CHAPTER XII CITY PLANNING INTRODUCTORY LESSON PLAN Study the advantages and the disadvantages of the location of your school building. a. How do you come to school in the morning, by trolley car, bus, elevated road, subway? Or is your home near enough to enable you to walk? b. Can you come to school, if you walk, in a straight direction from your home? Or must you take streets at right angles to each other? Would a diagonal street save you much distance? c. How wide is your school street? Are the structures built out to the building line, or set back? What is the advantage of the latter? d. Are the rooms light and sunny, or do buildings across the street and in the rear cut off light and air? e. Are there any tall buildings in the neighborhood? If not, are there restrictions which will prevent their being built at some future time? f. Is the building in a residence, business or an unrestricted district? Is there a garage in the neighborhood? A factory building? g. How big is your playground? Are there any breathing spaces in your school block with trees and grass? What per cent. of the block is thus occupied? h. Where is the nearest city playground? The nearest park? What means of transportation are available to take you there? i. Make a plan of your school block and the block opposite as they are. Then make a second plan in which you lay them out according to improvements that are practicable. 1. WHY SHOULD CITIES BE PLANNED? What is the oldest district in your city? Does it seem any different in lay-out from the more recently developed sections? Are the streets in the older district as wide, as straight, and as convenient to traffic as are those in the newer part of the city? It is safe to say they are not. The best way to appreciate the value of a city plan is to pay a visit to any city district that has not been planned. The narrow, winding streets of old Boston were originally cow-paths that were merely widened a little when buildings were erected. Washington Street in Boston is as narrow as Wall Street in New York City, yet it is a busy street and has double car tracks on it. Such streets are plainly not suited to the heavy traffic or the street railways of the modern city. A city plan directs that the streets be wide, conveniently laid out, well lighted, and properly paved; it provides for the building and extension of trolleys and subway systems; it sees that buildings are properly constructed, that poles and overhead wires, if not eliminated, are placed as safely as possible. City planning foresees and guards against the fires, the floods, the tidal waves, and the blizzards which bring disaster to life and property. It safeguards the health of the population by supplying plenty of pure water and adequate sewerage. It determines the location of reduction plants, incinerators, parks, playgrounds, athletic fields, social centres. It attempts to eliminate the ugly, ill-kept, crowded tenement. Thus it can be seen that it is the work of city planning to co-operate with all of the city departments, and that it deals with all of the activities of life in the city. City planning is never completed. The city is always growing; therefore the plan must always be subject to change and adaptation to new conditions. 2. WHEN CITIES GROW UN-PLANNED When a city first begins to grow it is apt to follow the lines of least resistance. That is, it tends to avoid crossing obstacles such as high hills and rivers. In general, it follows the development of railroads, electric traction lines, and highways. If a city is allowed to follow these natural tendencies we have such results as are found in the older districts of cities to-day narrow, dark, and crooked streets, homes, stables and factories jumbled together, and numerous other inconvenient and insanitary conditions. 3. FIRST STEPS IN CITY PLANNING When city officials begin to map out a plan for future growth their first problem is to determine the future physical boundaries of the city. They may decide that these boundaries shall include an area which can be reached in one hour from the community centre by the most rapid means of passenger transportation that has been so far developed. With a definite standard such as this, together with a careful study of the city's growth in the past, it is possible to predict the probable future distribution of population, as well as the location and extent of residential, business, and industrial centres. Most cities are bound to grow and to spend millions of dollars on civic development and improvement, with or without a city plan. The aim of a plan is to prevent waste and to promote convenience and beauty. It is designed to get the most in return for the outlay of money. Districting. One of the first provisions of a modern city plan divides the city into districts and applies special regulations to each. For example, sections of the city may be set aside as residence districts. From these all but certain industries, such as retail shops and stores, are barred. Other sections may be designated as industrial districts. A further subdivision may be made in distinguishing certain classes of industry, such as factory districts and business districts. Recently a committee of merchants has organized a "Save New York Movement" aimed to prevent garment factories from crowding into the established retail, wholesale, and residence districts of Manhattan. After pushing the retail merchants out of the Twentythird Street district, the garment factories were threatening to do the same in the Thirty-fourth Street section. The retail merchants organized and announced that in their purchase of goods they would give preference to factories located within |