JP1LANNKNG HKSTORY
BULLETIN OF THE INTERNATIONAL PLANNING HISTORY SOCIETY
VOL. 21 NO. 2 • 1999 ISSN 0959-5805 PlANNliNG Hli§TORY
BULLETIN OF THE INT ERNATIONAL PLANNING HISTORY SOCIETY PlANNliNG HliSTORY
BULL ETI
EDITOR Dr Robert K. I tome Department of Surveying Or Peter J. Larkham University of East London Birmmgham School of Planmng Dagenham Univers1ty of Central England Essex CON1rJEN1rS Perry Barr RMS 2AS, UK 81rmmgham Tel: (0)181 590 7722 x2504 I Fax: (0181 849 3618 B42 2SU E-mail: [email protected] UK Or Kiki Kafkoula Tel: 0121 331 5145 I Fax: 0121 356 9915 Department of Urban and Regional Planning E-mail: [email protected] School of Architecture Aristotle University of Thessalonika Thessalonika 54006 EDITORIAL BOARD Greece Tel: 3031 995495 I Fax: 3031 995576 Or Arturo Almandoz Departamento de Plan1ficacion Urbana Professor John Muller EDITORIAL page 2 Umven.1dad S1mon Bohvar Department of Town and Reg1onal Planning Aptdo. 89000 University of Witwatersrand Editorship of Plamring History 4 Caracas 1086 Johannesburg Venezuela PO Wlls 2050 NOTICES 5 Tel (58 2) 906 4037 I 38 South Afnca E-mail: [email protected] Tel: 011 716 2654 I Fax: 011 403 2519 E-mail: 041 MUJ®cosmos.w1ts.ac.za Obituary: David A llan H a m er 7 Dr llalma Dunm-Woyseth Oslo School of Architecture Professor Georgio P1ccmato Twenty-five years of planning history 9 Department of Urban Planning Facolta di Architettura A11tlrony Sutcliffe PO Box 271 3001 Drammen Universita di Roma 3 Norway Via Madonna dei Monti 40 ARTICLES Tel: 47 22 20 83 16 I Fax: 47 22 11 19 70 00184 Roma Italy Although God cannot alter the past, historians can: 11 Professor M ichael Ebner Tel: +39 6 678 8283 I Fax: +39 6 481 8625 refl ecti ons on the writing of planning his tories E-mail: [email protected] Department of llistory jolrn Muller Lake Forest College 555 North Shendan Road Or Pieter Uyttenhove ll y-unprepared planning contexts 20 L.lke forest, IL 60045-2399 64 rue des Moines Historical analysis in historica USA F-75017 Roger Boden Tel: 708 735 5135 I Fax: 708 735 6291 Paris France The regeneration of the Old Town of Edinburgh by Dr Gerhard fehl Patrick Geddes 33 I ehrstuhl fur Planung::.theone Professor Stephen V. Ward Sofia G. Leonard Techmsche llochschule Aachen School of Planmng 52062 Aachen Oxford Brookes UmverSlty PUBLICATlO NS 48 Schmkelstrasse 1 Headmgton Oxford Germany REVISED INSTRUCTIONS TO AUTHORS 56 Tel 0241 805029 I Fax: 0241 8888137 OX3 OBP UK Or Robert rree~tone Tel· 01865 483421 I Fax: 01865 483559 Planmng and Urban Development Program E-mail: svward@brooke:..ac.uk faculty of the BUilt Environment Um\·er~1ty of New South Wales Professor Shun-1ch1 Watanabe Sydney NSW 2052 Science Umversity of 1 okyo Australia Yamazaki, Noda-shi Tel. 02 9385 4836 I Fax: 02 9901 4505 Chiba-ken 278 E-mall: R . Frec~tonl>@un s w .edu.au Japan Tel: 81 474 24 1501 I Fax: 81 471 25 7833
PLANNING HISTORY VO L. 21 NO. 2 • 1999 • PAGE 1 acknowled g ing the intellectual influence of languilge is albeit perhaps others. unintentionally - JEDK1rORKA1L To what extent, therefore, should a journal whose roots are firmly within the "bending the ways of writing and of North Atlantic axis of academic culture displaying an argument. I say without LARKHAM, UNIVERSITY OF CENTRAL ENGLAND PETER J. seek t o s hape contributions to fit tha t intention, because those things are o;o model? How can reviewers be instructed incorporated in languages and m to be fl exible, and is there some abstract academic cultures that we are only notion of 'academic quality' that aware of then when confronted with transcends s uch things as writing style, other languages and cultures." versary Developing the journal Celebrating the a nni referencing s tyle a nd so on? issue of Peer r eviewing continues, and all This is another bumper Planning Obviously, this is a n i ssue faced by This does raise a very significant point in lebration of the 25th comments received so far have been History, partly in ce many mainstream academic journals. lt is, terms of how a journal can service the anniversary, and partly since the material favourable: although one key issue has perhaps, more of an issue for a journal needs of a membership I readership of tion neatly focuses been raised, which 1 discuss below. submitted for publica such as Planning History, w hich has a such differing origins, ling uistic and on aspects of 'what is planning history Indeed, one of the papers in this issue responsibility to refl ect the v iews o f the cogniti ve traditions, and academic , together with a re generated the most enthusiastic and and how do we do it' IPHS and its members. Yet I see little cultures. Yet we do need to retain, indeed positive response that I have ever seen appraisal of some of the materials evidence in the majority of academic improve, the 'quality' of the journal's that key figure in from a reviewer. 