Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1914-01-17

| and open spaces will receive ever increas.
/, ing attention. For the same reason the
| hidden Stun. with its misery, peStilence
and victousness sooner or later. must be
| eliminated from each of the worlds great
cities
| There are five Of the world cities that
| are looked upon eNcelling in elements
| of the modern city.
| Five cities They are Paris, BuenoS
Will I'll Aires. Berlin, Wash
| 1AeeA' ington and Dusseldorf
OF these, Paris is generally conceded the
highest percentage of perfection.
With the advent of the planned city,
certain pleasing features of the tradi-
tional city will be lost. Although Queen
Semiramis planned the city of Babylon
back in the mists of antiquity, most cities
have been products of chance and null
tiplicity of idiosyncracies. AS the indi-
vidual felt the need, he builded. Thus
every neighborhood of the city had it's
own peculiar nature, and the whole was
an ever-changing Kaleidoscope of variety
in perspective and ideals. 1t was pic
turesque.
However. all that is lost by the planned
city in picturesqueness will be more than
| made up in the health and we'll being of
as the product of chance accretion never
could. Moreover, the planned city can
be builded for permanency, which will
mean the stoppage of tremendous waste
of energy and wealth, especially in
America.
Those whom fascination for the evolu-
ton and projection of the future city has
made into students and authorities on
the subject have already established GER
tain well defined axioms of city build
nc
old as civilization. 1t is their conscious
application which is new.
Capitalization is the starting point.
Fitting centers are city's administra-
ton buildings. its court
Requisites in houses, general post
City Centers. erary. 1re nrg"t opin M
ion seems to be that these buildings,
often in connection with other buildings
of public character. should be grouped
with liberal open spacing, in the heart
of the business section. From such CEN
| tiers radiate the arteries of the model
city.
One of the earliest model city plans was
known as the 'chessboard. 1t provided
for an unrelieved network of rectangu-
lar streets. making the city a somber
thing of squares and right angles. BY
the side of this idea grew up the theory
that proper arrangement Of city streets
was after the manner of the wagon
wheel the thoroughfares radiating in
all directions from the hub center. Karls-
ruhe Germany, is good example of the
| radial plan.
Neither of these arrangements seems
to answer the full needs of the present
day commercial and industrial city. A
combination of the tWo-a city with even,
rectangular blocks, crossed by diagonal
thoroughfares. connecting in circles or
squares the various centers of traffic
is now generally accepted as best adj
| justed to social and business conditions
| Washington is an example of such a
plan.
There is all advantage in combining
| the broad diagonal thorougllfares with
the regular criss-
Combining Broad cross of streets
With Criss-Cross. sides a%e " that ot
making traffic more direct They pro-
vide the perspectives for the proper set
| ting of the city's more beautiful and
pretentious architectural structures. The
CITY of unrelieved squares has no chapct
| to develop into a beautiful city. The ad
dition of the diagonal thoroughfares pro-
| yides the means for the city's artistic
growth.
| Another phase of the endeavor to real
| ize model cities is the work that is being
| done in the Standardization of streets
| Many interesting studies on this subject
have been made for the American Civic
| Association. 1t is only in recent years
| that the American has begun to classify
| his streets: and, according to their clas-
! sification, plan them Hitherto the WIDTH
Of n street has been a matter to de
| termine in each individual case.
! Several general classificatons oil city
| streets have been made. That mos
widely recognized divides them into q.
! main tlloroughfares, CD secondary tnoi'
| oughfares. and CD local streets An
| other classification Is. u arteiies any
| encirclng avenues, CD business or shop
| ping streets. and 60 residential stfeets
| This last classification comprenends tht
| first division as boulevards. the seconu
as streets proper and the thlrd as ave
| rues The London traffic commission
makes a division into main avenues, hrst
| class arterial streets, second, thlfd ane
| fourth class streets. Finally. the Ter
| mans make distinction of traffic ant
| non-traffic streets.
4 ::
With the determination of the classes
| into which city streets fall. the mex
step is the fix
Standard Widths ing of units as
m assures OF
Next COnSloeIeo. standard widths
At present the width Of city's streets
is largely a matter of personal lhspi
ration. There. also, has grown up
diversity of standards. Street widths
for it's respective classes are placed by
the London traffic commission at l4'
feet, 100 feet, so feet, 60 feet and AZ
to SO feet.
When considered that 20 to 40 pei