History of Planning (The Green Book, 2nd Ed., Planetizen On-line course, wikipedia.com,
APA factbook)
I.
Prior to 1890
a. 3 Periods (Colonial Era, Period of Expansion/westward migration, and years
following the Civil war)
b. 1790 – firs US Census
c. Colonial tradition: preplanned communities norm for early colonial
settlements
i. Law of Indies fixed form of Spanish cities in the Americas
ii. Several US cities (New Haven, Philly, Detroit, Savannah) laid out in grid
pattern
iii. Early settlements consisted of homes, streets, public spaces, churches,
gov building
d. Early republic
i. Ordinance of 1785 established a system of rectangular survey
coordinates, this opened the door to settlement of the American West
ii. L’Enfant commissioned to design capital
1. radial plan, centered on Capitol and White House, connected by
large diagonal boulevard (Pennsylvania Ave)
2. lots of public open space and plazas, malls
iii. Andrew Ellicott completes L’Enfant’s task
iv. Large scale city plans developed early 1800’s (Detroit, New York) – grid
patter to maximize efficiency
v. 1803 – Louisana Purchase (800,000 square miles) – doubles nations size
vi. 1811 – Cumberland Road is the first major road in the US constructed
with federal funds (Cumberland, MY to Columbus, OH)
vii. 1817 – Erie Canal is begun, operational in 1825
e. Expansion
i. 1830 – small grid plan laid out at site of Chicago
ii. 1830 – 1840 NY tenements (for waves of European immigrants)
iii. industrial cities – based on railroad transportation, need many works,
which resulted in lots of tenement housing around factory sites
iv. Frederick Law Olmsted and Calvert Vaux – Central Park design in 1851
v. 1862 – Homestead Act
f. Postwar Era/Turn of the century
i. 1867 – 1st New York tenement housing law is enacted
ii. 1867 – San Fran passes first land use zoning restriction (obnoxious uses)
iii. 1867 – purchase of Alaska
iv. 1872 – Yellowstone is first national park
v. 1879 – tenements laws expanded – now narrow air shaft is required
between adjacent structures, also required 2 toilets)
vi. 1878 – John Wesley Powell – Report on the Lands of the Arid Region of
the United State (includes a proposed regional plan to foster
settlement and conserve water resources)
-1-
vii. 1877 – Munn v. Illinois: paved the way for future government
intervention in land use (when property is devoted to a use having a
public interest, owner must submit to be controlled by the public for
the common good)
viii. Jacob Riis – How the Other Half Lives, Children of the Poor
ix. 1890v. 1892 – Chicago’s World Fair (Colombian Expansion) – white city,
Daniel Burnham
x. City Beautiful Movement – Daniel Burnham
xi. Garden Cities – Ebenezer Howard
xii. 1897 – first underground railroad constructed in Boston
II.
1900 – 1920
a. 1901- New Law (tenement law)
i. Provisions of law
1. required permits for construction, alteration and conversion
2. required inspections
3. penalties for construction
ii. Building condition requirement
1. space for light and air between structures
2. toilet and running water for each apartment
b. 1902 – US Reclamation Act – uses funds from the sale of public lands to
finance water storage and irrigation projects
c. 1909 – first national planning conference (National Conference on City
Planning and Congestion Relief), Washington DC;
first city planning course – Harvard
d. New era of plans
i. McMillan Plan (1902) – for the development of Washington D.C.
1. McMillan Commission – named by Sen. James McMillan, Daniel
Burnham, Frederick Law Olmsted Jr., Charles McKim)
2. Inspired by the original 1791 plan for the City by Pierre L’Enfant
ii. American Republican Progressive movement
1.