1 hope that this s tandard produced by a nd for journals that the diversity in traditional contents. planning history, Patrick Geddes. can be maintained! styles and approaches is being catered for. My own preference is for clarity in contribution from Readers may notice another innovation We have a welcome This issue has a risen several times in writing to allow the broadest , Editor of in this issue. That is, a change to permit Professor Tony Sutcliffe Planning my editori al experience, and can result in understanding: although this might go the use of both Harvard and Oxford Perspectives and joint organiser of the very fundamental disagreements between against the 'mystification' that some see m t developed into the referencing systems, at the choice of the first meeting of wha author and reviewer. The negotiations to much academic discourse: up, forerunner of the author. The bulk of papers submitted Planning Histo ry G ro arrive a t an agreed publishable output can TPHS. One final personal view, from one have used Harvard, and this has led to be delicate. One contributor has usefully "Do, ils a concession to my poor wits, at first meeting, Peter considerable expenditure o f effort by the of the speakers a t th expressed these issues to me (and r am Lord Darhngton, just explain to me in the next issue. editor and authors in converting to the Hall, should appear grateful for his permission to quote them what you really mean. I welcome two papers on the substance former house style. There has, of course, here): "I thinl-. I had better not, Duchess, It is pure coincidence been considerable debate over these styles o f planning history. owildav<>, to be intelligible is to be that both come from the same University - most notably perhaps by the geographer "this is a major issue behveen French found out." I carry Derek Cregory in a g uest editorial for department in South Africa. and English / American rhetoric: [the] (Oscar Wilde, Lady Environme11t n11d P/nmting B. Notably, and editorial responsibility for one, having French try to build something we Windermere's Fan, 1892) entertai ningly, Cregory (1990} 1 provided particularly e ncouraged its author to think consider [to be] subtle, where the st he was otherwise the same argument but structured in the in this direction whil reader must find his way until, at the 1 his is a fertile field for future debate. oying a resident visiting professorship two formats. Interestingly, in this very enj end, he sees the light of our cleverness I would welcome opinion<; from the IPHS in my own Faculty. Is this an incentive issue, Roger Boden also passes comment ... Hence a lot of things are implicit. membership on how the journal should take up this theme from other on the imp lications inherent in these for others to The ang lo-saxon rhetoric is much more proceed in this respect. And perhaps it is a l perspectives - perhaps addressing systems (pp. 26, 29). nation authoritati ve, nomothetic 1 would high time thnt editorship passed out of the Tony Sutcliffe's I certainly do not wish to d ispense with the question posed by almost say: the game is to s tress from North Atlantic axis? 1 encourage some the style that h as served the journal well fina l paragraph? would the beginning what one wants to prove, debate in these pages about this crucial so far: however, weighing the pros and show, demonstrate ... Hence a very References cons, it now seems appropriate- as, issue. direct writing style. Even when you back and forwards in this indeed, some other journals do - to offer In looking tt·ys to peak a foreign language, you It is extremely difficult to give traditional 25th anniversary year 1 rei terate my view authors the choice of reference s ty le. cannot get rid of that way of thinking references for these editorials: one is also be thinking about that we should and writing. entitled 'Gregory D. (1990)' and the other some of the educational issues Problems of refereeing: academic cultures simply '(l)', in EnvmmiiU'nt nnd Plan11i11g surrounding planning history. Why do There is a clear problem in any academic As editor, I was being reminded here that 0: Sc>cit>ty and Space Vol. 8, 1990, pp. l-6. we teach it? I low do we teach it? Why journal that seeks to reflect the varied an international journal that uses only one do students seem to feel that it is boring need s and styles of an international and irrelevant? Can we use new readership. That is, that there a re evident educational concepts and methods, or IT, differences in academic standards, writing to reinforce the relevance of planning styles, acceptable rhetoric, and even the history? willingness to use references, thus
PI./\NNINC IIISTORY VOL. 21 NO. 2 • 1999 • PAGE 2 f'I/\NNINC I IISIORY VOL. 21 NO. 2 • 1999 • PACE 3 JEDliTOJRSHKP OJF PLANNING HISTORY N01rliCJE§
Time for a change Planning History does have an Editorial Preliminary Notice Stephen Musgrave sponsored by the Umversity The Editorship of Planning Histon; has Board. I have been trying to make Department of Plannmg, of Leicester (Prof. P. Clark, Or customarily been a three-year job increasing use of Board members as a International Conference on Anglia Polytechnic Univer!>ity, R. Rodger) in conJunction although the lPHS Constitution actually sounding-board for the improvements we University p lanning Chelmsford, Es!.ex, CMl ILL, w1th Or P.