Frank Lloyd Wright & Broadacre City

Frank Lloyd Wright (1867-1959)

• A major US architect involved in site planning and community planning
• Commissioned for 41 planning projects, 532 designs, and over 1000 drawings
• A major proponent of urban decentralization in reaction to US city congestion
• Considered his viewpoint to be "eco-anarchist"
• Designed "Broadacre City" which became a forerunner of suburbanization
  • This was the antithesis to compact and transit-oriented development

Broadacre City Design

• Relies on automobile transportation
• Settlements would be approximately 10km² (1000 hectares) containing all the services of a small city including schools, museums, markets, offices, trains, farms and factories co-existing alongside homes
• Each family would have one acre of land (4,050m²) from federal land reserves
• Land would include sufficient space for gardens and small farms
• Included an individual helicopter

BROADACRE CITY 1932 Features

• Decentralized Urban Planning
  • Each family would have at least one acre of land, promoting low-density and suburban living over crowded urban centers
• Car-Centric Design
  • Broadacre City was designed with automobiles, highways, and roads as the main source of transportation
• Self-Sufficiency & Land Ownership
  • Individual independence was emphasized, families could live, work, and farm on their own land
  • Decreased reliance on centralized industries
• Integration of Nature & Architecture
  • Inspired by organic architecture, blending homes, farms, and businesses within a natural landscape, avoiding high-rise buildings
• Local governance & Democracy
  • A system of small, self-governing communities were proposed as opposed to a centralized government
  • Emphasized local control and cooperative living
• Technology & Innovation
  • Telecommunications, prefabricated buildings, and advanced road systems are core to daily life
  • Foreseeing a future where work could be done remotely
• Criticism & Influence
  • Critics argued it encouraged urban sprawl and over-reliance on cars
  • Influenced suburban development, garden cities, and modern smart growth concepts

HENRY WRIGHT (1878-1936)

• Produced "The Report of the Commission in Housing and Regional Planning for the State of New York"
• Introduced the "superblock" concept in "New Town" development in the US
  • This was implemented in Radburn, Fair Lawn, New Jersey
• "Superblock" definition
  • An island of greens, bordered by homes and carefully skirted by peripheral automobile roads
  • Contains open green spaces which are interconnected and numerous greenways which serve as pedestrian pathways
• The rough Philippine equivalent of a superblock is a modest-size rectangular subdivision dominated by gardens and greenery
• Wrote "Rehousing Urban America" (1935)
  • Explained New York's development from a city of small trade centers to an industrial belt and then to a financial and managerial center
• Co-designed Western Kentucky University

CLARENCE S. STEIN (1882-1975)

• Co-founded the Regional Planning Association of America (1923) with Henry Wright and Lewis Mumford
• A principal planner who pursued Ebenezer Howard's Garden City ideas in the conceptualization of 22 government-sponsored "New Towns" or greenbelt resettlement towns in America
• The US Resettlement Administration supported:
  • Sunnyside Gardens, Queens, New York
  • Hillside Homes, Bronx, New York
  • Chatham Village Pittsburgh
  • Baldwin Hills Village, Los Angeles
  • Reston, Virginia
  • Columbia, Maryland
  • Greenbelt Maryland
  • Greendale, Wisconsin:
  • Green hills, Ohio
  • Greenbrook, NJ
• Efforts were cut short by the "Great Depression"
• Wrote the book New Towns for America (1951)
  • This was inputted into the US Housing Act of 1954

CLARENCE PERRY (1872-1944)

• Conceptualized the "Neighborhood Unit"
  • Equivalent to the UK's Neighborhood "Precincts"
• "Neighborhood unit" (1929 definition")
  • A self-contained, low-rise, pedestrian-oriented residential quarter
  • Incorporated garden city ideas
  • Bounded by major streets
  • Included shops at the intersections and a school in the middle
  • Around 0.272 km² to 6.2 km² (620 hectares), 6000 residents, and a school for 920 children.
• His neighborhood unit was intended to satisfy residents' needs and bring the advantages of traditional small-town living into the city

Six principles of Neighborhood unit

• Size to support an elementary school, generally a half mile in diameter at most
• Boundaries on all sides by arterial streets
• Open spaces for small parks and recreation of about 10% of the total neighborhood area near to the arterial streets
• Institutions such as schools, community centers, and churches grouped around a central point
• Local shops grouped around a central point and around the circumference at traffic junctions
• Internal street system with lots of cul-de-sacs and street widths sized to facilitate internal traffic and discourage through traffic

