Regional Planning, History of

Author(s):  
David A Johnson
Author(s):  
James P. Wood ◽  
Jeffrey R. Brown

The resurgence of streetcars in American cities has presented planners and civic leaders with a novel means of transportation and redevelopment for cities, many of which have a history of failed regional transit votes and suburban domination of regional planning bodies. To overcome these political and financial obstacles, supporters have engaged in a host of creative strategies to satisfy or bypass streetcar critics. Using a case study of four American cities with recently built streetcars (Atlanta, Cincinnati, Kansas City, and Tucson), this paper explores these strategies from the perspective of streetcar supporters. Results indicate streetcar projects in these cities were pursued in part because each city had faced at least one failed rail-transit vote in recent years (usually involving light rail). Supporters of streetcar plans anticipated vocal citizen opposition based on those past failures; however, in most cases this did not materialize to the expected degree. This suggests that narrowly focused and lower-cost streetcar projects can avoid the contentious opposition of pricey regional light-rail proposals by offering a different product and/or seeking fewer local dollars. Results also indicate widespread distrust for regional planning structures and a willingness of local boosters to bypass those entities and apply directly for federal funds. Although not all four cities ended up with the streetcar they envisioned, the findings nevertheless document an eagerness on the part of proponents to seek transit projects that transform public opinion, circumvent a burdensome regional planning process, and take advantage of a national funding environment willing to fund streetcars in urban areas.


Urban History ◽  
2015 ◽  
Vol 43 (3) ◽  
pp. 412-434 ◽  
Author(s):  
LUCE BEECKMANS ◽  
LIORA BIGON

ABSTRACTThis article traces the planning history of two central marketplaces in sub-Saharan Africa, in Dakar and Kinshasa, from their French and Belgian colonial origins until the post-colonial period. In the (post-)colonial city, the marketplace has always been at the centre of contemporary debates on urban identity and spatial production. Using a rich variety of sources, this article makes a contribution to a neglected area of scholarship, as comparative studies on planning histories in sub-Saharan African cities are still rare. It also touches upon some key issues such as the multiple and often intricate processes of urban agency between local and foreign actors, sanitation and segregation, the different (post-)colonial planning cultures and their limits and the role of indigenous/intermediary groups in spatial contestation and reappropriation.


Author(s):  
Ray Bromley

The author is a Professor in the Department of Geography and Planning at the University at Albany, State University of New York, where he directs the Masters Program in Urban and Regional Planning. He is a member of the World Society for Ekistics (WSE), the American Institute of Certified Planners, the American Planning Association, the International Planning History Society, and many other professional and scholarly associations, and he has served as a consultant with the United Nations, UNICEF, USAID, and various projects funded by the World Bank and AID. His research and publications focus on: the history of ideas in planning and community development; metropolitan and regional development policies; the revitalization of old neighborhoods; disaster avoidance and relief; and, micro-enterprise development. The text that follows is a revised and extended version of a paper presented at the WSE Symposion "Defining Success of the City in the 21st Century," Berlin, 24-28 October, 2001.


Author(s):  
Sergei G. Bocharov

The article covers the main points of the town-planning history of Karasubazar, the city of the Crimean khanate, and, most importantly, offers a graphic reconstruction of its master plan for the last quarter of the 18th century, the final stage of the state’s existence. Reconstruction of the historical topography of the late medieval city was carried out for the first time on the basis of three types of sources – written, cartographic, and archaeological. All the basic elements of the city’s historical topography as well as the plan of quarterly residential development and a network of streets are reconstructed. Characteristic features of the location of the quarters inhabited by the Greek, Armenian and Jewish population among the main population of the Tatar inhabitants are revealed. City mosques, bathhouses, fountains supplying the citizens with water, hotels-caravanserais, shopping malls, and production workshops are localized. It is found out that Karasubazar was the second largest settlement in the state, its capital Bakhchisarai being the largest one. By the final stage of the Crimean khanate’s existence the area of the urban development of Karasubazar was 109.0 hectares


2017 ◽  
Vol 17 (1) ◽  
pp. 42-66
Author(s):  
Samuel Avery-Quinn

In the late nineteenth century, camp meeting towns were a common feature of the American landscape. The boards of Methodist ministers and laity overseeing these towns adopted management and planning strategies drawn from movements for romantic suburbs, sanitary reform, and urban parks. The strategies these Methodists adopted represent a practice of vernacular planning crafted decades before the professionalization of the discipline in the United States. Analysis of the planning history of two sites—Ocean Grove, NJ, and Round Lake, NY—reveals factors shaping this development of Methodistic town planning.


2021 ◽  
pp. 153851322110475
Author(s):  
Carlton Basmajian ◽  
Nina David

In 1982, President Ronald Reagan issued Executive Order 12372, revoking a relatively obscure publication issued by the Office of Management and Budget in 1969, Circular No. A-95. One of many policy changes that were part of a broad effort to rebalance how power was shared between the federal government, the states, and municipalities, Reagan’s pen stroke ended what for many planners had been a critical piece of urban policy during the 1970s. Part of President Lyndon Johnson’s 1960s Great Society programs, an era when federal assistance to state and local governments in support of domestic policy increased significantly, A-95 had established a coordination and review process that local governments receiving federal funding for planning development projects would be required to follow. The program was designed to force local governments to engage in more comprehensive regional coordination. For the next 12 years, almost every planner across the country, at some point or another, worked within the A-95 process. But researchers who examined A-95 during its short life struggled to produce solid evidence of its effectiveness. Absent a clear metric of the program’s success or failure, the history and legacy of the A-95 program has since been largely neglected. This paper explores the history of Circular A-95, a booklet issued by the US Office of Management and Budget to guide the implementation of the Intergovernmental Cooperation Act of 1968. We argue that the rules contained in the A-95 circular should be understood as an effort to create a framework for regional planning. Using primary documents and secondary literature, we conclude that the program deserves to be re-read as an important attempt to use federal power to establish a pragmatic national planning policy in the United States in the latter half of the 20th century.


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