-Y. Saunier (Lyons), allows four years. This has been sufficient have made, for reviewing papers, and for U K Prof. P. Kooij (Groningen), time to learn the processes, make some recommending material. There are also A major international (Research interests in the Prof. L. Nilsson (Stockholm) impact upon the journal, and then hand useful links with our American affiliate conference on University European influence of garden and Prof. H. Reif (Berlin). over to a fresh mind before one becomes societies. p lanning - including the cities) rt is hoped that the website stale o r overwhelmed! The flow of material has been steady planning, design and use will provide an up-to-date This issue marks two years of my although not large. One editorial job -I ofbuildings, campuses, entire Mercedes Volait noticeboard for publications, editorship. The time has passed find quite an interesting and rewarding property po rtfolios - is Urbanisation dans le Monde urban history courses, 2001. projects etc. remarkably quickly; and it is now one- has been to encourage potential proposed for Easter Arabe, University of Tours, research TI1is builds on recent 37075 Tours, Cedex 2, France. Contributions by younger appropriate to invite expressions of contributors through contacts at interest in this topic in E-mail: [email protected] scholars are welcomed. interest from potential future editors. conferences, other universities, noticing planning history, urban form tours.fr Please send information would be very happy to discuss the job other related publications, and so on. (Of and elsewhere. The and contnbutions in either specification and requirements with all course, this has had benefits for my own conference wiU be designedly (Current research focu~ b on lite Enghsh or French to James interested IPHS members - and this is not personal research area too!) mter-disciplinary and relation between the growmg Brown at [email protected] as onerous as it sounds! Briefly, it I have not found that this editorial international. It will be a attention devoted bl( Europt'lln includes commitment - three times per year- has joint event of the IPHS and artists, arclutech, nnt1q11artans The webs1te 1S significantly a ffected whatever else I do. ISUF, the International and collectors durmg the 19th w~' w.le.ac uk/urbanlust/euro • editing papers, including operating the My teaching load remains high, my own Seminar on Urban Form. lt century to lslnlmC art and -urban newly-introduced reviewing process; publications have continued, and my wife will be convened by Peter]. architecture 111 Egypt - nnd tire selecting publishable papers, reviews, and I have restored a vintage car! It has Larkham (University of founding there 111 1881 of lite news i terns e tc proved easy to s pread the workload Central England, Birmingham, 'Comite de ccmsamtwn des UK) and Professor John 11/0t/111//ents de• /'art nrn/Je'. Tl11s • producing camera-ready copy evenly through the year to accommodate ClAM in Latin America Muller (University of the was parliculnrly active m Cmro. • arranging printing all of these other commitments. Witwatersrand, South Africa), Also interested 111 plnm111rg Arturo Almandoz points out rdinating distribution. Personally, 1 have found that this has • co-o and will be held in history in modem Egypt (1870- that during the Bienial been a good way to become more directly Birmingham, UK. 1950), with sprcia/ focu~ 011 the lbcrioamericana de Access to relevant IT equipment and involved in a sizeable and varied Preliminary paper domestication of £11rapean Arquitectura, which will take expertise is essential. (But this does not international contact network. proposals are now invited. models at work in lite> sltapi11g cif place in Mexico during 2000, necessarily imply cutting-edge technology: Anyone interested should Cairo and the brnldmg of a local there will be an event about I u se a 286 PC that is now 10 years old, Applications invited contact Peter Larkham expertise in plannmg) 'La herencia moderna. Los running DOS Word Perfect v.S.l -and this Although not a formal procedure, we feel (address inside front cover). C lAM en lberoamerica', does everything we need!) Support, of that the IPHS is now sufficiently mature wh1ch is being organised by some form, is essential. In the past this and large that the Editorship should be the University of Alcala de has been via an academic institution, and open to all interested members worldwide Euro-Urban webs ite Henare::., Spain. includes moral, technical and perhaps - rather than a private gentlemanly A welcome to new IPHS F11rther details from: Roberto members tn financial contributions, students to stuff agreement (however successful that may At its Paris mcehng Goycoo/ea Prado, Escue/a de Febmary 1999 the Arq111tectura, Unn'C?rSidad de -lOO envelopes, and so on. Printing and have been in the past! ) Questions about Among new members joining International Comm1ttee of A/ea/a. Td: 91 885 65 11; Far. d istribution a rrangements have changed the job, its requirements, procedures and since our last issue we the European As~oc•atloon of 91 885 65 05; £-mail. level of commitment, should be addressed with each Editor, according to local welcome: Urban H1stonans agreed to rol•erlo.gmfcoo/[email protected] to convenience. All (reasonable) costs are to me; 'applica tions' should be made give 1ts support to tlw Our paid directly by the IPHS Treasurer, who the IPHS President, Stephen Ward. Phi! }ones creation of c1 European has also managed the address database addresses are on the journal's inside cover. 5 Stoughton Street South, website for urban history, and produced sets of address labels on Leicester, LE2 OSH, UK with links to the e\bting It demand. (Research interests in system URBAN site. b11ilding in the UK) This initiative is being
PLANNING lllSTORY VOL. 21 NO. 2 • 1Y99 • PAG E 4 PLANNING ll!SfORY VOL. 21 NO. 2 • 1999 • PAGE 5 N01LTICJE§ OJBJITU A.JR.Y DAVJID AJL1LAN JHLA.l\IJ[JEJR.
