…this practice resulted in concentric bands of increasing exclusion, with low and moderate income citizens unable to afford homes in lower-density perimeter residential areas. Editor’s note: for more detail on this, see Gerckens’ PCJ article,…
Historian Larry Gerckens explains how city plan commissions were formed in response to the “City Beautiful Movement” and turn-of-the-century America’s belief in the value of improving the quality of the physical environment….
Most zoning ordinances segregate residential, commercial, and industrial zones. Planning historian Larry Gerckens tells how this came to be….
Historian Larry Gerckens traces the evolution of greenway and parkway systems, and their role in softening the edges of the urban environment….
…a requirement of single-family-only zoning districts. Moreover, as time would prove, the courts would not look favorably on attempts by municipalities to specify conditions of occupancy (rental, ownership, lease, etc.) in their zoning codes. Even…
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…
…with major streets bounding neighborhoods one-half mile apart, and no through traffic. Residential densities generated by apartment and row house units resulted in a sufficient school-child-age population to support an elementary school within a quarter-mile…
Accurate and up-to-date maps are the foundation for all community and regional planning. The starting point for mapping has long been the display of streets and property lines on plats. But by the early 20th…
The public aspects of cities include not only services (i.e., police and fire protection, education, and protection of the public health) but also things (i.e., capital goods) that require labor, materials, and finance to bring…
Concerns for the health and safety of children were central components of ideal urban structure theories of the early twentieth century. Ebenezer Howard’s Garden City, promoted in his book To morrow, a Peaceful Path to…
…street; and minimum right-of-way, paving widths, and street curvature for new streets. They also required the “dedication” of the land in street rights-of-way to the public. It was not long before communities were expanding this…
…use of “performance” controls (or standards). Such controls involve setting measurable maximum standards for perimeter impacts, such as light, sound, smell, sight, vibration, and traffic. Many uses now allowed only in industrial zones have virtually…
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…
