Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1958-03-23
Rebuilding Of Europe Offers Ideas
For Our Own RedeveIopment Efforts

express arteries. The dominant
expressway pattern is one of loop
roads, which permit traffic TO by
pass the most congested areas.
This is largely possible, however,
because the automobile is not the
standard home to-job vehicle it is
here and because there is far less
committing between the suburbs
One Of the sharpest contrasts
with our practices / found, was
the rigid control which European
cities impose over the use of
land. In England. for example.
virtually every inch of land is
planned as to use. and conform
ance is strict. In Europe, 1.-The
feeling is that a building permit
is a privilege-not a right. And
this philosophy makes it easier
for European cities to control open
spaces than cities in the United
States.
On the other hand, powers of
condemnation to acquire land are
much weaker throughout most of
Europe than in this country. In
Germany. for example, land must
be acquired for the most part
by negotiation with private own
ers. and this often makes rede-
velopment tough proposition. AS
a result. saw instances in which
redevelopment projects had to
skirt around the old buildings Of
owners who refused to sell.
Mony Devices Used
A great variety of procedures
are used for acquisition of land
and for compensation to owners.
The French have a system
called REIMBURSEMENT" in which
each property owner in an area
to be redeveloped receives not
cash, but an equivalent share in
the redevelopment association.
Rotterdam, which condemned all
property in bombed areas during
the war, allows ownerS to apply
the value of their old property
against new construction. In both
the French and Rotterdam plans,
the shares and rights are fully
negotiable to other parties. In
England, the government buys
land in areas declared to be
"slumS," but pays nothing at all
for "slum" buildings.
In both England and Europe.
there is very little private home
building, as we know it. In Eng
land, the dominant solution 10
Slum clearance and the housing
shortage is government-built pub
lie housing. In France, Germany
and other parts of Europe, new
construction is financed by long,
term. low interest government
loans to nonprof1t building coop.
eratives-an indirect national sub.
sidy to the bulk of the population.
Except in France, however, Eu-
ropean cities get little or no help
from the national governments in
planning redevelopment, as our
cities do through Title of the
1949 Housing Act. On the other
hand. little red tape is imposed on
the municipalities. This places ire
mendous responsibilities on the
cities themselves, and. conse-
quently,s redevelopment today is a
major cause of widespread munic-
ipal borrowing throughout Europe.
AS noted above, conditions
abroad vary so widely from those
in the United States that it often
appears there is little to compare.
In the final analysis, we are at
tempting to accomplish many of
the same goals. In a sense, we are
both experimenting with new pro-
cedureS and techniques to restore
new life into our old cities. / can
think of nothing more helpful
than to establish close liaison as
each OF us here and in other cities
OF the world goes his own way. so
That each may learn from the
other.