Page:John Nolen--New ideals in the planning of cities.djvu/20

NEW IDEALS IN THE PLANNING OF noted. The present should be compared with the past, and the view of the future, while conservative, should be broad and enlightened.

Economic conditions should likewise be included in the local survey, for example, the wealth of the city as shown by its assessed valuation and hy a list of city-owned property, including public utilities. Then the survey should present the city's bonded indebtedness, both gross and net; its tax rate and other sources of income. Above all there should be a searching analysis of the annual budget.

When as full a knowledge as possible has been obtained of the physical, business, social and economic conditions of a city, what is the next step in the replanning of old areas or the laying out of the new ones? Is it not to determine the purposes that should control the work, and, having found them, to keep them steadily in mind? Of course, these purposes would vary from city to city; in fact, they sometimes vary in the same city from period to period. I shall name only two of the broader aims which should control city planning, but under these are included many, if not most, of the more specific purposes which properly inspire and regulate civic action.

The first of these purposes is the preservation—restoration, if need be—and the further development of the individuality of the city. Its history, its physical situation, the character of its population, the direction of its industry or commerce, all of these should be appropriately reflected in the city plan. Mr. James Bryce has pointed out, in his American Commonwealth, that the one most serious drawback to American life is its uniformity and that this criticism applies especially to our cities. With but five or six exceptions, he says, American cities differ from one another