Studies i11 tile History of Geddes exhibition "There are original town Gnrde11s mrd Designed maps used by pilgrims Lnndscnpes An exhibition of memorabilia visiting temples in Indian belonging to Sir Patrick cities and beautiful This is a 'new' quarterly Geddes, who designed drawings of early Orcadian Many within the international urban David's most end uring legacy will be academic journal, an Ramsay Gardens in settlements" history and planning history community his extensive and prodigious s cholarly evolution of the former Edinburgh's Old Town (see w ill have been shocked to learn of the output. I le produced ten books and jounrnl of Garden History. Its Sofia Leonard's paper in this said Laura Hamilton, curator premature death of David Hamer, numerous articles w hich covered both his scope appears to have been issue) opened at the of the University's Collins Professor of History at Victoria University, ori g inal interest in political history and his widened particularly through University of Strathclyde in Ga llery in Richmond Street, Welling ton, on 15th May 1999. the introduction of the term May. It will also run at the Glasgow, which is hosting the fatter work in urban history and heritage 'designed landscapes'. Talbot Rice Art Gallery, exhibition. lie was born on 26th January 1938 and areas. Urban history is a poorly Although retaining the focus University of Edinburgh, 17 The exhibition is sponsored completed his first degrees at A uckland established area of scholarly endeavour in on gardens, it also promises June - 1 5 July 2000. by the EDI Group and the University, before completing a doctorate cw Zealand and David, almost single to carry features of somewhat The Collecting Cities Burrell Company, which at Oxford University focusing on Briti ~h handcdly, c-.tabli..,hed a body of literature broader interest, which may exhibition will draw together recently completed the politics, particularly the Victorian-era which explored the origins and nature of have some relevance to material collected by Geddes restoration of three of Geddes' Liberals. This interest in Libera l politics urban dc\•elopmcnt 111 this countr}, planning history (broadly for the first time in more than houses in Ramsay Gardens. was a consistent feature of his earlier work pnmanlv m the nmeteenth century. defined). 50 years. (From Plnmring, Mny) both in Britain and ew Zealand. It led to I ht' depth «nd breadth of hie; Vol. 18 No. 2, for example, a number of papers and books including exploration-. of the de\·elopment of urban has a paper on the landscape jolm Morley: Liberal intellectllnls in politic5 areas 111 ew 7ealand allowed him to arch1tecture activities of the ( 1968) and The New Zenlnnrl Liberals; the ldt'ntlf) the wmparahve aspects of these Olmsted brothers at Castle yrnrs of power ( 1988). He taught history at Hill, Mass. dcvt•lopments, "h1ch vvere derived from the U niversity of Lancaster between 1964 That i ~s u e carried 98 pages the1r -.,bared frontier ongins. In doing th1s, (6 papers and book reviews). and 1970 before being appointed Associate he linked t•w l.:ealand's early Subscriptions are £:93 ($152) Professor Clt Auckland University in 1970. development to that in Australia, Canada personal, £:223 ($368) I lis stay at Auckland was short and, in and the Un1ted States. This produced the institutional, from Taylor & 1971, he took up a Professorial award-winning Nc'"lu TmVIrS in lite New Francis Ltd, 1 Gunpowder appointment at Victoria University, w here World: 1111ngcs and /Jrrception s of tlte Square, London, EC4A 3DE, he remained until his death. nine'lecnllt cen/11ry frontier (1990), w hich UK. David managed to combine his research unequivocally established the international and teaching duties with broader quality and contribution of his work. He administrati ve duties within the abo did much to explore and document University, and between 1991 and 1994 he the origins and development of Thomas Mawson a nd Sons: served as Assistant Vice Chancellor. Wellington. plea for information Throughout his career he was known as cl In rcct•nt ) cars, he had e\.plored the staunch defender of academic Larry McCann (Department of standards link-. between urban history and heritage Geography, University o f and the role o f universities in the face of l'i'>Ues wh1ch, once c1gain, produced Victoria) asks whether any g rowing tide of managerialism and badly another boo!.. - l11story 111 urban plnces: tile member knows of any developed models of tertiary reform. H i<, /us/one dtslncts of /he United Stales (1998). archival holdings for the interest in historic issues took practical He also served on the Editorial Board of landscape architecture & forms and he served on the Historic Places the Jounwl of Urban HbfOYif. At the time of planning firm of Thomas Trust for some years. More recently, he hie; death he was prepann"g a biography of Mawson & Sons, who did was closely involved in preparing a case one of ew /ealand's leading Liberal work in Canada just before for the Campaig n f or a Better City to polt t1c1ans, Ricl1<1rd Seddon; a chapter for the First World War. lllustmtion supplied by Sofia preserve the historic areas around Te Aro Rob Frcestonc's ed1ted boo!.. deriving from Please respond to Leonnrrl; see p. 46 w hich were under threat from motorway the I PI IS Sydney conference, and a [email protected] extensions. monog raph again on New Zealand's
PLANNING IIIS fORY VOL. 21 NO. 2 • 1999 • PAGE 6 Pl.ANNINC IIISI'ORY VOL. 21 0 2 • 19':19 • PAGL~ 7 urban history which will be published to his achievements tha t he was posthumously by the Victoria University recognised with an obituary in Press. Wellington's Evening Post which was TWJENJY=fNJE YJEAJRJ5 Of Many wtll remember David as a headed "Gifted historian with a broad love PlANNKI\JG JH[R§TORY reserved and quite private man who, of learning", which surely s ums up his life nevertheless, did much to enthuse and and work. David is s urvived by his wife inspire o thers with an interest in New Bea and his c hildren Paul and Harriet. ANTHONY SUTCLI FFE Zealand's urban history. He combined his University of Nottingham, Notti ngham, UK prodigious research e fforts with an often Caroline Miller Tel: 0115 928 7816 E-mail : asutcl l691@i nnottc,.co.uk heavy teaching and administrative load; Sclwol of Resource and Environmental but is remembered by s tudents and others Plamting as a genia l man with a strong commitment Massey Un iversity to social justice. lt is perhaps a testimony
