Page:John Nolen--New ideals in the planning of cities.djvu/53

CITIES, TOWNS AND VILLAGES power and inadequate funds to accomplish the ends that are necessary in a good street system.

The importance of the street in the city plan rests in the fact that it is the channel of all the ordinary means of public circulation and public service, that it is essential to the profitable development and use of property, that only through the opportunities it offers can there be any broad or attractive expression of municipal life, and that only through a comprehensive, well-ordered system of main streets can the functions of the city be performed with economy and efficiency.

The growth of a city naturally is radial, pushing out In every direction from one or more centers, unless topography or some other practically insurmountable obstacle prevents. This is a law of community growth, yet many of the builders of cities have ignored it, and have permitted cities to extend over immense areas without provision for these natural means of growth. Indeed, it has often happened that the direct routes which grew up naturally while a district was rural or suburban have been abandoned or obstructed in the later development of urban facilities, and have been superseded by a system of streets projected with the sole purpose of developing private property.

City planning means first of all adequate facilities for, circulation. The greatest problems are those of main thoroughfares and street railways considered in' connection with the framework of steam railroads. Such a system should be planned for every town and city that hopes for a wellordered and satisfactory growth. Main thoroughfares should be planned in as direct lines as possible, but they need not necessarily be straight. Sharp curves and sudden jogs should be avoided, and changes in certain directions should be accomplished by means of curves rather than angles, except where the deflection occurs at an intersecting street.