CITY PLANNING

Evening Post, Volume CI, Issue 49, 26 February 1921, Page 9

CITY PLANNING

EXAMPLES IN OTHER LANDS

ZONING AND TRAFFIC REGULATION

The growing realisation of ibe incalculable value accruing from the adoption of comprehensive schemes of town or city planning was recently ' emphasised by the City Engineer of Melbourne, Mr. H. E. Morton, who during his recent extensive tour had exceptional opportunities of seeing what had been done in America,' in Great Britain, and in Continental countries.

In America, he said, the origination of moves was left more or lees to pubiic bodies such as chambers of commerce and others, quite apart from constituted authorities such as municipalities and Governments. What struck him most was the civic pride exhibited by the people in American cities, and their readiness to contribute both money and energy to any project which would make for the advancement of their city. There were, in fact, two distinct 6ection.s of the work —the propaganda side and the technical work. A definite policy of educating the people as to the need for the, adoption of city-planning methods and the benefits which would follow in their wake had been carried on in America for years, and both public organisations and the press had co-operated most heartily in the work. They prepared the public mind for the change, and when they thought the time was ripe they set about putting their plans into operation.

In England, on the- other hand, the steps which were being taken were the direct result of legislative enactment. The first city to adopt anything in the way of a comprehensive scheme was Liverpool, where operations were commenced in 1908. Since then a fair amount of work had been done, and extensive plans had been laid for the future. Under a recent Act every towa with a population of 20,000 was required to prepare a scheme for submission to the Local Government Board before Ist January, 1923, and to put it into opera tion within three years of that date. Aa a-" result of that Act practically every town or city had either prepared a plan or was engaged in ite preparation. If the local council failed to fulfil its obligations, the work could be carried out by the Local Government Board, or by the residents in a denned locality.

The basis of practically all the plans both in the United States and in Great Britain was zoning. In America the cities were generally divided according to density of population and height of buildings. Subsequently the new areas were mapped out somewhat on the following lines—lst and. 2nd residential areas, commercial district, light industries district, heavy industries district, and abattoirs districts. Each district was governed by restrictions as to. the number of houses which could be erected per acre in the locality. The same sort of thing was being done in England. There were districts where only five houses were allowed to the acre, others where 12 were allowed, and others with IS, the maximum allowance being 20. "The real difficulty came, however, in cases in which there were now perhaps 80 houses to-the.acre, in a locality where the s regulations said there should be only 20: There was, however, an important difference between English and American methods. -Whilst America tried to remedy evils of the past and remodiJi existing congested ■ areas, and provide for the future, the, English authorities devoted their attention mainly to the' future extensions of the city, leaving the existing districts very much as they were. This meant that many city centres—often those requiring most urgent attention—were exempted entirely from the regulations, with the inevitable result that the evil* accumulated year by year. One_ phase to which America had to pay a great deal more attention than Great Britain was the height of buildings. In the past the tendency had been j to build upwards, with the result thatj huge skyscrapers had' been erected. That policy was now recognised as being a fallacious one, and efforts were being directed towards spreading the cities out rather than adding to the congestion in the city proper by the aggregation of great towering buildings. • HOUSING AND RECREATION". i In both countries the question of I housing was occupying a very great deal of attention, and in England the housing schemes, which the law compelled tlte "muiiicipaliti.es to prepare, were to be put into operation side by sido with the town-planning measures. Investigations in America into housing problems were being carried out by individual cities. In both countries the shortage was very acute. Where both England and America found their work of remodelling cities considerably easier than Australia was in the constitution of the local governing bodies. Melbourne had innumerable different town and city councils control-, ling the various areas in the. metropolis, each distinct from the other, and with no authority outside its own particular area. That made the task of comprehensive aotioo an exceedingly difficult one. In America and in England th« entire metropolitan area was usually under one authority, which could therefore deal with the area as a whole without the retarding influence on conflicting bodies. A feature of the work which appealed strongly to Mr. Morton in most American cities wae the provision made, or being made, for recreation for both adults and children. In America the tendency was to give each suburb its own recreation ground, and they were not recreation grounds in iiam« only. Ho had seen grounds in the various cities provided with tennis courts, swimming pook, golf links, baseball grounds, theatres, and ev«ry possible facility. He had even seen mannequin parades at on« recreation, ground. The idea was to induce tho people to live in healthy outer suburbs, and every facility was provided to enabk the people to secure all their recreation in the locality where they lived and in the most healthy surroundings. Transport was arranged with this end in vinw, and beautiful boulevards, on which , only light traffic wag allowed, ran direct to the parks. No commercial traffic was permitted on these boulevards. The playgrounds were used I by the children during the daytime and by the adults at night, and practically ail of them were under the control of play directors, and were equipped with all forms of apparatus designed, to give pleasure to young and old and to help in the building dp of a healthy race. .

Discussing Melbourne's problems, Mr. Morton said he really thought the congestion of traffic was the'most urgent matter requiring attention. He favoured the immediate construction of arterial roads giving quick and easy transport to and from the city to the residents of the outer suburbs. This would encourage people to live out in tho healthier localities, and obviate the tendency to overcrowding in the residential centres nearer the heart of the metropolis. He had seen the great arterial roads which were being constructed as part of the Liverpool ach-eme. They were to

carry "through" passengers only, and the stops made by the trams were so f*r a^art that hedges were erected on cither side 01 the tram tracks. There were definite crossing places for other traffic about half a male apart, and these considerably minimised the danger of accidents. Their effect was also ■to give quick travelling to people living in far distant suburbs. In both England and America separate provision was made for "through" trams', and for trams stopping at frequent intervals. It was recognised, U>o, that trains should be used only to convey passengers living more tlian fivo miles from the heart of the city. Another problem to which attention would have to be devoted was that of providing better communication between the various suburbs. Under present conditions passengers frequently had to.come light into the city and tTavel about five or 'six miles in order to get to a suburb two miles distant.