Urban Planning: Early Planning History

Modernism and Early Urban Planning - Richard T. LeGates and Frederic Stout

This paper by LeGates and Stout discusses when urban planning was accepted and acknowledged as a professional field. It recognises what points in time changed the way urban planning was used for. The Industrial Revolution and the introduction of the automobile influenced the need for researching urban settlement patterns Technology is a significant indicator as to where urban planning systems will need to develop and change their focus areas on. The Great Depression also hindered the need for urban systems which include plans for affordable housing and efficient transport systems. The various economic, social and political transformations of which developed from these revolutions, promoted the need for professional planners and graduate programs.

As professionals began entering the field of planning there began many discoveries and suggestions about what can be done to improve the life of urban industrialism. The Parks Movement was the first urban shift towards improving urban life. It aimed to provide a healthy outlet from city life and create a recreational and entertainment space. It consisted of parks within industrial cities, an example of this is Central Park, New York. Although significantly famous and beautiful, Central Park does not improve urban life holistically, particularly since New York patrons do not engage with the park during their working days. This problem introduced a second planning shift towards The Garden City Movement first suggested by Ebenezer Howard, who developed the first Garden City of Letchworth. Letchworth consisted of multiple services, parks, tree-lined boulevards and asylums. The aim of this concept was to enhance the engagement with the environment throughout the day to day lives of the working class, which in turn will reduce health problems and create a ‘happier’ city. The Garden City Movement and the similar Civic Design Movement made planners realise the importance of green space and urban health within a city. This introduced an entirely new movement referred to as the City Beautiful Movement. The City Beautiful movement was when planners began making larger, unified plans for cities and regions rather than just smaller areas. It bought about a change in the connectivity between streets and shopping centres, a greater focus on housing and population congestion, and more engagement between planners and communities.

As city planning matured, Edward Bassett developed a thesis of what city plans should consist of. This was called The Master Plan. The Master Plan professionalised the planning field and realised the increasing need for information regarding planning theory and practice. Partners of Bassett; Lewis Mumford and Henry Wright, both had significant contributions to The Master Plan and professionalization of planning. Lewis Mumford acknowledged the importance of better technology and transport systems to create smaller, localised cities which would engage more harmoniously with the whole of New York. Clarence Stein and Henry Wright investigated the relationship between urban geography, neighbourhoods and road systems, which would reduce congestion, particularly around residential areas. It is evident throughout the course of the paper, that the various changes in planning history reflect the social, economic and political changes of the time, which suggest urban planning systems will be forever changing.