Decades Planning Stretching at www.japanese-home-gardens.com

After decades planning stretching of planning stretching back into the nineteenth century, it was Bradfield, principal design engineer for the NSW Public Works Department and a Sydney University graduate, who was largely responsible for finally bringing the Sydney Harbour Bridge to fruition.

During the last two decades planning stretching, 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 real task of the planning board therefore should be—and is, in those communities where planning is taken seriously—to serve as a research arm to the executive. "Pure" planning, planning according to theory, is a practical impossibility, for every executive decision is weighted by many factors of politics, expediency, finance, and local pressure. A conscientious executive and legislative body, nevertheless, can be assisted greatly in making decisions, if presented with the full implications, city-wide, of the alternatives.