Page:John Nolen--New ideals in the planning of cities.djvu/59

CITIES, TOWNS AND VILLAGES appropriate sites for public and semi-public buildings. The selection and planning of such features, or planning with a view to their establishment in the future, should be a part of the study of the primary street plan. The convenience and the effect of public buildings and small open spaces is largely lost without suitable approaches giving advantageous viewpoints.

The constantly increasing variety, size and number of underground structures in cities necessitates wide main thoroughfares for their accommodation, as it does for the accommodation of surface traffic. It is difficult to realize the vast network of pipes and conduits that lie under the streets. Such structures are certain to increase in number as new and large uses are found for them. The most important are the water pipes, sewers, gas pipes, electrical conduits, steam and hot water pipes, pneumatic tubes and refrigerating pipes. Subways, galleries for pipes and conduits, and vaults under sidewalks will require more and more consideration in future city planning.

Foremost among the functions of practical city planning is to arrange a city so that its citizens can live and do business there with the maximum of comfort and the minimum of cost. No argument is necessary to convince even the most skeptical that a city which offers the most comforts and conveniences from a living and business standpoint, and at the same time at a minimum of cost, is the city that is going to grow rapidly in population and in wealth. As this is so obvious, it seems incredible that cities, both large and small, have not made critical examinations of their street plans with a view to reducing the cost of distributing food and other supplies. A city may be planned to reduce the costs of distribution and therefore the cost of living in the following