Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1957-10-06
. Tonouow
New Urban Problem Needs New Answers

Expanding cities. these days. are up
against 4 new problem. It Is Topic A for
discussion wherever sociologlsts or mnnlc-
ipAl planners gather. The average citizen
u little concerned as yet. But this problem
y not Just for the experts-it matters TO
everyone who lives near population center.
Il matters gree deal 70 people in wash
inetonb Metropolitan Area
The problem arises Is q growing city
spills over iks political Boundaries into the
land around It, The traditional pattern OF
city surrounded By suburbs disappears. The
gaps between the component parts are filled
in and the area becomes . solid metropolis
with old boundaries ohllterated.
Borrowing name coined recently In
Toronto. let US call this metropolitan phe-
nomenon metro" Numerous other names
have been used. ORGANIZATION" Is one. A
national magazine calls 1t "The Exploding
Metropolis" Our name. at least, has the
merit Of brevity. Metro, then, it Is.
Now: This metro. our city of tomorrow,
amounts physically 10 single urban COM
munity. u has many community-wide In
terests. Politically. however. II has no unity,
no identity even. It Is formless conglom-
Grafton Of independent jurisdictions, each
going its own way. often conflicting with
neighboring Jurisdictions In the process.
How can such fragmented community pull
itself together and make some kind Of CO.
ordinated sense? That Is the metro problem.
To say 1t is q new problem Is not TO
say that It has burst on US out OF nowhere.
II has been q longtime coming Cities
have been growing. Of course, ever since the
industrial revolution BY 1910, about half
the Nations people were living In cities or
their sparse suburbs World war II saw
new waves Of urban migration and expan-
sion. producing strains on the existing
political machinery. Still the city areas
could muddle along. While the problems
raised were vexing. It was possible to cope
with them on business as-usual. piecemeal
basis. Moreover, things might settle back to
normal before too long.
But they never did settle. Metropolitan
growth has continued. and in recent years
1t has accelerated alarmingly. Today, nearly
100 million Of the 100 million Americans live
In urban areas. In case after case, the
point has been reached where growth prob
lens no longer can be solved by the In
dividual political entities which make up
an urban community,
Growth coniinues
The urban trend a. population move
ment, moreover, Is established. There =
ncthlng in sight 70 change rs direction. BIT
by blt. u the experts are right, each urban
community WIN ina itself progressively
unable to cope. through the existing political
setups with this or that phase Of its activ-
tiles. More and more. It must recognize the
necessity for metro solutions.
And these win have TO be new solutions.
The metro problem is q particularly tough
one because there is now no recognized
political apparatus which takes It into &C.
count. Certainly the traditional forms Of
local government do not Cities towns and
counties can deal only with affairs within
their physical boundaries. State govern
ments have direct relations only with their
own counties and municipalities Even the
machinery used by the Federal Government
to dispense aid for schools, roads and slum
clearance Is geared TO deal only with States,
cities or counties-though the affected COM
munities are unlikely to conform to these
geographical boundaries.
In sum, although metro Is now the
dominant pattern Of American living, 1t is
q pattern without legal recognition
In series Of articles, Of which this Is
the first. The Star win try to place Washing
tons metro problem in perspective, examin-
Ing the needs and deficiencies 1t has created
and exploring the courses Of action proposed.
Today we are concerned with the national
scope Of the problem; subsequent articles
wiz deal with local manifestations.