The Fargo forum and daily republican. [volume] (Fargo, N.D.) 1894-1957, 1912-01-27

lE
to lay out whole towns and see then
live, says Chas. Mulford Robinson
specialist in town and city planning
inR The Survey Press Bureau. The
popular term in connection with towr
plating appears, indeed. almos'
prophetic, for of the towns laid out
80 many lie dead upon the landscape
Cheap little n1arkers-sometime
small wooden crosses-designatins
the graves of buried hopes, are tho
only evidence OF that which might
have been.
1t Is not enough to say that usually
such towns are plated inexpertly In
a real estate Office. A live town needs
more than a good plan. 1t must have
a reason. These are moi new ideas
And so. though the public has learn
ed a great deal on the subject oil
city planning from the recent atten-
ton to the subject, a person cannot
yet, very comfortably, apply the
term "city pIanner" to himself. If he
tries 1t, he is bound to wonder what
the other fellow is thinking of him.
There is ground for the suspicion that
he is being classified as a fool or q
visionary.
So, between the blight Of ~conspicu-
failures in speculative town pro-
motions and the handicap OF a term
MISUNDERSTANDING too little under
stood-it is remarkable that the sci.
ence of city planning has progressed
so rapidly and won for itself so large
a place in the public confidence. The
argument that we plan everything
else, houses, gardens, factories, rail-
roads, nj should also plan the city
is familiar.
But the truth is we are planning it
all the time. Week by week new
streets are plated, new territories
opened, and day by day changes are
going forward in even the most fixed
portions of the city. City planning
does not mean that a costly pro-
gramme. of remodeling must be under
taken but that as changes are made
they shall tend to bring nearer to
realization the form which is con-
templated in the plan. The goal OF
that final consummation is a union
of efficiency and beauty--a product
which it naturally is not fair to eX-
\ pSSL "AlN1S A11 Nl y 4sAAA VA 80
| dividually or in small groups, with
out a comprehensive scheme which
has regard for their relation to all
other streets.
We need to appreciate more than
we do the Importance, measured on
what we may call the scale of human
ity, of even the meanest street. How
the lives OF those who live upon It.
To think Of a street only as a passage
way, is to lose much Of it's true sig
nificance. It's width is n of the
factors that determine the most of
the lots which front upon it and the
rent Of the houses along it. The near
ness to the next parallel thorough
fares settles the depth of all the lots
on either side of a street. The char
acter of its pavement, the cost of its
upkeep and the care that is given to
it, are additional economic factors
closely affecting those who dwell upon
it. The street is the outlook upon the
world of those who are in the houses.
To the smaller children it is the world
itself. All the currents of life, all
grades of society, are affected by the
problems of the street. No one who
lives in city or town or village can
escape the influence Of the street upon
which he dwells. The joy Of pain Of
life, the comfort or hardship of 1T, its
efficiency or failure, ar due in sur
prising measure to the wisdom or
thoughtIessness with which streets
are plated.
The street, when carefully studied.
gains a new dignity and value. No
more can 1t be despised. One does
not venture to speak in reproach of
those whose existence is most plain
~ identified with it--as the children
Of the street" the women of the
street''-for one finds the fortunes of
us all are but little less bound up in
1t. Even rs a mere p~assage-way, 1t
is the channel of the common life. The
study OF how best to plan the streets.
how to adjust them most perfectly to
life as 1T ought to be, is no mean sub
ject or dry technical problem.
II fancy" said DR.. Delos F. Wilcox,
in an address before the City club of
Philadelphia some months ago, that
the civic renaissance which must
surely come, which indeed has al
ready appeared in its sporadic begin
nings, will never get very far until
ing or a mark on a map; or as only
the dignity Of the street the COM
mon street, where the city's children
play, through which the milk wagon
drives, where the young men are edu-
Gated, along which the currents Of the
city's life flow increasingly"
The street, then, ought not to be
thought Of as simply a line in a draw
ing or a mark Q ma map; or as only
a sacrifice Of perfectly good real es-
tate necessary to make the rest of the
land saleable. 1t ought not to be
treated, as city ordinances SO gener-
ally do, as an urban element which
can be taken care Of by general rules.
standardizing width and grade ano
proportions OF roadway and sidewalk:
nor, on the other hand, as a matter
of so little consequence that any land
owner should be allowed to please
himself in the plating Of it. In the
last analysis, the purpose OF the street
is TO serve in the best way possible
those who live upon 1t and who use
it. Unless 1T makes for their con-
venience and their comfort, unless IL
gives them good homes and facilitates
the transaction of their business, it Is
a failure. Social enthusiasm-church-
es, parliaments, schools, Libraries.
baths and clubs, even though 1t group
these into effective centers. "A greater
gift Is the facilitation Of a whole
some family life and OF personal efa-
cheney. The duty Of the street to
those who live upon it, to those who
traverse it, and the contribution it
makes to the life of the community
at largethese are the great questions
which makes its problems vital and