iii. Garden Cities, Ebenezer Howard
1. 1903 – letchworth, England (designed as a City of 35,000
surrounded by greenbelt)
2. Hampstead Garden Suburb, London (designed by Raymond
Unwin) – first comprehensive neighborhood design
iv. 1903 – Cleveland Group Plan, Burnham, Carrere, Brunner (stimulated
civic plans throughout the US)
v. 1903 – firs national wildlife reguge established by Theodore Roosevelt
at Pelican Island, FL
vi. 1904 – Plan for San Francisco, Burnham and Edward Bennett (one of 1st
major cities to apply City Beautiful principles)
vii. 1907 – Hartford Commission, Connecticut (first official, local, and
permanent town planning board in the US)
viii. 1907 – 1,285,000 immigrants, flooded tenements
-2-
ix. 1909 – Burnham creates first metropolitan-regional plan for Chicago
1. large area with outer belt of regional parks and reservations
2. radial and concentric highways
3. lakefront park system
4. straightened Chicago River
x. 1909 – Wisconsin passes first state enabling act granting municipalities
xi. 1909 – Los Angeles passes land use zoning ordinance, creating zones for
undeveloped land
e. 2nd Decade, by 1910 92 million Americans
i. 46% urban, 50 cities with over 100,000 residents
ii. Forest Hills , Frederick Las Olmsted – served as a model for suburban
land development
iii. 1912 – Supreme Court case Eubank v City of Richmond finds that
municipal control of the horizontal location of buildings on private
property (via setback legislation) is constitutional
iv. 1912 – Walter Moody publishes Wacker’s Manual of the Plan of Chicago
– used as an 8th grade textbook
v. 1913 – Federal Reserve Act – creat4ed Federal Reserve as central bank
vi. 1914 – Carrying Out the City Plan (first major text on city planning)
vii. 1915 – Hadacheck v Sebastian, regulation not precluded by fact the
values on investments prior to regulation would be diminished by the
regulation (essentially validated zoning)
viii. 1916 – New York City zoning code, first comprehensive zoning code
ix. 1916 – Federal-Aid Road Act – provided assistance for state highway
construction (4.7 million cars by 1917)
x. 1916 – National Park Service established
xi. 1917 – American City Planning Institute (ACPI), precursor to AICP,
formed (Frederick Law Olmsted, Jr. – first president)
xii. US became an urban nations as it entered the 1920’s (51% of
population lives in urban areas)
III.
1920 – 1940: decades of contrast
a. 1920’s – prosperity enabled first massive migration of middle-income people
to the suburbs
i. Focus of planning on undeveloped areas and subdivision controls.
ii. City Efficient and City Administrative begins replacing the City
Beautiful movement
1. City Efficient
2. City Administrative
iii. 1921 – New Orleans creates nations first historic commission, Vieux
Carre (French Quarter) becomes historic district in 1937
iv. 1922 – Pennsylvania Coal v. Mahon – if a regulation goes too far, it will
be a taking, established regulatory takings
v. 1922 – Los Angeles County creates first county planning board
vi. 1922 – JC Nichols creates world’s first automobile-oriented shopping
center, County Club Plaza, Kansas City
-3-
IV.
vii. 1924 – Standard State Zoning Enabling Act, US Dept of Commerce under
Herbert Hoover
viii. 1925 – Cincinnati adopts first comprehensive plan, Alfred Bettman
ix. 1925 – first issue of City Planning is published (JAPA’s predececssor)
x. 1926 – Village of Euclid v Ambler Realty Co – established the
constitutionality of zoning
xi. 1927 – 810,000 dwelling units built
xii. 1928 – Radburn, NJ, Stein and H. Wright
1. Superblocks, parks in center bounded by 2-story SF houses
2. Separation of pedestrian and vehicular traffic
xiii. 1928 – Standard City Planning Enabling Act (US Dept of Commerce)
xiv. Clarence Perry – neighborhood unit as the basic block of the city
(elementary school at enter, bounded by arterial streets at the
perimeter)
1. Regional Survey of New York and its Environments (1928)
b. 1930’s – Depression, focus on creating massive public works projects
1. New Deal – focused mainly on unemployment, supported
planning for the future (detailed studies, projections,