All of my fi les from the early years o f the one of the ann ua l Group meetings. By this Planning History Group went into the bin time, responses to Cordon's soundings some years ago. Although I am a g reat were ind icating s upport for a much larger hoarder of papers, I felt that the work of scale o f ,~e ti vi ty in the history of planning, the IPHS had superseded our early e fforts a nd Cordon and I declined the Dyos offer. and that I needed to look forward, not As a convinced believer in the 'souvenir back. The Editor's request for an programme', I suggested to Cordon that I anniversary account has therefore d raw up a bibliography. There was an embarrassed m e, and the following p iece clement of rationalisation here, as I was of oral history is the result. Some o f this already rec,ponsiblc for the bibliography m tale has been t old before, so readers are Jim Dyos's Urlmn Htstont ) earbook. ad vised t o skip over familiar sections. Without too much labour I put together a The initiati ve for a meeting of historian:. bibhograph't of -.c\ era! pages. It was not, of urban planning came from Cordon howe,•er, unttl the part1ctpants had taken Cherry. We had come to know each other it awa't that tb -.igntftcance began to <>tnke when we both worked at Birmingham me. University in the late 1960s, mainly as the Our meetmg, "h1ch tool.. place in the result of a train conversation d uring which roomy wll.u of the C.entre for Urban and our common interest in the history of Regionill Studw-. (then at Selly Wick pl anning had emerged. In 1973, by which I louse, a Victonan house close to the mam time I had m oved to S heffi eld University, University ca mpu.,) in early 197-!, had a Cordon asked me out of the blue w hether relaxed programme of speeches and I would join him in inviting a broad group papers, with Cordon providing a warm of planners anct historians to a national welcome. What impressed me most, meeting o n the history o f planning. He however, was unique effect generated by would handle the 'planner' constituency if the encounters of people with common I would tackle the ' histo rians'. We met to interests who !..ne'" one another b] draw up the invita tion list and Cordon reputatwn, but who had never met. There then t ook over the administration, sending \\'c,.._,, clearly, cl gcnertd WISh that we out letters, inviting speakers, and should mel't c1g,1111. Definitions of town o rganising the event a t his own Centre for plannmg "ere much dt-;cu...,sed, with Urban a nd Regiona l Studies, Birmingham Cordon .1nd I clmgmg to -.tatutory Uni versity. plann1ng, "hlle miln)' {,,,·oured a more Cordon took care that this generous .lpproilch. The miln who -.aid inter-disciplinary occasion should not that "for me, pl,lnning stc1rted when the offend existing learned societies. In first Cil\ eman hild to decide "hether to particular, he asked me to sound out H .J. turn lelt or nght "hen he came out mto Dyos, whose Urban History Group was ,,t the light"" -.ounded cl btt grotesque at the the peak of its acti vity a t the time. Dyos time but, in prilcticc, he has h<1d more a lways wanted anything remotely urb <~ n influ ence thiln the 'statutory planners' "" a to be under the umbrella of his Group, b ut growing mcmbersh1p hcls brought more <~ 11 he could offer me was OIU' session at fields of intl'rest.
PLAN NING I IJSTORY VOL. 21 NO. 2 • 1999 • PAGE 8 PLANNJNC I JJ S'I OR' VOI :21 NO. 2 • 1999 • PJ\CI:. 9 Cord on and I quickly m«de plans for foundations of the IPHS that we know th~ t''h:-nsaon and deepening of the today. I went on to organise our second babliographv. 1 his turned out to be an international conference at the University obscssa\'c commitment. Far more of Sussex in 1980. This was a ' themed' A1L THOUGH GOD CC:A.NNOT AlL TJER amportant, however, was the strong meeting on the Metropolis 1890-1940, and ampression, generated by m y work on the it attracted a smaller number of 1rHJE PAS1rp JHlKSTO~IAJ~S CANO 1974 bibliography, that the history of participants, but it held to the 1977 refleciblon.s
rLANNING IllS I ORY VOL. 21 NO. 2 • 1999 • PA 10 GE Pl.i\NNING IIISIOR1 VOI 21 NO. 2 • t999 • PAGE 11 tht? c\pl.1nat1ons tha t history can yield of Perception "planning history is a 'soft' social past events, highlig ht'> the exclusion by the provenance of institutions and The orientation t o the future has, of science: general rules may be observable c1U thors of Certain happenings antipathetic ideologies, of beliefs and prejudices, are at course, an immediate and logical appeal to but explanatory power is weak from the to the thrust of the narrativc.16 fhe reality the cusp of our understanding of the the planning discipline. Within the corpus point of v1ew of forecasting the future, of h1stoncal experience IS thus passed contemporary world. This is essentially of planning history literature there is a although this has not precluded through the deconstruct1ve or the viewpoint that perceives the past as general accord that an understanding of planning histo rians engaging in future phcnomenologiCal filter of the parent of the present.2 It is the position the past opens the door to the fashioning planning scenarios ... ". 12 contemporary analyst and emerges as an held by Bronowski, w ho asserts that the of both the present and the future. 