The development of community and regional planning policy, when done well, is an exercise in the rational application of knowledge (information and relationships) to the determination of just, equitable, appropriate, economically efficient, and politically effective…
“Justice” implies the execution of public policy through due process of law and in accord with the Constitution and the Bill of Rights. In the American system of justice, the ultimate arbiter is the U.S….
The word “ecology” literally means the study of homes (“eco”= homes; “ology” = the study of). In common use, however, ecology denotes the environment that surrounds our human existence and how people interact with it….
America is a relatively young civilization, measuring its history in hundreds, rather than thousands, of years. With a seemingly inexhaustible supply of new and largely undeveloped land to the west (excluding from consideration, as unfortunately…
Through the 1960s, community and regional planning efforts were generally directed to the accommodation of growth as dictated by market forces. Planning focused on the provision of infrastructure needed to facilitate the continued expansion of…
In the early 1850s, New York City’s gridiron street system was continuing its northward expansion up Manhattan Island, unrelieved by open space reservations. Only two relatively small open spaces, Union Square and Washington Square, served…
Maintaining productive agricultural soils has been the basis for the economic and cultural growth of most nation states. In America, however, farmland preservation efforts have gained momentum only fairly recently. For years, the accepted practice…
Creative designers established the foundations of American community and regional planning in the second half of the 19th century, and early years of the 20th century. Their visions of a more ideal America, one that…
Colonial Americans were well versed in what we would today call sustainability. As noted in R is for Regional Planning, sustainable development was at the heart of James Oglethorpe’s 1733 plan for Savannah. At Savannah,…
The American city of the 1890s was cacophonous. City streets were not only filthy, creating public health hazards, they were also noisy. Cobblestone or granite Belgian block streets rang out with the clang and thud…