NEIGHBORHOOD UNIT - CLARENCE PERRY Features

• Self-Contained Community
  • The unit was designed as a walkable and self-sufficient residential area that includes schools, parks, and local shops
• Size & Population
  • Should ideally house 5,000-9,000 residents to support an elementary school within walking distance
• Hierarchy of Streets
  • Local streets were designed to minimize through-traffic
  • Main roads form the neighborhood boundary and internal streets become safer for pedestrians
• Community Facilities at the Center
  • Schools, playgrounds, and community spaces were centrally placed for accessibility to promote social interaction
• Green Spaces & Recreation
  • Parks and open spaces were incorporated to enhance livability and environmental quality
• Zoning for Residential & Commercial Uses
  • Residential areas were separated from heavy commercial and industrial zones
  • Ensures a quiet and healthy living environment
• Influence on Modern Urban Planning
  • The concept became the foundation for suburban planning, new towns, and post-war housing developments
  • Influences designs like Radburn, New Jersey, and contemporary smart growth communities

REGIONAL PLANNING MOVEMENT

• Sir Patrick Geddes (1854-1932)
  • A Scottish biologist, sociologist, and city planner responsible for introducing the concept of "region" to planning and city architecture
  • Known as the 'Father of Regional Planning'
  • Famous Books
    • 1904: City Development: A Study of Parks, Gardens & Culture Institutes
    • 1905: Civics as Applied Sociology
    • 1915: Cities in Evolution
  • Popularized the framework "Folk Work Place" and the planning method "Survey Analysis Plan"
    • Precursor of rational-comprehensive or synoptic planning
  • Used survey methods extensively beginning with a survey of resources, human responses, and resulting complexities of the cultural landscape within a region
  • Coined the terms "city-region" and "conurbation" to mean the conglomeration of urban aggregates
  • Characteritistics of the life-cycle of cities include:
    • Inflow from the migration to large cities
    • Build-up (overcrowding)
    • Backflow (slum formation, central city blight)
    • Sprawling mass resulting in amorphic spread, waste and unnecessary obsolescence
    • He thus prophesized the ill-effects of hyper-urbanization and the rise and decline of cities
  • Stressed the social basis of the city and the relationship between people and cities as they affect one another
  • Focused on individual action and voluntary cooperation as tempered by attention to relations with the physical environment
• Sir Leslie Patrick Abercrombie (1879-1957)
  • An English town planner-architect who became a member of the Siegfried Barlow Commission after World War II
  • Later became a Professor of Civic Design and Town Planning at University College London
  • Known for re-planning of London through 1943's County of London Plan and 1944's extended Greater London Regional Plan known as the Abercrombie Plan where 1.25 million people were dispersed to new towns and rural areas
  • Abercrombie Plan started the "New Towns" movement in the UK
    • Included the building of Harlow and Crawley and the largest 'out-county' estate, Harold Hill in north-east London
  • Received awards for designs for Dublin City and re-planned Plymouth, Hull, Bath, Edinburgh and Bournemouth
  • Founded the Council for the Preservation of Rural England (CPRE) in 1926
    • He first acted as chairman and later honorary secretary
  • Knighted in 1945 and this year published A Plan for the City & County of Kingston upon Hull with the assistance of Sir Edwin Lutyens
  • Commissioned by UK government to redesign Hong Kong after WWII
  • In 1956 and commissioned by Ethiopia to draw up plans for the capital of Addis Ababa

GREATER LONDON PLAN 1944

• Decentralization & Green Belt
  • Proposed a decreasing of overcrowding in central London by relocating people and industries to new towns outside the city
  • Instituted a protected green belt to prevent urban sprawl.
• New Towns & Satellite Communities
  • Suggested creating self-sufficient new towns with housing, employment, and services to accommodate relocated residents
  • Examples include Stevenage, Harlow, and Crawley
• Improved Transport & Road Networks
  • Radial and ring roads were advocated ease congestion and improve connectivity between London and surrounding areas
• Zoning & Land Use Planning
  • Clear distinctions between residential, industrial, and commercial areas
  • Ensured better urban organization and quality of life
• Housing & Slum Clearance
  • Rebuilding war-damaged areas with modern housing estates and improving living conditions was recommended
• Impact & Legacy
  • The London Plan guided London's post-war reconstruction and influenced the British New Towns Act (1946)
  • Many new towns were developed based on its design principles, shaping modern suburban London
  • Green belt and decentralization strategies remain key planning policies in London today, but was never fully implemented
• Lewis Mumford (1895-1990) - Called the Last of the Great Humanists, Father of Historical-Sociological Approach to Planning - wrote Technics and Civilization (1934), The Culture of Cities (1938) City in History (1961)
  • Described city development all over the world and why cities came about and what their continuing function is in The City in HIstory
• Conceived of planning as multi-disciplinary and was extensively involved in Regional Planning in the US East Coast
• Believed society is dehumanized by technological culture and return to a perspective that places emotions, sensitivity, and ethics at the heart of civilization
  • Urban and regional planning should emphasize an organic relationship between people and their living spaces
• Believed cities had poor living conditions and viewed cities as a threat to democracy
  • Argued masses of people in the big city could be kept ignorant and too easy to mislead
• Recognized the physical limitations of human settlement and urged the need for societal needs to be the bases for the judicious use of technology
• Advocated harmonious life among civilized groups in ecological balance with the place they occupied
• Highlighted how the modern city (New York 1960) is following the patterns of Imperial Roman city
  • Suggested if the modern cities follow the same vein, they will meet the same fate

