The Washburn leader. [volume] (Washburn, McLean County, N.D.) 1890-1986, 1914-08-14
GUIDANCE FOR
CITY GROWTH
Pioneers Today Are the Town
Planners.
TOWNS ARE BORN AGAIN.

New and Strange Demands Have
swampsd the Facilities Of Munich
palitiss Built On the Old lines-A
Proof Of virility, Not Of Weakness.
ny CHARLES MILFORD ROBINSON
LAuthor Of 1.-THE Width and Arrangement
Of Streets-A Study In Town Plan
ning."l D
A famous English landscape archi-
tect has just been summoned to Greece
to make a city plan for Athens. The
explanation is that Athens has been
experiencing that growth which in re-
cent years has been so marked a fea-
ture Of. city life throughout the world.
She finds it necessary to provide am.
pier facilities for her crowding traffic.
new and shorter avenues to the sub
urban residence districts that are
growing up around her. mores' and
larger parks for a larger population.
from whom the growing city has been
pushing. the country farther and far
Their sway.
.Atbsns has been brought face to
face with the common. worldwide
problem. She could be no more e
empt from it than is the railroad juno
ton ON the prairie, the mining town Of
Wales, the clean industrial city of
Germany. She has had to send for
the. city planner, as Topeka lately did;
as Calgary, Canada; as Houston. Tex.
and as staid New Haven did.
Everywhere the growing city has to
meet the problem Of readjustment.
The boy putting on long trousers
taxes thought as to his future and is
better for doing 50. 1t is equally we'll
and normal for the city to do these
things. and all kinds of cities all over
the world are doing 1t.
So it has come about that what is
called city planning has developed
into one of those rare and epoch mark
ing world movements that are the
great milestones Of history and that
influence civilization.
For hundreds and hundreds of years
cities Ind been cramped inside of en-
comprising walls. The people were
huddled together for defense. and
growth Of population meant an ever
closer crowding. There were no cleared
spaces then for Fairgrounds and parks.
The very streets were narrowed to the
limit. many becoming no more than
mere Sits between the walls. This was
possible because the towns, being OF
such restricted area and doing almost
NO manufacturing. had very little We
hicle traffic. IL a person rode any
where he went on horseback. but It
was not too far to walk wherever n
wanted to 20. and there was little
freight to be TRANSPORTED.
Then very suddenly there came a &C.
ries Of events that were dramatic in
their cumulative effect upon the city.
The engirdling walls were taken down.
and the city could expand. At the same
moment there were a development OF
manufacturing and a building Of rail-
roads that brought into the cities a
rush Of population that forced expan.
sion and choked their streets with
freight.
The cities had to expand. and the
more area they covered the greater. OF
course. became the use Of vehicular
transportation. necessitating new street
adjustments. The city boundaries were
pushed farther and farther outward.
and as fast as they went the means Of
transportation improved. The slow and
numbering old stage. or bus. was fol-
lowed by the horse car. drawn more
swiftly and smoothly upon rails. Then
came the cable car and then the troll
lev. A point four miles from the center
Of town became as near by street car
as a point only one mile out had been.
As the streets were extended mile upon
mile they created a need for parks and
open spaces. and these in their turn.
absorbing city land. FASTENED the
towns expansion. Now the telephone
and automobile have been developed
and are facilitating the outward march
Of the town. 1t has been we'll said that
there has been more change in urban
conditions in the last fifty years than
in the 1900 years preceding.
What wonder that such new and
strange demands have. swamped the
facilities Of cities built on. the old plan:
! what wonder that the new and now se-
sriously studied science Of city planning
4 is suddenly finding a broad field Of use
fulness: what wonder that cities every
where are calling for readjnstment and
calling the more loudly as they are the
more progressive. It 10 q proof Of viril-
ity. not of weakness. when q commune
~ takes up town planning. In Massa-
) chusetts. indeed. the legislature has en-
acted a law requiring every community
Of. 10000 or more population to haveta
planning board.
. ITO make cities" said Henry Drum.
~mond-"that 10 what We are here for.
for the city is strategic. Il makes the
towns: the towns make the, villages:
the villages make the Fcountry. BE who
make, the. city makes the world. After
ali,l though men make citisg. ! tisscities
which make men. Whether our ma
honal life Is great or mean. whether
orr social virtues are mature or stunt
ga. whether our Q nj are moral OF
s-sa r,ho%hnn eoifuinu IL nfhsfhfa ar