in the wake
of uncontrolled city growth—is to take
a firm stand now, as against the day of
expansion of trade, of extension of bound¬
aries, of increase of population.
If we scan the record of accomplish¬
ments in city planning for the past year,
one item in the hundreds that would bear
report and analysis here if time permit¬
ted, stands out most strikingly. It is
New York City's contribution—the Dis¬
tricting or Zoning Ordinance passed by
the Board of Estimate in July last. Not
since the inauguration of the movement
for conscious city planning, in 1893, has
a page of city planning history been writ¬
ten which embodies so many vital and
interesting features as the New York dis¬
tricting moveaient and the resulting ordi¬
nance. S:0 much has been written about
this, and the way in which it was built
up, that I must forego more than the
briefest reference to this subject. The
ordinance itself is a compromise in many
respects—it is not drastic enough to
serve as a model for other cities—but it
embodies all of the principles of the most
advanced and comprehensive zoning pro¬
gram. The success attending the New
York measure may be attributed to the
thorough and imremitting campaign of
education which was carried on, for the
lack of which city planning has failed so
often in America.
As a result of the success of the New
York movement we find that districting
work is being organized, or is being ac¬
tively promoted, or actually carried on, in
the following municipalities: Akron,
Berkeley, Chicago, Baltimore, Cleveland,
Des Moines, East Orange, Elgin, Little
Rock, Los Angeles, Milwaukee, Min¬
neapolis, Newark, Omaha, Ottawa (On¬
tario), Philadelphia, Sacramento, St.
Louis, Springfield, Mass., and Washing¬
ton, D. C. This is certainly a remarkable
showing considering the short space of
time in which the movement has been
gaining impetus—and one of the greatest
significance.
However, during the past year, district¬
ing as a part of city planning has occu¬
pied public attention largely to the exclu¬
sion of the other aspects of the city plan¬
ning problem, for much that is truly note¬
worthy has been done in other fields in
the course of the past twelve months.
Comprehensive city plans, varying enor¬
mously, however, in intrinsic merit and
practical adaptability to actual conditions,
are under way or have been prepared for
the following cities: Akron, Allentown,
Bayonne, Birmingham, Brantford (On¬
tario), East Boston (Mass.), East
Orange, Detroit, Elgin, Johnstown, Law¬
rence, Milwaukee, Minneapolis, Newark,
Oakland and Berkeley, Omaha, Ottawa
(Ontario), Pasadena, Pueblo, Sacra¬
mento, St. Louis and South Philadelphia.
These plans cover all or a large num¬
ber of the special phases of the city plan,
including the street system, land subdi¬
vision, transportation, water front im¬
provement, parks, recreation, etc. The
plans for Ottawa, for Oakland and Berke¬
ley, and for Newark, are remarkable ex¬
amples of the most advanced practice in
investigation and planniu"-, and that for
Ottawa is presented in one of the most
beautifully printed and illustrated reports
yet published in America.
This brief review of the city planning
accomplishment of the past year would,
howe'ver, not be complete without a ref¬
erence to the special studies on city plan¬
ning problems made for various cities
throughout America by city planning and
landscape architects. Among the most
notable are th* following:—
Boston, markets; Cambridge, study of
building development, etc.; Camden,
street replanning; Cleveland, street and
bridge improvements; Denver, revision
of the civic center plan; Fitehburg, study
of main thoroughfares and street system;
Holyoke, street planning studies; Madi¬
son, recreation survey and plan; Milwau¬
kee, general survey and report; Peoria,
streets and parks; Providence, plan for
Capitol site and thoroughfares; San Fran¬
cisco, new plan for the exposition site;
Springfield, control of billboard advertis¬
ing, recreation; Vancouver, civic center
plan.
Site planning, partitularly for the pro¬
vision of home sites on a large scale, has
been undertaken b}' private enterprise ire
many cities under the direction of town
planners or landscape architects during,
tlie past year. In this connection, also,,
special studies have been made for the
housing of workingmen. In this class
the following are particularly noteworthy
as having been consummated in tlie past
year:
Akron, Firestone park development;
Bridgeport, housing studies for the
Chamber of Commerce; Duluth, Morgan:
Park, for the U. S. Steel Corporation;
Midland. Pa., tow'n site for industrial
plant; Ojibway, Canada, new town for
the U. S. Steel Corporation; Passaic, Al-
wood Garden Village for the Brighton
Mills; Washington, D. C, Ellen Wilson
Memorial Homes development; Water¬
bury, housing studies for local commit¬
tee; Kenosha, housing development plan
for local organization.
These garden village or housing devel¬
opment are not the least important of
the town planning problems which have
been under way or completed in the past
year, for in this branch of city planning
we find an increasing opportunity to
achieve permanent and notable results in
the rectification of haphazard develop¬
ment on the perimeter of our rapidly
growing cities.
Turning now to city planning legisla¬
tion, we find an unprecedented activity
throughout America among semi-public
or official bodies, and in the legislatures
of many States. In the past year the fol¬
lowing have been particularly active in
the promotion, drafting or passage of
laws or ordinances for city planning:
(a) California, permissive law for
the appointment of city plan¬
ning commissions.
Massachusetts, law providing
for the appointment of Boards
of Survey, with control over
platting.
Pennsylvania, permissive law
for appointment of a district¬
ing commission in cities of
the first class.
Indiana, energetic steps for se¬
curing the passage of a city
planning law.
(b) Ordinances in Akron, Bayonne,
East Orange, Johnstown,
Mansfield (Ohio), Mt. Ber-
non, Santa Monica (Cal.), To¬
ledo, creating city planning
commissions under State per¬
missive laws. In Cincinnati,
strenuous efiforts by public-
spirited citizens to secure ap-
pc^intive ordinance.
(c) Ordinances in Berkeley, New
York and Sacramento, mak¬
ing districting control effec¬
tive. Ordinances in Philadel-
(Continued on page 219)