Page:John Nolen--New ideals in the planning of cities.djvu/13

CITIES, TOWNS AND VILLAGES results of their activity are now apparent to every visitor and citizen. Transportation and highway systems, waterfronts, harbors and docks, industrial and commercial development, public recreation, better homes, particularly for families of small means—such great municipal subjects as these have been handled with skill and experience supported by law and public authority. This widespread civic awakening is no vague movement, with vague and indefinite aims. It seeks to provide convenience in streets and buildings, to meet the requirements of public health, to recognize the true function and place of art, to regard obligations to future generations, to supply the imperative needs of children, to satisfy the love of nature and the desire for outdoor life. But the form of this civic awakening that is most significant and promising is the recognition ot the need of comprehensive planning and replanning, especially of the smaller cities. City planning, let it be understood, is not a movement to make cities beautiful in a superficial sense. Its purposes are fundamental. It aims consciously to provide those facilities that are for the common good, that concern everybody; it seeks to save waste, the almost incalculable waste due to unskilful and planless procedure, for by doing things at the right time and in the right way comprehensive city planning saves far more than its cost.

The two main divisions of city planning are: first, cities and towns planned in advance of the settlement of population; and secondly, existing cities replanned or remodeled to meet new requirements. Planning a town or city before settlement is made has great advantages. Many cities intended primarily for governmental, industrial, or residential purposes have been so planned. It is a method, indeed, which merits much wider use. Of this type, Washington