City Planning at www.japanese-home-gardens.com

The first decade of the 20th century saw the beginning of modern city planning. As Professor Frederick J. Adams has pointed out, 1909 is a key year. It was in that year that the first British Housing and Town Planning Act was passed; it was in that year that the Chicago Commercial Club published the great Burnham Plan ; and it was in that year that the first National Conference on City Planning was held in Washington, D.C., at which the participants laid strong emphasis on the need for economic studies in city planning and on the importance of comprehensive and coordinated treatment of city problems.

Summary.—City planning today, then, is like the city planning of the past. It is concerr with broad objectives in many fields, not just w the physical aspects. Indeed the pendulum m have swung too far, for the present-day compli neglect of the aesthetic side of city planning m prove harmful in the future. Civic pride is important factor in the psychology of any coi munity, and civic pride is evidenced in the thn dimensional quality of the physical city.

The master plan at one time was considered the main objective of city planning. It is now not so regarded. Many cities in the past acquired a plan, and there the planning ended. Present practice tends to view the master plan as only a preliminary step toward planning. It is a highly necessary step, because it gives the present picture and the objectives to be attained as of the present. Planning, however, is a dynamic process ; the city grows and changes, and every municipal action has far-reaching consequences.