TOPIC 2
HISTORY OF PLANNING &
URBANIZATION
TOPICS
I.
II.
III.
IV.
V.
VI.
URBAN GROWTH XIX CENTURY
A MODEL OF URBAN GROWTH
PLANING ISSUES OF THE XIX CENTURY
URBAN GROWTH XX CENTURY
PLANNING ISSUES XX CENTURY
SIMILARITIES & DIFFERENCES OF THE
URBAN EXPERIENCE
•
USA VS. EUROPE
•
USA VS. DEVELOPING WORLD
VII. CONTEMPORARY URBAN PROBLEMS
URBAN GROWTH XIX CENTURY
• Farm productivity increase (less labor producing
more output) releases some labor.
• Industrialization (shift from cottage industry to
mass production).
• Demographic changes, in particular, migration.
• Technological changes in transport and housing
affected density and concentration.
• Economic activities, mainly industry, are
centralized and concentrated in the center of the
city.
• Urban growth reinforcing itself through the
expansion of commercial activities.
A MODEL OF URBAN GROWTH
TRANSPORT
TECHNOLOGY
DEMOGRAPHICS
(B-D) + M
GROWTH OF
CITIES
HOUSING
PLANNING ISSUES XIX CENTURY
• Public health and sanitation are among
the first urban problems planners begin
dealing with.
• Open space or parks become a
preventive measure of some diseases.
• Housing reform, mainly housing for the
poor, also became another planning topic
(zoning, housing codes, etc.) .
• Levy describes planning as a fusion of art,
architecture, and planning.
PLANNING ISSUES XIX CENTURY
• A breakthrough event that gave planning its very
existence is the recognition of establishing some
public control over the use of private land.
• Planning started to be seen as a means to deal
with issues of interconnectedness and
complexity giving as a a result master planning
or comprehensive planning.
• Planning little by little becomes a governmental
function.
THE CHICAGO PLAN & CIVIC ART
URBAN GROWTH XX CENTURY
• Decentralization forces begin emerging in
tandem with improvements in transportation
technology (water, railroads, electric cars,
combustion engine or Ford’s model T).
• Transportation becomes more flexible and
individualized (the density gradient becomes
flatter).
• As the country and the population acquire
wealth, particularly after WWII, population
begins to move to the outskirts of the city and
suburbs forming bedroom communities.
URBAN GROWTH XX CENTURY
• Economic activities, such as retail and services,
slowly begin to decentralize and deconcentrate
from the center. Centrality begins to lose its
meaning.
• All of the above could have not been possible
without federal programs such as FHA loans,
National Defense Highway act of 1956, tax
incentives, etc.
• Finally, industry begin to move to the suburbs
and the city is transformed from a monocentric
to polycentric urban form.
DENSITY GRADIENT
Population
per square
mile
Distance from the center
PLANNING ISSUES XX CENTURY
• A great shift in the XX century was the acceptance of the
role of government, particularly federal, as a big planner
due to the lessons of the Great Depression (TVA,
highways & public parks are important examples).
• Dams & other water public works are another important
example, particularly, for the Southwest.
• Urban Renewal or poor removal
• Highway planning
• Municipal planning (suburbanization)
• Environmental planning (Late 1960s)
• Equity planning (Civil rights movement)
• Growth management (1980s)
• Smart Growth (1990s)
• Smarter growth
SIMILARITIES & DIFFERENCES
EUROPE VS. USA
• How has history influenced the
development of cities?
• Why doesn’t Europe have the “problem” of
the empty downtown?
• How has Europe approached the issue of
housing affordability?
• Why has Europe evolved towards a more
environmentally “friendly” policies?
SIMILARITIES & DIFFERENCES
DEVELOPING WORLD VS. USA
• What are the key differences of the urban process? What
role does industrialization play? What role does the green
revolution play?
• What are the differences in the urban hierarchy of the
USA and Mexico? Urban primacy vs. rank size rule.
• How do the XIX century planning issues in the USA
compare to the planning issues facing developing
nations?
• Are the differences in urban development disappearing or
becoming sharper?
• Are megacities such as Mexico City sustainable?
Stages of development
(Peter Hall)
• First: rural to urban
migration
• Second:
Industrialization
• Third:
Suburbanization
• Fourth:
Deconcentration
• Fifth: Multicentric
cities
C. Fuentes
• First: the establishment of
the border open the
opportunities for
commerce & services.
• Second: the surge of
maquiladoras (industry)
reorganize the urban
structure and started
competing with
commerce & services for
location near the bridges.
• Third: the transition from
a monocentric to
polycentric city.
A MODEL OF URBAN GROWTH
TRANSPORT
TECHNOLOGY
DEMOGRAPHICS
(B-D) + M
GROWTH OF
CITIES
HOUSING