City Planning In The 20th-Century

City Planning in the 20th-Century

City Planning History of City Planning 20th-Century City Planning

The U.S. and Britain responded similarly to the need to improve the living conditions in cities. Their initial action was to regulate the sanitary conditions and density of tenement housing. A movement then arose in both countries for a more comprehensive, long-term approach, a process of city planning that would examine and control the many forces affecting modern cities. The 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition in Chicago featured a planned “White City” that stood in vivid contrast to the squalor of most urban settlements. In the U.S. it sparked the “City Beautiful” movement, which emphasized municipal grandeur embodied in handsome new public buildings, park systems, and main thoroughfares.

Important steps were taken in the early 20th century to formalize and legalize city planning. In the bellwether year 1909 Britain passed a Town Planning Act, which authorized local authorities to prepare “schemes” controlling new development. In 1909, in the U.S., the First National Conference on City Planning was conducted; this was the first of a series of annual meetings, which continue even today, that proved influential in coalescing support for city planning. Also in 1909 the American architect Daniel Burnham published his Plan of Chicago, a design that was groundbreaking in its regional perspective and comprehensive integration of transportation systems, parks, streets, and other facilities.

City planning received further support during subsequent years. In 1919 Britain made the preparation of planning schemes obligatory for many local governments, and in 1921 Canada enacted a city-planning law. Other European countries and Australia also undertook city planning.

In the U.S. during the 1920s local planning increased significantly. In 1920 approximately 100 cities had municipal planning commissions; by 1930 the number was almost 500. This growth can be accounted for in various ways. In 1928 the U.S. Commerce Department published a Standard City Planning Act that provided communities with a convenient procedural model for their planning efforts. The U.S. Supreme Court decision in Euclid v. Ambler (1926) removed any lingering doubts about the legality of zoning, a critical end product of city planning. (The first zoning ordinance in the U.S. had been enacted by New York City in 1916.) Other influences leading to the increased acceptance of city planning were the rapid growth of cities during the 1920s and the ensuing pressures on transportation facilities and public services.

During the Great Depression of the 1930s regional and national governments intervened more forcefully in city planning. To foster economic development in depressed regions, the United Kingdom authorized the appointment of special commissioners with wide-ranging powers. Britain, France, the Netherlands, and other European countries carried out extensive public-housing projects. In the U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt, under his New Deal program, established a Public Works Administration to deal with capital improvements, a National Planning Board to coordinate long-range development, and a program that produced three greenbelt towns. The Tennessee Valley Authority was created to prepare and implement a sweeping regional plan. Federal housing insurance and public housing became important in city building. (1)

In this Section: City Planning, City Planning History, City Planning in Greece and Rome, City Planning in the Renaissance and Beyond, City Planning in the 20th-Century, City Planning After 1945, Modern City Planning,

Comprehensive City Planning, City Planning Development Controls, City Planning Policies and City Planning Future.

Resources

Notes and References

  1. Encarta Online Encyclopedia

See Also


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