TOWN PLANNING.

Auckland Star, Volume LIV, Issue 47, 24 February 1923, Page 11

TOWN PLANNING.

IS IT PRACTICAL?

- KSPARING FOR FUTURE. [I. ontributed by R.H.) j, town planning practical? We might . Veil ask are ar»Hitective. surveying, i dlt ugbtman.hip, military tactics business schemes or any other kind of planning practical. A man who i, spending £2000 on si house doesn t commence building until '"" is thoroughly satisfied with the plan. >"o far-seeing business ujan would undertake the cons'ruction o f a large factory without making provision for future expansion. But we build a city in a haphazard fashion, withou'. preparation for change or (-rowth, and the result is the confusion and congestion that is so familiar to all of usTown planning has been defined as ''Getting ready for the future in city 'growth. It is the guidance into proper channels of a community's impulses towards a larger and broader life. On Ihe face >t has to d° with things physical— the laying out of streets and parks and rapid-transit lines. But its real significance'is far deeper; a. proper city plan has a powerful influence for good upon tip mental and moral development of the people. It is the firm base for the building of a healthy and happy community." And again, another writer puts it thus: "City planning is simply the exercise of such foresight as will promote the orderly and sightly development of a city, and its environs along rational lines,with due regard for health, amenity and convenience, and for its commercial and industrial advancement."

In a work on city planning by an eminent engineer, the author says that a real plan is rather the general system of arterial streets and transportation lines by which the different sections of the existing and the future city will be connected with each other, and jvith centres of population outside of the city limits; park; and open spaces and other resorts for recreation and amusement; the existing waterfront development and the space needed for its further increase; existing paMic and semi-public buildings and sites for those which may be required in the future. This is the real city plan which will control future development,, stimulaf ing it or retarding it as the case may be. The block dimensions and angles, the widths of minor streets and the subdivision into vast number of rectangular blocks of standard size, with an explanation of or an apology for every departure from that standard do not constitute the city plan. The city plan is something bigger and broader. It is something to which the city may grow, not something to which it must be restricted >r within which it must be confined as in a strait- jacket.

The economic considerations which shoald control city planning are precisely those which should prevail in, the deeftm of a house, shop, railway terminal or water-suppl} - system; namely adaption to probable or possible increase in demand and capacity to supply that demand. When a city, occupying a strategic position, has a natural development which causes growing pains indicative of a misti' in its general plan, it-is time to look toward the future, to adjust the plan to new conditions and to provide for still further growth. No expense involving th e destruction of property can be justified if it can be avoided by the exercise of reasonable forethought, and the taxing power of the city should not be used unnecessarily. The requirements of the modern city are so great that the burden of taxation will inevitably be heavy. Improvements in the city plan may increase values to such a degree that they jwould be cheap at almost any price, but if the plan had been so made as to »void the need of costly changes, both the city at large and the individual property owner would have been the gainers. FUNDAMENTAL PRINCIPLES.

A national society of architects and engineers has laid down the fundamental principles of city planning as follows:—• The basic principle of enlarging a city, considered from the technical, the economical, and the administrative points of view, are:

(1) The scope of city planning consists principally in fixing the base Hne3 of all traffic movements and transit facilities, viz., streete, street cars, railroads and canals, which must be treated liberally and systematically. (2) The street net should contain the *am streete, with the existing streets ekei duiy into consideration: the auxiliary etreets which are fixed by local .conditions, and. in addition, other subordinate streets, treated in accordance ; «ith the necessities of the immediate future, or having their development Placed in the hands of interested property owners.

(3) The grouping of the parts of the tity should be effected in accordance »ith their location and individual charKteristics, subject to such modifications as may be demanded by sanitary considerations and the exigencies of commerce and industry. U) The duty of the building department is to determine the rights and privileges of tenant and neighbour and "ouse owner. Such rights and privileges are related to fire protection, free*»m from interference, health and "™ety of buildings, and all aesthetic conMentions must be secondary thereto. (5) It is desirable that expropriation «v impropriation b e facilitated by legal pleasures, and of still more importance jjl the creation of a law providing for «i« regulation of the contour of new or reconstructed blocks to be built upon. (6) The city should be reimbursed by Koperty holders directly benefited by japrovements for funds auvaiyed by tne city for such purposes, and it is adto have the 'amount stipulated "tore the work is begun and a r.ormal cost per front foot fixed. 10 The activities of interested proPWty owners' associations in regard to l »e improvement of certain sections Would be subject to municipal superV| Hon.

f8) Land upon which it is imperative ">: make improvements should only be u 'lt upon under reservations for its snosequent use by the city. lhe principles of town planning are tan Mmc ' n every co " ntr y. though deuia may vary according to local conve ' lons - Town planners have for many anrtl n adv °c a ting these principles, to tv left the "orking out of details we proper authorities. After all, ac 'Pointed out, the framework of a city ft/ v mtell 'g e ntly planned, and yet tinn • 5 30U -' ht may fail of realisaover °tT mg to the lack of BUch '•ont l ' ol Pertr deve lopnient of private protonl * 8 WIU enswe health, amenity and «Bd£ m !! nCe - Healthy living may be nW i mpossible b y over-intensive defnent, faUure to provide sufficient

light aed air through the absence adequate courts and back yards, and the , a y X k",!, CUone as to the hei ght to which buildings may be erected. Amenity, or pleasantness of surroundings requires good design of the streets 'and rhe.r details-not the introduction Of fountains and statues and other highly decorative features, but good proportion t a*i ° bv,ous adaptability of means to ends, the repression of garish and obtrusive signs and hideous noises. LOOKING AHEAD. A serious defeat in most of the city planning which has been done is that abruptly at the city line. While this the studies and the resulting plans stop may have been due in some cases to lack, of foresight on the part of the planner, or failure to appreciate the fact that the area beyond the arhitary line now farming the city boundary would some day become a part of th e greater city, J and that the plans of these outlying districts would ultimately have to be corrected and adjusted to new conditions, it is more frequently due to lack of proper authority, to small units of administration or to over-lapping authority on the part of a number of bodies or boards having concurrent jurisdiction. There Is likely to be a disposition on the part of the smaller towns to resent intrusion into their territory as an infringement of their independence and their jealously guarded autonomy.

It is obvious that a plan for the future development of a city or new portion of a city will have fallen short of completion if it does not take into account the. environs of the city. It is seldom possible to do this effectively through the co-operation of different administrative units as it would be if metropolitan planning districts were created, and some board or commission were given power to make and impose upon the smaller municipalities within its limits a plan which would treat the entire district as a whole. The British Town Planning Act, 1019, is based upon the idea that in a thickly populated,country the plan of every town should be considered in its relation to the country about it, and to the street systems of contiguous and neighbouring towns, all plans being subject to the approval of a central authority whose jurisdiction extends over the whole of Great Britain.