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The reason for preparing this book is the astonishing variation in the practical efficiency of methods actually employed and prescribed by law or legal custom in different parts of the United States in acquiring land for public purposes, in distributing the cost of public improvements, and in other proceedings essential to the proper shaping of our growing cities to the needs of their inhabitants. Mere variation in method would be of little more than academic interest in itself, but variations that result in obstructing the path of progress in one community and clearing it in another are of large practical importance. The extent and significance of these practical variations have impressed themselves more and more strongly on the writer in the course of an extended practice as a landscape architect, especially in connection with the design and execution of such municipal improvements as parks, playgrounds, public squares, parkways, streets, the placing of public buildings and the improvement of their grounds. Even more notable than the variation in method and in relative efficiency has been the close preoccupation of public officials, especially in the city law departments, with the constantly recurring problem of finding the way of least resistance for navigating a specific improvement through the maze of obstacles imposed by the existing local legal situation, accompanied by an almost fatalistic acceptance of these obstacles as a permanent condition. There has been evident in most cities a very limited acquaintance with conditions and methods to be found elsewhere, and a general lack of strong constructive effort for the improvement of the local conditions and methods on the basis of general experience. Of late years, however, there has been a growing tendency to break away from this indifference and to face these problems in a larger spirit. Feeling the importance of stimulating and assisting such constructive local effort by calling attention to the more important of the variations in actual use, and lacking both the time and the legal training to himself prepare a proper presentation of the subject, the writer of this preface urged the Russell Sage Foundation, some three years ago, to provide the funds for making a systematic survey of the field and for publishing its results. The response was cordial and effective and enabled Mr. Flavel Shurtleff of the Boston Bar to devote a large part of his time for two years to the undertaking. Mr. Shurtleff has done the real work of the book from beginning to end and is responsible for its accuracy from a legal point of view. The writer of this preface has been compelled to limit his collaboration to a general guidance in the gathering and selection of material and its arrangement for presentation, and to a somewhat careful and detailed revision of the manuscript and proofs for the purpose of making the impressions conveyed by the book conform in a common sense way with the observations and conclusions to which he has been led in dealing with actual problems of municipal improvement in many different cities.
In the mid-twentieth century, as Americans abandoned city centers in droves to pursue picket-fenced visions of suburbia, architect and urban planner Edmund Bacon turned his sights on shaping urban America. As director of the Philadelphia City Planning Commission, Bacon forged new approaches to neighborhood development and elevated Philadelphia's image to the level of great world cities. Urban development came with costs, however, and projects that displaced residents and replaced homes with highways did not go uncriticized, nor was every development that Bacon envisioned brought to fruition. Despite these challenges, Bacon oversaw the planning and implementation of dozens of redesigned urban spaces: the restored colonial neighborhood of Society Hill, the new office development of Penn Center, and the transit-oriented shopping center of Market East. Ed Bacon is the first biography of this charismatic but controversial figure. Gregory L. Heller traces the trajectory of Bacon's two-decade tenure as city planning director, which coincided with a transformational period in American planning history. Edmund Bacon is remembered as a larger-than-life personality, but in Heller's detailed account, his successes owed as much to his savvy negotiation of city politics and the pragmatic particulars of his vision. In the present day, as American cities continue to struggle with shrinkage and economic restructuring, Heller's insightful biography reveals an inspiring portrait of determination and a career-long effort to transform planning ideas into reality.
City and Regional Planning provides a clearly written and lavishly illustrated overview of the theory and practice of city and regional planning. With material on globalization and the world city system, and with examples from a number of countries, the book has been written to meet the needs of readers worldwide who seek an overview of city and regional planning. Chapters cover the history of cities and city and regional planning, urban design and placemaking, comprehensive plans, planning politics and plan implementation, planning visions, and environmental, transportation, and housing planning. The book pays special attention to diversity, social justice, and collaborative planning. Topics include current practice in resilience, transit-oriented development, complexity in planning, spatial equity, globalization, and advances in planning methods. It is aimed at U.S. graduate and undergraduate city and regional planning, geography, urban design, urban studies, civil engineering, and other students and practitioners. It includes extensive material on current practice in planning for climate change. Each chapter includes a case study, a biography of an important planner, lists of concepts and important people, and a list of books, articles, videos, and other suggestions for further learning.