1magmahve and 1d1osyncratic version of study of history makes us "the heirs to a Beauregard tells us that we "read planning lt is, of course, true that historical analysis that reality. long development, and elucidates for us histories in order to swell with pride a t does not generate predictive precision, but 13ut todily's mterprctation of yesterday's the cultural gifts which we owe those who our h eritage, discover our identity, and perhaps the perspicacity born of the study happenmg w dl be pNpetually inconclusive lived and struggled and thought before draw analogies to present predicaments".5 of precedent provides a tenable cerebral because, <1'> 13ernard Wi lliams contends, us." l Abbott and Adler contend that historical base from which to venture into the "even d one mc1nagcs to play music on old As history has s hown, the present and awareness and reasoning can give to the fu ture. ft would seem sensible, instruments, one cannot hear it w ith old probably the future a re constrained by the present-minded and future-oriented reasonable, to embark upon the cars".17 And the hearing of history force of the g rip that t he past might exert planning profession an increased exploration of unchartered seas from the resonates differently from genera tion to 1 on them. That g rip slackens with the effecti veness. ' Silver states that the secure mai nl and of established knowledge generation, ideology to ideology and effl uxion of time, w hich suggests that profession h as always had "an acute gained from past experience. culture to culture. there should be a logical cong ruence awareness of its a ntecedents a nd In philosophising about reason in Throughout h1story, portrayals of past between the purpose of the s tudy a nd its appreciation of its legacy"/ and holds that science, Santayana declares tha t historians event~ have, by and large, accorded with backward reach into history. In the case precedent has been as influential as engage in the reconstruction of heroic the prevadmg predisposition of society. It of 'modern' planning, most investigations innovation in the moulding of planning episodes and commanding c haracters IS c1XIOmatiC that historians Stand Spatially stretch back about one hundred years; practices. In saying that there is a because they find in them reflections of and tempor.11ly on the hard soil of societal certainly no further, it has been argued, correlation between an appreciation of the the1r own ideals. The historian will cond1tions ex1stmg at the time of their than the mid-nineteenth century. The past and a concern for the future, Johnson probably be "led by moral affinities with writing. fhc lw>tonan<; cannot abstract temporal boundaries of today's planning and Schafferw characterise planning as an certain phases of the past to attribute to thcmseh c-; from sOCICt} and are caught up can thus be delineated with relative act of assembling and history as an act of those phases ... a material efficacv which in a soc1o-pohhcal march that, over time, confi dence. lt is, however, true that it is re-assembling: of recalling the mass of past they d1d not really have". Furth~r, the \'ccrs from centre to left or nght and bac~ necessary to dig deeper into the past to experience to uncover cause and pattern, "h1 storian's politics, philosophy, or agam. I lw plc1Ce 111 the march m which uncover some of the conceptual roots of which then serves to inform present romantic imagination furnishes a vital h1storians find themselves is inevitably present planning thought. The Platonic/ planning endeavours. Contemporary nucleus for reflection ... " and the "private mfluentlal 111 the formulation of their ~·alue Baconian/Cartesian/ Kantian philosophical professional culture is moulded around interest which g uides a man in selecting o.;ystt•ms and hence 111 the adoption of underpinnings of the rational planning memories of past struggles and triumphs, his matcnals imposes itself inev1tably on particular perspectives of the past. paradigm <~re illustrative of this. This and professional identity thus derives the events he relates and especially on While the p.1st can be perceived as the paper addresses planning primarily w ithin form and meaning from stories of the their grouping and significance".11 Since pc1rent of the present, the present can the 20th century frame of reference. history of planning.9 deconstruction, interpretati on and equally be conce1ved as the creator of the While our g rasp of the nature of the fn Mandelbaum's estima tion, 10 pre presentation cast up models that, on pc1S t. I he '1,1c ts' of history do no t exist for present is largely a legacy of history, the occupation w ith innovati ve design occasion, enter the mainstream of any histori,m until she/he creates them, argument is advanced that that legacy also expertise has had an inhibiting impact on professional consciousness and emerge as from w hich it tollows that the value-based propels humanity o ut of the present into the linkage between the construction of conventional wisdom, a glance at the -.electi on, ordcnng, inclu-.10n or omission the fu ture. Our plans for the future pasts and the construction of futures. contentious matter of historians' of past happenmgs is at the heart of emanate from a sense of history; a History provides the most extensive interpretations might be useful. h1stonc.1 1 inquiry. Fxpressed m more consciousness that Bronowski equates with human record relating to current direct terms, the essence of the study of a sense of mission. "Since the beginning circumstances ("where we are") but, in Interpretation historv resa.ics in the exercise of · of the nineteenth century", he says, Hancock's judgement some years ago,11 we I he burden of responsibility should weigh cvalu,'lhon - -.mce, w1thout evaluation should attempt to sever the ties with that heavily upon the s houlders of those {wh1ch i.., an mtellectually sophisticated "th1s sense of mission has been formed record if a different and better future is to c;ecking to interpret the past. In his relatl\ e ol mtcrpretatlon) of the historical by images of progress and of evolution; be achieved - a stance that, on the account ot American city planning smce e\'ldcncc, thcrt• c,1n be no judgement on 11 we search for the movement of history - evidence, enjoys somewhat limited 1980, Scott acknowledges his limitation~ what C\ 1dencc IS worth recording. the play of ideas and the tempo of support. in attempting to free himself from b1a~e~ Fvaluat1on ~~ t1ed to descriptions of events. This is the search that should In questioning the axiom that an and attachments; while Hall makes no cau~atwn, and "behmd the c;earch for inspire our interest in history today; for understanding of the past facilitates effort to conceal his prejudices in his C<1ll'-'c1h tlcs, lhl'rt' c1lways hes, directly Or history is no decision-making for the future, Cherry "necessanl 1 t so much a book as a y personal and judgmental" 1nd1rcctly, the search for values". b Since 1 movement, not a story but a direction, stops short of Hancock's position, but puts choice of themes in Cities of Tomorrow. ' the C\ crcisc ot interpretation/evalua tion is and not a reverie in the past but a sense the proposition that White, in rejecting the notion of the in the hands ot the histonans, they do 4 of the future". historical text as a reflection or mirror of have the opportunity to impose tl;eir
