History Flashcards
Hippodamus vs. Aristotle
Aristotle considered the Greek philosopher Hippodamus (5th century BC) to be the first town planner and inventor of the orthogonal (grid) layout.
Aristotle was a critic of the grid system. While a grid may be more visually appealing, but haphazardly planned urban areas are better for deterring invaders.
Orderly planning is more beautiful, but haphazard planning is better for security.
Law of the Indies
Roman Vitruvian Model or the Roman grid: a regular grid composed of four quadrants bisected by a cross-axis.
The Roman grid was modified and used in New World Spanish colonies by Phillip II during the late 16th century in the Spanish “Law of the Indies”. This established the planning principles used in the founding of Spanish pueblos or towns.
Examples include San Antonio, TX; Los Angeles, CA; and Old Town in Fernandina Beach, FL.
The Philadelphia Plan (who, when, where, what)
1682, William Penn
Penn laid out the basic pattern of early colonial Philadelphia as a rectangular grid with streets crossing each other at a central square. The square contained the city’s principal public buildings. The city was divided into four quadrants, each with a small park for green-space.
Annapolis Plan (who, when, where, what)
1695, Governor Francis Nicolson
Nicholson laid out a basic plan and street design for Annapolis, Maryland using a modified baroque plan (unlike the grid system in many American towns). The modified baroque plan consisted of two main circles from which a system of radial streets extended outwards towards the edges of town (i.e. radio-centric).
Savannah Plan (Ward Park System) (who, when, where, what)
1733, James Oglethorpe, Georgia
Olgethorpe founded the town of Savannah. He developed an original town plan in which the basic design unit was a “ward”. Each ward was composed of 4 larger residential blocks and 4 smaller civic/retail blocks arranged around a central square. Each residential block contained 10 houses and was the basic organizational unit for admin, farming, and defense.
Ordinance of 1785
Established the Public Land Survey System. Begins with the est. of N-S meridian lines, E-W base lines, and 6 mile by 6 mile square townships that form the structure upon which all subsequent surveying is based.
It also laid out the process by which lands west of the Appalachian were to be surveyed and sold.
Written by Thomas Jefferson.
1791 Plan for Washington (L’Enfant’s Plan for Washington, D.C.)
Grids and radials
Pierre L’Enfant wrote George Washington with a request to design the federal city. L’Enfant’s plans were well received, but he was really difficult to work with. Benjamin Banneker was a practiced mathematician and astronomer who surveyed the land for the project. Banneker was invited to work on the project by his friend Andrew Ellicott.
Washington fired L’Enfant in 1792. When L’Enfant left the project, he took all his designs with him and left the project in disarray. Ellicott and other planners were worried that they would have to start from scratch. It’s rumored that Banneker reproduced the plan from memory in two days.
While this story cannot be authenticated, Banneker was a confirmed member of the team. As a free black man in a nation still practicing slavery, he used his skill and intellect to disprove the theory that Black people were an inferior race.
Greenbelt Towns (when, where, who)
1935 - Greenbelt Towns. Greenbelt, Maryland is the first and largest of the New Deal Greenbelt Towns built by Roosevelt’s Resettlement Administration under Rexford Guy Tugwell. Designed by Clarence Stein. Other greenbelt towns being Greenhills, Ohio and Greendale, Wisconsin.
First National Conference on City Planning (when, where)
1909 in Washington DC, then called the Committee on the Congestion of Population
The Regional Survey of New York and Its Environ
1922, The purpose of the first Regional Plan was to guide the development of the New York metropolitan area and enhance the quality of life of residents, without regard to political boundaries.
1929, the committee that prepared the plan formally incorporated as the Regional Plan Association or RPA, which implemented the plan.
Inspired regional planning in the US and abroad
TVA
1933, Senator Norris
Tennessee Valley Authority, Roosevelt signed the act in May 1933 to create TVA as a federal corporation. The new agency was tasked with flood control, providing electricity to homes and businesses, and replanting forests
Resettlement Administration
1935, Rexford Tugwell
Greenbelt Towns
Sunbelt Migration
(1950s - 1970s)
World’s Columbian Exposition
1893, Burnham
Also known as the White City. In ~2 years, Burnham developed and completed 150 buildings on more than 600 acres of land. Grand neoclassical buildings were planned as a cohesive whole in a landscaped setting.
Inspiration for the City Beautiful movement.
1902 McMillan Commission Plan (where, who, what)
Washington, D.C. Senator James McMillan of Michigan secured funding for this plan to rework Washington’s core (the mall) using City Beautiful principles.
Progressive Era ideas about the positive functions of government. Civic centers and systematic groupings of public buildings around parks and plazas (San Francisco, Cleveland, Seattle, Denver, Portland, Des Moines, Baltimore, Coral Gables)
First official and permanent local planning board (when, where)
1907 - Hartford, CT
What significant planning events happened in 1909?
First planning association in Washington, DC
National Conference on City Planning in Washington, DC
First state enabling legislation permitting cities to plan, Wisconsin
First course in city planning at the Harvard School of Landscape Architecture, Massachusetts
1st comprehensive zoning ordinance (when, where, who)
1916, NYC, Bassett
1st National Park (when, where)
1872, Yellowstone
1st National Wildlife Refuge (when, where)
1903, Pelican Island, FL
1st city subway (when, where)
1897, Boston, MA
1st US Transcontinental Highway (when, name, where)
1913 (dedicated), Lincoln Highway
West end - Lincoln Park in San Francisco, CA
East end - Times Square in NYC
1st state to mandate subdivision plat referral (when, where)
1913, New Jersey
1st Comprehensive Plan (when, where)
1925, Cincinnati, Bettman & Segoe
