New-York tribune., 1909-04-27
TOWN PLANNING.

| In tho town .DIanning exhibition tha is TO be
! held here Epxt month the Committee on Con
gestion resumes the work which it began laSI
year to attract public attention to some OF Tue
! larger problems of this city. The theory Oh
town planning is that by intelligent looking
! ahead city can be made more comtortapie'
heaIthfuI and beautiful III the future than II its
| DEVELOPMENT is left to take its natural coui Sc
: If is a familiar observation that II the carry
builders of New York could only haze toreSeeh
! that this city going to be somelhilS lioi
! than a village they would not have luu oul
streets like Nassau street and that If Their sue
| cessOrs had only realized that New 1ork "ouiu
| some dav be longer from north TO SouIh II'i
! from east 10 west they would have turned
about the street and avenue and long ana SnoII !
/ block system that they laid out uptown II
! they could have looked ahead, they Would nave
! nrovidpd atffng spaces and Fairgrounds
! when land was cheap. If they had had any
! imagination they would not have pefmitled lne
! solid blocks of ''old law" tenementS.
/ But we are not profiting to-day by their fan
! lIres New York can clearly enough look ahedu
/ now. but it is not looking ahead Some DAY
when the outlying boroughs which have been
added to it are built up in unsuitable tenements
without breathing spaces future generation
will he Iamenting the fact that the present gen
/ Grafton could not foresee how the city WOuld
grow But the public can fOreSee suthclentiE 10
dav to act intelligentIy-only it will not 1t
regulates the way an individual builds house
{ its inspectors watching him closely and report
inc technical violations against him. 1t VIII
not permit single house to he built haphaz-
ard: but il lets the city be buIlt haphazard.
1t is penny wise and pound foolish
II is doubtless more difficult to decide how Il
city should develop than how a house should he
huilt There are more diSputable questions in
the one case than in the other and they are of
more fundamental character. To approach
them requires courage and intelligence. The
problem is big and calls for Imagination There
fore II is indoenty put off from generation to
generation But il is TO be hoped that Such
work as the Committee on Congestion is doing
will ultimately awaken deeper public interest,
so that town planning will be undertaken in
earnest
II has very practical side This deplorahle
congestion Of population. for instance. pro
ceeds from the congestion of industry in one
part Of Manhattan. This congestion of industry
also causes the congestion Of rapid transit
ira tfic- everybody travelling in the same dirPC-
tion at the same time with the result that
nearly twice the service is required to move the
people that would be needed if industry were
scattered and movement of traffic were in all di-
rections nj once Moreover, from this congestion
of industry an increase of Improbable long haul
traffic is constantly being felt l. there a key
to this: If 50. its application will save con
siderable money and add to the comfort of the
people in more ways than one. Would rapid
transit for freight develop outlying sections,
where factory rents would be low. and thus
diffuse industry and populationf II is with
such practical questions this that town
planning is concerned as we'll as with questions
to what restrictions the public interest re
quireS should he placed upon the lines Of hor
ough development.