Arizona republican., 1914-12-06
CLUB NOTES

] that has encountered our sidewalks
with all sorts of distractions, permit
| ted public nuisances, allowed blazing
advertisements to mar the landscapes
| and that has made it possible for the
individual to ruin the architectural eff
| feet of an entire section of the city.
| Moreover there was no conscious work
ing out, until very recently, of type
of government especially shaped to
meet the needs of the city. Municipal
government was merely copy of fed
eral and state governments whose
problems are far different. And gov
eminent dealt largely with political
and legal problems. There was no
thought that the city could be shaped
and used as a conscious instrument
| for the people.
But a new civic sense is developing
The dominant idea in modern munich
pal progress is community co-opera
| ton. What can the city do for the in
dividual and what can the individual
do for the community to the end of
better public service?
Some twenty years ago, Germany,
with her passion for efficiency, not on
! ly in the army, but along all lines rec
ognized the permanency of the city.
and its possibilities as a factor in
progress. The German city was
built with a vision of the future. The
individual had to give way to COM
munity interests, and the happiness,
health and well being of the people
as a whole was considered. The
engineer and the architect, the artist
and the expert in hygiene have all
been called upon to contribute to
the city's making. with the result
that in southern Germany today may
be found some of the famous cities
of the world-Munich. the cleanest
city in Europe-Berln the most
beautiful-Frankfort on the Main, an
Example of business administration
Dusseldorf, the model city and Ores
den and Cologne residence towns par
excellence yet All prosperous, in
dustral cities. But industry in Ger
many has not been permitted to mar
land disfigure the city. on the con-
trary factory owners devote them
selves to the Improvement of cities
and ito do for the people"
The city environment is necessari-
ly an artificial one 1t may be such
as will develop a high degree of ci-
vilization, or it may lower standards
and be the direct cause of immortality
and degradation. The Germans have
recognized the influence of environ
ment on mans life not only aes-
thetically, but morally and Industrial
ly. For the past fifteen years almost
every German city has undertaken a
more or less ambitious planning pro-
iect. AT Berlin and Drusseldorf are
colleges of town planning and city
administration and expositions of
city planning are held frequently.
Staed Tetan," devoted to the interests
of city planning.
The railway station or Bahnhoff
Platz is an index to the archi-
tectural splendor of the German
city. 1t is not only beautiful
and harmonious in itself but
also harmonizes with the archi-
tectural scheme of the city, while
every provision is made for comfort
and safety. Every German city has
its fixed civic center or centers with
imposing public buildings. The
| streets, the parks, open spaces. sub
urbs and water fronts are the WORK
Of the trained expert. The width
the style and the character of the
streets are planned with referenc tC
the use to which they are to be put
The Germans do not use the checker
board plan of streets so universal
in the residence sections The Height
of buildings is determined, the space
between and the garden fronts. TIL,
city is carefully divided Unto zones
I and residence sections cannot be-
marred by the building of stores Of
factories. Factories are usually To-
Ecated on the railways or in the sub
urbs on the lee side of the wine
s where the dust and smoke will blow
away from the town. The land ow
: ner and the builder must conform
I Individual rights are subordinated I,
I those of the community.
! This is quite different from tn,
American city Wnere man may az
! what he wills with his land, erect
: dirty factory in the best of a resi-
! dence section, put up an apartment
I next to a beautiful home, or build ;
Z garage or saloon, and thus chang
I the whole character of a district. |
! is true that there are building re
! strictions in the American City, bu
it is left to the public spirited or IA
sighted individual to make them. Ii
many of our cities a man has beef
{ allowed to divide up his own prop
erty. lay out streets and put in sew
I erage TO suit himself, and sections
! that might have been beautiful ha'
: the city had harmonious plan, hav
5 been ruined architecturally
( Perhaps many Of you can cite
I city back east from which you nav
come where these things are true
Is The following example an exceptio,
= among our American cities M,