PLI\NNINC I II STORY VOL . 2 1 NO. 2 • 1999 • PAGE 12 PI/\NNINt; I llS I O RY VOL. 21 NO. 2 • 1999 • PAGE 13 11 litcrnry will on the reader. inescapable - component: that of the component of the conventional version of "a l a~, almost no founding mothers" of Readers in an educated society will seminal contributions made to the the history of planning and, as such, has modern etty planning- have sought to na turally apply their own discretion in discipline by singular individuals. A held sway for many years. lt is only in redress the gender imbalance in the 12 assessing the persuasiveness or ostensible predisposition to see planning history as recent years that this seemingly conventional planning hastory narrative. valtdity of the written word. As the the history of planners is evident in the authoritative interpretation has been l he reduction of the role, place and record shows, that word may well and writings of a number of authors. This is challenged. contribution of women to meagre- if not justifiably fall foul of accusations o f bias referred to as the "Great-Man Theory of meanmgless - damensions in that and bigotry. One recalls Mark Twain's History" by Carr21 and is a theory that Alternatives narrative, IS illu~trative of the concept of acerbic comment that the "very ink with elevates certain individuals to the status of No narrative can remain unchallenged, "subjugated histories'" which, when which all history is written is merely fluid social phenomena of exceptional and revisionist forces have recently consolidated and more widely 1 prejudice". q importance, whose actions personify the invaded the previously secure domain of tlasseminated, will offer new alternative era in which she/he li ved and whose the modernist model. The premises of stories. Other writers have brought racial Convention innovati ve contributions are profound and that model - planning as a rational, consciou!>ncss to the historical fold by 1t is contended that one of the significant enduring. Thus the a nnals of the enlightened and socially-just activity relating black urban experience to periods offshoots of a consciousness of history is Cadburys and Levers, of Raymond Unwin directed toward the public good and in planning history.n New insights will be the composite sense of solidarity, identity or Frederick Law Olmsted; of Camillo undertaken by, notably, men of vision - brought to the discipline's evolutionary and pride that it lends to the profession. Sitte, Soria y Mata o r Clarence Stein, have have been confronted by alternative story by the inclusion of accounts of racial Indeed, it is argued by Mandelbaum20 that become vehicles for driving the interpretations of the history of planning. oppression and professional response. planners h;we resorted to the past to accomplishments, the s uccesses - and Deconstruction of the essentially Minority categories- gays, lesbians and remedy the flagging sense of identity a nd hence the image - of the profession descriptive, purportedly objective and ethnic groupings - are now being included purpose that has beset the profession at forward. chronologically ordered modernist in debate on re-interpretations of planning times. The dominant view is, however, This is the premise underlying Cherry's convention has exposed the omission in history. '~ that the path of progress along which the compilation of pioneers in British that convention of such fundamental The broadenang of the base of planning profession has walked during the 20th planning23 and is Hall's viewpoi nt. 2~ Hall issues as gender and race. A blind eye constitute~ the cornerstone of Beauregard'., century provides a story, a heritage, about is firm in his belief that most of the events has similarly been turned to questions of dascourse on "subversive histories". In which there as justifiable p ride. The impacting on the world's cities since the power and to considerations of theoretical asking not why but how historical texts presentation of the story varies, but it is mid-century can be traced back to the orientation and methodological approach. are wntten, has interest ~~ in the form in essentially that of the rise of planning ideas of a handful of visionaries who put A number of concerns that touch on the which from the early public health reformist their creative pens to paper many years basic ontology of planning history emerge movements, through to the civic/social ago. And so the figures of Howard, from the challenge/critique, including the "plannmg htstones might be \Vntten to responses of such persons as Burnham, Geddes and Le Corbusier, and to a lesser omission (or suppression) of elements cmpmver or da.,empower their readers. Geddes and Howard, and on to the extent such personalities as Unwin, Parker, inimical to the conventional perspective Histones that undermine the possibilit'r institutionalisation of the profession and May, Wagner and Frank Lloyd Wright, and the possibility of a revision of that of effective action, that disempower, arc its attendant theoretical and loom large in his narrative of planning's perspective by the incorporation of the subversive" .15 methodological refinement. past. previously neglected elements. The latter This progression h as been widely Jt is worth mention that his approach point is in many ways tied to conceptions The conventional deterministic modernist chronicled21 and has, by a nd large, been lacks neither detractors nor proponents, of the rniso11 d'et re of planning. approach expediently writes out material absorbed into the family fo lklore of being assessed on the one hand as "an Reverting to the issue of a v iable of a non-conforming nature. This planning. 