Benton MacKaye (1879-1975)

• Called "father of the Appalachian Trail"
  • Proposed the trail in 1921
• More than 2,000-mile footpath from Maine to Georgia blazed through the efforts of volunteers
• Advocated cultural and recreational areas in an increasingly urbanized environment
• Believed technology needs be tamed for ecological purpose
• Government planner who spearheaded the idea of the "townless highway"
• One of the founders of the Regional Planning Association of America (1923)
• Published The New Exploration: A Philosophy of Regional Planning (1928)
• Prominent in regional conservationism

TOWNLESS HIGHWAY CONCEPT

• An Alternative to Urban Sprawl
  • Mackaye's "Townless Highway" intended to create planned, self-sufficient communities along transportation routes while also countering highways that led suburban disorganized growth
• Decentralized Development
  • Instead of cities expanding endlessly, planned settlements are connected by highways, rail, and green spaces to preserving nature and rural landscapes
• Integration of Nature & Urban Life
  • Inspired by conservationist ideals, highways are surrounded by forests, parks, and agricultural lands to prevent the natural space loss
• Self-Sufficient Communities
  • Compact towns at intervals, each designed to be economically and socially independent as opposed to promoting automobile-dependent suburbs
• Balanced Regional Planning
  • His vision aligned with New Deal-era regional planning, to promote sustainable land use, reduced congestion, and a higher quality of life

CITY FUNCTIONAL MOVEMENT (1910-70)

Movement Description: Responding to city problems in every aspect.

• It reacted to "City Beautiful Movement" in US and "Garden City Movement" in UK
• Emphasized functioning rather than aesthetics
• Supported government efficiency, progressive education, affordable housing, recreation, Enlist businesses
• Focused on opportunity
• Aligned planning to public service
• Used utility infrastructure and land use zoning rather than master planning
• Zoning was implemented to separate "incompatible" land uses
• Zoning ironically creates homogeneity which leads to sterility and inconvenience
• Zoning originated in New York City in 1916 by Edward Bassett
  • "the first attempt to control land use by a municipal government"
  • to contain factory invasion to Fifth Avenue, and the overshadowing of adjacent business
• in 1926, Constitutionality of zoning as part of police power of the State,
• Edward Filene (Boston plan of 1915-16)
• Picked up in Germany and other spots around Europe like Finland and France

Don Arturo Soria y Mata (1844-1920)

• Suggested the Ciudad Lineal/linear city
  • An elongated urban formation running from Cadiz, Spain to Paris and the rest of Europe, eventually up to St. Petersburg, Russia
• Linear utility lines act as the basis of city layout
  • Houses and buildings could be set alongside linear utility systems supplying water, communications and electricity, technology has great impact on the form
• A linear city would have five functionally specialized parallel sectors
  • segregated railway lines
  • production and communal enterprises, plus related scientific, technical and educational institutions
  • green belt with a major highway
  • residential zone with a mix of social institutions, residential buildings and a "children's band"
  • park; & agriculture
• As expansion occurs, additional sectors would be added to the end of each band to be forever longer
• Dominant wind direction should blow from homes to industrial strip
• Ernst May: initial plan for Magnitogorsk
  • identical, equidistant buildings plus dining halls and other public spots

Tony Garnier (1869-1948)

• Noted French architect and city planner, forerunner of avant-garde 20th century architects
• Elaborate solution to use architecture to create industrial utopias, controlling unchecked urban growth and working classes
• Proposed "Une Cité Industrielle" (1917-18)
  • A modern linear industrial city designed for about 35,000 residents in lush residential areas
• Believed "man could rule himself" and removed churches or law enforcement buildings, influenced by Emile Zola
• Concept partially adopted in his hometown of Lyons, France
• Principles: functionalism, space, greenery, and sunshine exposure
• Spaces were separated by zoning into leisure/recreation, industry, work, and transport; his plan allowed vocational type schools to be near the industries to which they corresponded

