Planning history in the USA

THE

STATE

Community interest groups

Private sector/Market forces

Enviro-nment

US IMMIGRATION by fiscal year, 1820-1900. [U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service, 1990 Statistical Yearbook. Washington, D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1991]”

Urban Reform in the 19th Century

Characteristics of the 19C city in- Early stages of capitalist development- Development concentrated in small “gateway” cities (Atlantic seaboard and along rivers and the Great Lakes region)• Private sector control • Raison d’etre: economic growth• Weak government/limited intervention in market place• No planning for orderly development • Great waves of immigration• Overcrowded cities• Housing shortage• Unsanitary conditions • Public health hazards • Disease epidemics (e. g.: yellow fever, malaria, cholera)

19 Century “Planning” Activities:1. Sanitary Reform

Technological innovationsEuropean influences, andIncipient planning actions to improve cleanliness of

city and public health conditions:• introduction of water carriage sewerage systems

(sewers)• Inventory of sanitary conditions• Provision of public open space• Importance of adequate ventilation and sunlight

and urban vegetation

This set of photos, taken on Fifth Street in New York City before and after Waring’s campaign, illustrates the dramatic effects of environmental sanitation at the end of the nineteenth century. (Museum of the City of New York)

II. CITY BEAUTIFUL Movement

- Involved actions intended to improve the appearance of the city as well as improvement in public design.

CB movement included 4 main elements or themes:

• Municipal art• Civic improvement• Outdoor art• Classical design

Municipal Art

• promotion of decoration in the city

• addition of sculpture, statues

• public art display – arches, murals, fountains

• tree planting

• use of color in public spaces

• anti billboards and anti smoke campaigns

Civic Improvement

Sought to temper the effect of industrialization in the domestic (home and neighborhood) environment

• Often led by women who promoted:• Cleanup and beautification of communities • improvement in appearance of front yards• Promotion of decorative home gardens*By 1905 there were 2,426 affiliated civic

improvement societies supporting the American Planning Movement.

Outdoor Art

- Led by American Park and Outdoor Art Association (APOAA)

- Frederick Law Olmsted a major figure of APOAA and - American Civic Association joined APOAA*. Together they pushed for:

• a National Park System• city parks for enjoyment working people• planned urban development• better housing, civic art, sanitation and traffic

safety.

Classical design

- Led by ArchitectsObjective: to integrate European classicism and

grand design in American city, including:

• traditional Grecian-Roman design themes, into city plans.

• See for Example: Daniel Burnham’s Plan of Chicago

• [But preceded by other examples like Pierre L’Enfant’s street plan of Washington , D.C. in 1790]

European Architectural Influences

Doric style Corinthian style

III. Neighborhood building and housing reformIndividuals and “settlement” workers introduced

humanitarian concerns for women and children• Sound housing• Home improvement• Schools• Playground• Spirit of community life• Overcoming crowding and unsanitary conditions

inside residences

NYC Upper Middle Class Parlor NYC Tenement Room

The “Settlement” House Movement

European examples:

• England’s first - Toynbee Hall 1884

American imitation:

• New York’s Stanton Hall 1886

• Chicago’s Hull House and many others …

19 Century: The culminating experience

The 1893 Columbian Exposition

In this “White city of almost 700 acres Chicagoans and millions of visitors, accustomed to urban ugliness, saw for the first time a splendid example of civic design and beauty in the classic pattern and on a grand scale, and they liked it. Indeed it marked the beginning in this country of orderly arrangement of extensive buildings and grounds.

Robert Wrigley, Jr. In Kreukeberg, p.58

Creating a vision of the city:And they came to experience the White City

IV. Comprehensive Planning: The Plan of Chicago (1901-1905)

“Dream no small dreams.”

Then and now: Dynamic aspects of spatial images.

Where in the world are these structures located?

Discussion?

• 19th Century urban “planning” actions.