economists, statisticians, and sociologists, etc)
2. 1933 – first national planning board (abolished 1943)
3. 1933 – Tennessee Valley Authority – independent,
multifunctional governmental regional planning agency (flood
protection, water management, recreational developments,
power generation)
4. 1933 – 1941 Public Works Administration provided employment
through the construction of public works projects
5. 1934 - Federal Housing Administration (FHA) created, basis for
housing standards, Public Works Administration created (PWA)
a. FHA provided government insurance for private home
loans – removed financial risk, minimum standards for
housing
b. First federally supported public housing constructed in
Cleveland, first to be occupied – Atlanta)
6. 1934 – American Society of Planning Officials (ASPO), A Bettman
first president
7. 1935 – Resettlement Administration
a. Greenbelt towns – assist in local employment and create
model communities to guide future development
i. Modified neighborhood units
ii. Greenbelt MY, Greenhills, OH, Greendale, WI,
Greenbrook, NJ (not built)
8. Social Security Act of 1935
9. Housing Act of 1937, provide FHA mortgage insurance
10. 1939 – American City Planning Institute (ACPI) renamed
American Institute of Planners (AIP)
1940 – 1960:
-4-
a. War and after
i. Early part of decade, war planning essentially replaced city planning
ii. 1944 – GI Bill (Serviceman’s Readjustment Act), provided loans for
homes to veterans accelerating growth of suburbs
iii. After 1945 – vast suburban expansion, heavily influenced highway
construction, national prosperity, and FHA and VA housing programs
1. large suburbs, manufacturing plants begin to move from core of
city
iv. 1945 – Pennsylvania passes first state urban renewal act (Golden
Triangle in Pittsburgh)
v. FHA suburban housing projects
1. 1947 – Levittown, NY,
2. 1948 – Park Forest, IL
vi. Town and County Shopping Center (Miracle Mile) – first regional
shopping center (1949)
vii. Housing Act of 1949 – federal program for central city redevelopment
b. 1949 – National Trust for Historic Preservation
c. 1950 – suburban fringe areas increasing in population
d. Housing Act of 1954, rehabilitation, housing codes
i. Included citizen participation in redevelopment processes (Urban
Renewal)
ii. Required urban renewal projects to be part of comprehensive plan
e. 1954 – Berman v. Parker – redevelopment agency can condemn properties
that are unsightly, not deteriorated, if required to achieve objectives of
adopted plan
f. 1954 – Brown v. Board of Education – school integration
g. 1956 – Interstate Highway Act - $ for over 40,000 miles of limited-access
highways connecting nation
h. 1958 – first Urban growth boundary, Lexington and Fayette County, Kentucky
i. Housing Act of 1959 - $ for preparation of comprehensive plans
V.
1960 – 1980: by 1960 70% of nations pop lived in urban areas
a. 1961 – congress authorizes housing sale with land, stimulating condo
developments
b. 1961 – Hawaii first state to introduce statewide zoning
c. 1962 – New Jersey became the first state to license the practice of planning
d. 1964 – Civil Rights Act, no discrimination in places of public accommodation
e. 1965 – Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), cabinet level
position (Robert Weaver – first secretary)
f. Housing and Urban Development Act of 1965 – extensive, provides rental
supplements, low interest loans, subsidies
g. 1965 – Water Quality Act
h. 1965 – Economic Development Administration – provided federal support for
local economic development
i. Model Cities program – attack on urban blight and poverty, part of President
Johnson’s Greta Society program
-5-
j. Jones v Alfred H Mayer Co., finds that Civil Rights Acts prohibits racial
discrimination in housing
k. 1966 – National Historic Preservation Act – established National Register of
Historic Places
l. Late 1960’s planned unit developments gain popularity
m. Cheney v. Village 2 at New Hope. The Court in 1968 found that planned unit
developments are acceptable if the regulations focus on density requirements
rather than specific rules for each lot.
