History of City Planning

Archaeological excavations of ancient cities reveal evidence of some deliberate planning: the arrangement of housing in regular, rectangular patterns and the prominent location of civic and religious buildings along main thoroughfares. The emphasis on planning broadened during the Greek and Roman eras. Religious and civic citadels were oriented so as to give a sense of aesthetic balance; streets were arranged in a grid pattern; and housing was integrated with cultural, commercial, and defense facilities. After the fall of the Roman Empire, cities declined in population and importance. From the 400s to 1400s towns were usually planned around castles, churches, and monasteries, with informal street arrangements.

The emulation of Greco-Roman classicism during the Renaissance revived city-planning efforts. Renaissance planning stressed wide, regular streets forming concentric circles around a central point, with other streets radiating out like spokes of a wheel. These themes of Renaissance planning surfaced in the colonial cities of the Americas in the 1500s and 1600s. The ideals of public grandeur and radial, circumferential streets continued in the 1800s. During this century of the Industrial Revolution, the few design standards that were introduced often neglected basic physical and aesthetic considerations. By the end of the 1800s the growth of major cities led to serious overcrowding, with a host of associated problems.

The United States and Britain responded similarly to the need to improve the living conditions in cities. Their initial action was to regulate the sanitary conditions and density of tenement housing. A movement then arose for a more comprehensive, long-term approach. Important steps were taken in the early 1900s to formalize and legalize city planning. In 1909 American architect Daniel Burnham published his Plan of Chicago, a comprehensive design that integrated transportation systems, parks, streets, and other facilities. In the United States during the 1920s local planning increased significantly. Greater acceptance of city planning resulted from the rapid growth of cities during the 1920s and the ensuing pressures on transportation facilities and public services. During the Great Depression of the 1930s, regional and national governments intervened more forcefully in city planning to foster economic development in depressed regions. The extensive physical rebuilding of European cities following World War II (1939-1945) lent new urgency to city planning. In the 1950s and 1960s British development of new towns received new emphasis. In the United States efforts were focused on designing vast new suburban housing subdivisions and providing for their transportation needs. The redevelopment of older central cities was also a major concern. The interstate highway network of expressways, begun in the early 1950s, influenced the shape of all metropolitan areas.