UNE CITE INDUSTRIELLE Features

• Zoning & Functional Organization
  • The city was divided into distinct zones based on housing type, transport routes, markets, schools, hospitals and parks
    • Residential Areas (separated by housing type)
    • Industrial Zones (away from homes, near transport routes)
    • Commercial & Civic Spaces (markets, schools, hospitals)
    • Green & Recreational Spaces
• Use of reinforced concrete as the primary construction material for durability and efficiency
• Public Services & Infrastructure
  • Public transportation, sanitation systems, and modern utilities to improve living conditions were designed to improve worker life
• Unlike congested industrial cities of the 19th century, Garnier emphasized healthy environments with ample green spaces, wide roads, and natural ventilation
• A secular and progressive vision excluding churches and military barracks,
  • Focused education, healthcare, and social institutions
• Inspired Le Corbusier's urban planning concepts, early functional zoning principles, and 20th-century industrial city developments

CITY EFFICIENT MOVEMENT

• Pioneers of Transport Planning
• Spurred by US Federal Highway Act of 1916 and Interstate Highway Act of 1956
• Rapid land use study e.g. "Traffic is a function of land use" example projects being Chicago/Detroit Transportation Plans.
• Advocated for plans to be in dynamic not static terms.
• Figure in Penn-Jersey Transportation Study, an urban growth simulation model
• Urban transportation can be viewed as a basic spatial organizer of the metropolitan region.
• They showed interdependence of economics, transport, land use and accessibility
• Robert A. Garin and Ira Lowry spatial study with their Garin-Lowry Spatial Allocation Model and Gravity Model.

Dr. Francis Stuart Chapin Jr. (1888-1974)

• First to write a comprehensive textbook on Urban and Regional Planning
• Emphasized quantitative, statistical tools to study social phenomena;
• Treated a town/region as an evolving system- influenced by public policies on the pattern of town evolution-while the growth of these systems could be emulated in a recursive manner
• Planning process would be based the cycles of human behavior
• Pioneer researched of how citizens utilize their city during the course of daily life including social and physical neighborhoods
• Goal: to meet of Spatial Planning needs: health, safety, convenience, economy and facilities.
• Founding of the American Sociological Association and US Social Science Research Council.

Suburbanization & 'Motor cities'

• The Baby Boom Generation/Population Explosion caused an Intensification of Suburbanization after World War II
• Mainly thanks to car popularity and the "the car is king mentality"
• Public resources had increased but were now directed from historic inner-cities towards wealthy class gated residential
• Inner cities abandoned as they would outlive those who created them- donut or hollow structure
• Harvard studied air pollution and climate change since 1950 which showed that as more houses are build further from the city- energy consumption expands per person and piecemeal urbanization infrastructure like roads and energy must be build.
• "Amorphic Sprawl" refers to the " fragmented low-density use of land for urban purposes at scale."
• Distances grew too far for pedestrians increasing dependence of automobiles particularly in young and old populations that cannot drive

Urban Renewal Movement in North America. 1950-70s

• Robert Moses was head of the city, NY, park commissioner and city planning commission
• Helped many public workshops
• One of the most influential officials for 1924-1968.
• $27 billion public works costs.
• Virtually every parkway and public housing in NY. Also, Shea Stadium and the Lincoln Center
  • Had planting of two million trees and built hundreds of parks

Urban Renewal and Tax Increment Financing

• US Federal program from the Comprehensive Housing Act of 1949 -help with communities that are deteriorating unsafe and dilapidated
• Urban Renewal and Tax Increment Financing
  • Parks/Streetscapes were created
• Basic Ideal
  • Future revenue = the revitalization payment.
• City will draw a line to identify the area that is going to be urbanly renewed (aka: Urban renewal boundary)
  • Then City issues urban renewal bonds.
  • Property gains value and a "Tax Increment" will be added.
  • This finances/pays for Urban Renewal

Gentrification

• A means of renovation that will attract new occupants to areas that are blighted
• Those citizens of the Elite would hopefully add the incentive of wanting to support the rest of the inner city.
• Abandoned areas like:
  • Waterfront / Old industrial
• The effect is a social exclusion and Yuppification

Advocacy Planning

• Movement
• Meant to fight and destroy slum neighborhoods that were largely Black neighborhoods
• "Racist" (MLK Jr, J. Baldwin)
  • Large scale demolition of slums (Black areas)
• Manuel Castells - Influenced in gays/Bohemians
• Upscale high real state with "urbanism"

New thoughts/views

• Not raising a family helps
• Easy to do
• Communal service-oriented
• Advocacy and equality in housing . Services and environmental protection is vital. Government institutions force community to work together .
• Paul Davidoff founded
  • idolized Obama
  • A new development in Chicago (plural plans)
  • Claimed (public plans)
  • Science may be politics driven!
• (Rules for radicals) philosophy based on
  • conflict as motivation
  • a society that highlights " the least" (etc)
  • Community organizations
  • Mobilization

NEW URBANISM

• Jane Jacobs
• Wrote urban books in America on urbanism
• Strong critic from 1950s "A City in history" where communities were destroyed Advocated high levels of development Exponents of urbanism advocate for common themes for people to live near in order to better assist themselves with better cities with the presence of more people and less cars involved