The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1916-06-16
Municipalities of 100000
 Population Should Make . Changes Now, Recon
 mends Man Who Studied
 Bridgeport's Problems Reservation of Park Lands Important.


 Reservation of Park Lands
 Important.
 John Nolen, city plan expert who studied Bridgeport and made recom- mendations recently has written an interesting article in the June Num- Der of the City Plan. Planning Problems of Smaller Cities of the United States" is the title of the arti- cle, which follows:
 This paper is to be devoted to the problems of the smaller cities, which have been defined in a rough way to Include cities with a population of approximately 100000, or which will soon have a population of that size. The leading idea of the paper how ever, will be to show that the plan ming problems of the smaller cities nave an opportunity to head off and avoid many of the evils resulting from the early lack of proper planning on the part of cities that are now large. The chief points of comparison will be that the planning measures recon mended for the small cities may be mainly preventive, while in the larger cities, except in the outlying areas, they must be mainly corrective. More over, the smaller cities by taking early action can establish high stand ards of physical development and carry them out at low cost. On the other hand, the larger cities must be satisfied with low standards carried out at high cost. Thus it would seem that the subject of the paper is not so much the planning problems of the smaller cities, but their planning op- portunities.
 A notion prevails that comprehen- sive plans are needed only for large cities. The reverse of this is nearer ft7r H1 ,s4 tions are comparatively fixed and un- yielding. Comprehensive planning, especially with our present legal linn itations, can occupy only a limited field in larger places, relieving only the worst physical conditions, anne -s HOrating merely the most acute and intolerab1e forms of congestion, cor recting at best but the gravest mis- takes of the past Wide, many-sided, tn thorough-going imaginative planning, so far as large American cities are concerned, under popular democratic administrations, must be confined for the present mainly to the expansion of these cities, and to the betterment of what are really suburban or sep arate communities on their outskirts. But with the smaller cities-cIt1es with a population which would justf- fly placing them in the 100000 pop ulation class, the opportunity is diff ferent. Comprehensive planning may be to them of far reaching and per p1anent service, for there is scarcely anything in the smaller places that may not be modified or changed. Tn the smaller cities, for example, streets can be widened, transit systems prop erly outlined, building districts de- fined, park and recreation areas se- lected, public buildings grouped, and a scheme of planning adopted which will have unity and character. All nf fS nf oifU n1a l. most indispensable sooner or later to the progressive community may be lad in the small city with relative ease and at slight cost. As we have given heretofore in our efforts to- wards social reform too much at tention to caring for the mere wreck age of society, and too little toward establishing better social order that would permanently reduce the amount of that wreckage and it's cost, so we have expended too much of our time and money in almost futile consdera- ton of the ills that aff1ict our great cities, instead of providing against an unnecessary repetition of those self same ills in cities that are today small, but in which there are clear indica- tiens of steady growth. There is an, analogy close enough fo1. the purposes of this discussion between the ease with which a child may be improved as compared to an adult, and a small city as compared to a larger one. Po- tentia1ly almost every improvement is possible to the former. What is still possible in the latter is definitely linn tied.
 Two Forms of Town and City PIan- ming
 Two forms of town and city plan ming have required attention in the past, and will continue to require at tention in the future.| The first is concerned with villages and towns planned in advance of a settlement of population; the second with existing towns and cities which must be re- planned or remodeled to meet new and insistent requirements. Planning a town or village before it's settlement has great advantages. Many places intended primarily for governmental, industrial or residential purposes have been so planned. It is a method which merits much wider use. But the opportunity to plan a cornmun- ity in advance is only occasionally possible The complex influences which determine the selection of the sites for towns and villages and fu- ture cities and the locations of the first streets and buildings must usu- ally be left to work out their results by natural. forces. The opportunity deliberately to lay out new towns and cities is limited, and probably always will be. When, however, a small pop ulation has been attracted to a viI- 1age or town by natural causes and there are indications that because of strategic situation, climate, natural resources, the inevitable trend of trade and commerce, the wealth and energy of citizens, or other forces, a city of some importance is to be established, then if action is taken soon enough, it is entirely practicable and cer- tain1y economical to rep1an the exist ing town so as to provide more sat isfactorily for it's present and it's fu- ture needs. There are scores of cities in this country with a population to- day of 100000 that will have a quar- ter of a million in two generations or less. We can realize this fact more vividly if we look back 30 years, say one generation, and contrast the