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Community Planning Came: During the last two decades, however, this situation has gradually been changing. Today, responsible architects do not want to risk placing buildings in a city without regard to their implications for the whole community. This concern for community planning came about in several ways, but primarily because it has been demonstrated that our cities are obsolete and impractical. There is hardly a large city anywhere in the world that has not embarked on a replanning of its facilities. This, I believe, is the area in which architects have the most to contribute. I would like to conclude this brief review of architecture, engineering, and urban planning with a quotation from John Dewey: "Man's importance is in how he changes the environment for the next generation."
The planning process for existing cities differs widely from the planning of new towns. Existing cities must be dealt with by amelioration. The emphasis is on trying to get each successive change in the city structure to be a part of a long-range plan for the general betterment of the community as a whole. The existing condition the city are analyzed and listed as a sort of c inventory, and there is developed a prog which, it is hoped, may in due time come tc realized, at least in part. In planning new to the planner is reasonably free to use the nev ideas and techniques consonant with the spons program.
Radburn, like its English prototype, failed to realize its sponsors' hopes of becoming a completely self-sustained community. Since industry was slow in coming, it turned into a dormitory town. Its essential planning characteristics, however, proved their worth, notably the superblock, the cul-de-sac and narrow "loop" lane for residential traffic, and the provision of community amenities and "built-in" safety for children.
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