n. 1969 – Circular A-95: required regional planning agency review (helped
establish regional planning)
o. 1969 – NEPA, requires and EIS for every federal (or project with federal
funding) that may harm environment
p. New Federalism – many programs terminated, replaced with decentralized
programs and federal revenue sharing
q. 1970 – EPA established
r. 1971 – American Institute of Planners (AIP) adopts Code of Ethics
s. 1972 – Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) begins
t. 1972 – Clean Water Act
u. 1973 – Endangered Species Act
v. Oregon Land Use Act – created statewide planning system and identified an
UGB
w. 1974 – Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) – revenue sharing
x. 1974 – Safe Drinking water ct
y. 1977 – 1st exam for AIP membership administered
z. 1978 – Urban Development Action Grant (UDAG) – assist distressed
communities through leveraging
aa. 1970 – Dayton, OH allocated fairshare of housing throughout region
bb.Mount Laurel v NAACP – court affirmed land use can’t eliminate opportunity
for low and moderate income housing
cc. Okwood at Madison v Thownship of Madison et. Al – town must provide
regional fair share of low and moderate housing
dd.Village of Arlington Heights v. Metropolitan Housing Development Corporation,
if there is no record of an intent to discriminate in an exclusionary ordinance,
act of discrimination does not exist
ee. 1976 – Supreme Court upholds referendum requirement (Eastlake, OH)
ff. 1976 – Young v. American Mini Theaters, upheld adult zoning as a way to
maintain neighborhood character
gg. Growth Management & the Environment
i. 1970 – Enviornmental Polilcy Act and environmental Protection Agency
1. required environmental impact statements
ii. Growth Management cases
1. Golden v Ramapo – court upholds towns requirement that
permits are contingent on infrastructure, utilities, parks, etc
(1972)
2. Construction Industry Association of Sonoma County v Petaluma
– building permit quotas (1971)
-6-
iii. Historic preservation
1. 1978 – Boston Faneuil hall marketplace adaptation
2. Penn Central v New York – company not entitled to
compensation when terminal designated historic
iv. 1978 – AIP and ASPO consolidate into the APA
v. 1978 – Urban Park and Recreation Recovery Act – provided for matching
grants to renovate and improve parks
VI.
Since 1980: 226.5 million people; 76% urban, many large cities still losing
population
a. 1980 – CRCLA (Comprehensive Response, Compensation and Liability Act)
passed by congress (Superfund Bill), taxes polluting industries, uses $ to clean
up polluted sites where individual responsibility is not known
b. 1981 – enterprise zones provide incentives to investors for certain depressed
areas of cities, enterprise zone legislation adopted by 25 states
c. 1981 – Metromedia v. City of San Diego, struck down ordinance prohibiting
off-site billboards as a violation of free speech
d. San Diego Gas and Electric Co v City of San Diego – gov might be held liable
for $ damages for a temporary taking from land use regulation
e. Wilson and Voss v. County of McHenry – zoning regulation requiring minimum
¼ square mile lot in ag zones upheld, preservation of farmland is a valid
public purpose and reasonable b/c its based on adopted comp plan
f. Many programs cut or eliminated in early 1980’s, unemployment high, poverty
increased
g. Since 1980 – 90% of population growth in south and west
h. 1983 – Mt. Laurel, all municipalities (in NJ) must build their fair-share of
affordable housing, precedent-setting blow against racial segregation
i. 1987 – First English Evangelical Lutheran Church v. County of Los Angles –
even a temporary taking requires compensation
j. 1987 – Nolan v. California Costal Commission – land use restrictions must be
tied directly to a specific public purpose (permit conditions requiring public
access easement dedication found invalid) – rational nexus
k. 1991 – ISTEA (Intermodal Surface Transportation Efficiency Act
i. coordination between land use and transportation planning
ii. required coordination between states and metropolitan areas for air
quality
iii. higher levels of public participation
l. 1992 – Lucas v. South Carolina Costal Council – limits local and state
governments ability to restrict private without compensation, established
total takings test
m. 1994 - Dolan v. City of Tigard – a jurisdiction must show rough
proportionality between the adverse impacts of a proposed development and
the exactions being imposed on the developer (land dedication not related to
proposed development)
n. 1994 – NAFTA (North American Free Trade Agreement) , US Canada, and
Mexico
-7-
o. 1994 – Empowerment Zones/Enterprise Zones – federal funds for distressed
urban areas to make them competitive with suburban counterparts, used
incentives (prop tax, sales tax reductions, wage credits, low-interest
financing) to jump start economy
p. 1994 – Executive Order on environmental justice
q. 1996 – Telecommunications Act – to reduce regulatory barriers to market
entry and competition
r. 1998 – Transportation Equity Act for the 21st Century (TEA-21)
i. emphasized transit as an alterative to highway expansion
ii. new elements – focus on safety, protection of environment, advancing
economic growth and competitiveness
iii. allows for flexibility in using funds for transit, alternative modes,
historic preservation
s. 2000 – President Clinton creates 8 new national monuments
t. Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act (RLUIPA) - 2000
u. 2005 – Kelo v. City of New London, economic development is permissible as a
public use for purposes of eminent domain
-8-