The Washburn leader. [volume] (Washburn, McLean County, N.D.) 1890-1986, 1914-05-22
TOWN PLANNINCIN
FOREIGN CITIES

Wuet UUlMeItJ WklsSvu TstW
/ France Have 0oas.
INTERESTING COMPARISONS.
In an Article. Patrick Absrerembis
Ably Epitemixss What The Principal
European Nations Have centributsd
to the Science Of City Making.
An opportunity to learn how Au,eri-
can city planning compares with that
Of other nations is afforded by an ard-
Gle BY Patrick Abercrombie Of Liver
pool. published in the Town Planning
Review. 1t is impossible to print his
paper In full. q matter Of regret. % 1t
presents, an. interesting, analysis Of
what each. nation as a nation has con-
tributed to the study Of town planning
and ctty3organfzation. The statements
as to foreign nations may be thus sum
married:
Germany's town planning compe-
tence, as 1t has been called. has been
inherited for generations. Practically
every German town has. as q matter of
course. its plan drawn in advance.
upon which the utmost care and
thought are expended. Unlimited time
is given to It. The growing Of cities.
to separate manufactures from resi-
denees and to divide residential areas
SO that the farther from the center the
fewer the houses will be; the CONVEX
sion Of Notifications into wide ring
strasses;" the careful and admirable
preservation Of the ancient centers Of
cities: the recognized value Of acquir-
ing large tracts Of land outside the
town. which in %Strassburg amounts to
1854 square yards per i%nhabitant and in
Ulm to three f1fths Of its total area;
the practice of holding competitions in
street design for new areas and the Inn
portation Of the garden suburb idea
from England are declared to be the
striking characteristics Of German city
planning. As to housing MIR. Aber-
crombie says:
ION the whole. as compared with the
advantage of the English one family
house set in an unrelieved monotony
Of dreary streets. Germany has the
tenement .barrack in Z wide street.
with some park. play space or prone
made always at hand. There is an alb
sence Of meanness and an insistence on
the eheerfnlness of city life in the beer
garden. municipal band. etc. Some sc.
rious attempt is made at studying the
art Of city life." fas
The genius of the French nation 6as
been directed toward,the physical Cor.
struction Of the town rather than fts
organization. or social study and -
ward the more monumental and archi-
tectural aspects Of the former. Paris.
is the school of Europe for formal
monumental town. planning both in its
older WORKSHOP a y the b~0ulevardS,
vistas and gardens and s~quares-and
In the more recent work Of HausS-
mann. 3
Hauxs,nann's modernization Of Paris.
in it's comprehensive grasp Of traffic.
hygiene. light and air. is the most
brilliant piece Of town planning In the
world. 1t has. however. to be confess-
ed that 1t does not complete the circle.
though it traverses th%ree-quarters Of
it.. but from Il sociological standpoint
he hardly considered the question II
the inha bitnnts apart from the streets
and public life. ! Recreation is family
thought Of. Z,
France cannot be twitted today with
neglect as social conditions. Her two
housing ;Aws Of 1894 and 1905 = adj.
mirable. Paris possesses what p
probably the finest Institution In Eu-
rope for the scientific historic study of
u town-the Bibliotheque HistOfiqlte
de liz Vile de Paris.
England is declared to have made one
great contribution. but generally "
have been backward. Traffic cOnven.
fence and monumental Qu,iitiex have
alike been lacking.
The normal suburban development
consists in vast arens covered with
monotonous two story houses at the
rate Of forty to ifty-six' to the asT,ss.
This may he considered as n m.,rt. air
healthy type Of development than the
foreign tenement. but 1t results Is .
soul. depression manifested externally
In a drab aud dreary existence. more
terrible than disease. With the excep-
ton perhaps Of the blocks Of New .YOtk
there can be no congl0merance Of hab-
itations more dlstressful than the ea1t
end Of London.
It Is in the NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS.
idea. that England has made Its cOntrs-
button. This movement to too well
known to need recapitulating.
49, %411s y
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