1t is the convention. It is, in encyclopedic historical survey of much of descri ption or definition of the basic C\clusionary practice thus disempowers Sandercock's words, the o ft-repeated h.ven tieth century Western planning ideas, nature of planning (a familiar and hardy those whose legitimate contributions arc "official story" which she characterises as supplying what is perhaps one of the very chestnut), the ea rl y and sustained notion ignored or trivialised, as well as those best introductions to canonic individuals of planning as a discipline dedicated who, in reading the te\t, are denied access 2 "the story of the modernist planning and projects", " and on the other as a primarily to the formulation of physical to rcle\'ant, perhaps pivotal, elements that project, the representation of planrung "rounding up lof] all the usual suspects"27 means to address the problems of the make up the hastory. as the voice of reason in modern and as a "metonymic drive to grasp the urban environment, is not palatable to In the end, the post-modern eye see~ society, the ca rrier of the Enlightenment complex history of modern planning in proponents of alternative histories. Those the search for knowledge and truth in mission of material progress through terms of mechanistic cause-effect alternative approaches- those "insurgent hbtory c1S a multi-faceted endeavour. scientific rationality ... [thisj ... official, relationships".28 planning histories"~ - see planning as "a Planning nilrratives written from below - or modernist, version of planning None the less, while accepting that the field that is inevitably concerned with from the vtcwpoants of affected and history is the story of planning by and making of planning history cannot questions of action, of change, of dasadvantaged communities, minoritv through the state, part of a tradition of sensibly be ascribed to celebrated transformation, of empowerment"10 which groups M\d feminist interests - provide city a nd nation building".22 personalities only, the milestones that they must then place such matters as class, insights and understandang not readily have embedded along the highways of gender, race, ethnicity, power, knowledge aw1ilablc in narratives of the top-down There is, in the commonly-accepted history have become points of reference and theory at the door of the discipline. genre. I he presentation of alternative version or official story of planning's and orientation t o the profession. The A number of authors -provoked no histories should logically lead to an history, an indispensable- indeed "Great-Man Theory" is an integral doubt by Hall's contention that there arc enrichment of the intellectual and indeed
PLANNING IIISrORY VOL. 21 NO. 2 • 1999 • PAGE 14 PI.ANNINC IIISI ORY VOL. 21 NO. 2 • 1999 • PAGC l'i practu:a l fuund,1 t10ns ot the planning time. Consequently, the cohort of theory The la tter stance stresses the continuity of manifest i n institutional structures a nd discipline, .1 nd represents both an acceptable a nd accessible to each g rowth and improvement over time a nd territoria l arrangements - which in turn opportunity and a challenge. generation brings a freshness of forms the core o f much of the work on the mi rror a time-related taxonomy o f interpretation t o the subject of study. evolution of British planning. thought, 1dcas, action and experience. A Challenge In planning, Fouca uldian theory of shift in the taxonomy, a c hange in Seen from the high ground of the late-20th power, Habermasian critical Method institutional form, s ignifies the c ulmination century, a deconstruction of standard communica tive theory, Husserlian How pl ans a re produced and p rogressed of a discrete h1 sto rical epoch and the narrati ves is arguably overdue. Campbell phenomenological philosophy, Rawlsian i.e. the methodology of p la nning- has commencement of a new. and Fainstein'o have expressed the opinion theory o f justice and pragmatic been the s ubject of limited study, that certain critical histories are flawed in philosophising from Dewey to Rorty and according to Ba tey and Breheny.41 In Thoughts their replacement of the historical logic of West, a nd to th e political pluralism of stressing the validity and utili ty of One wonders If, in the s phere of capitalism w ith the heroicism of the "great Nancy Fraser, a ll have distinctive in vestigati ons into the history o f planning planning's history, we a re a pproaching the men". The latter is c haracterised as a attributes that provide g rist to the mill of methodology, they set out a c hronological conclusion of an epoch. Time w ill te ll. simplified, benign and debilitating our understanding of the historical world. review of the progression of method: from The writing o f the historical d evelopment historicism which, it is a rgued, must be In this light, the c hallenge is to the contributions o f Geddes, Booth, Unwin of planni ng i s abso rbing, enlightening and, confronted and replaced by a critical and deconstruct and reconstruct the generally and Abcrcrombie, to the post-Second above all, demandi ng. The hig hways of revisionist m ode of analysis. theory-thin traditiona l metanarrative with World War d evelopments in planning history a rc criss-crossed with byways that While I ia ll takes the Marxian basis of new theoreti call y defensible legislation, decision theory, systems can terminate in an intellectual cui-de-sac historical events "a lmost as given" in Cities interpretations. thinking a nd the rational paradigm. This or become a route to revelation. The of To 111orrow, he displaces Marxist Particular conceptual predilections have interest in the history o f procedural current thrust toward the writing o f economic reductionism w ith the been evident in approaches to the s tudy o f planning theory has been pursued further counter-factual, o f alterna ti ve, planning e" plana tory lang uage of his founding planning history in the past. The by MullerH in a study of Western planning histori 7 es cannot but add dimensions to fathers.' In so doing he (and others) tend historiography o f British pl anning, for method from survey to strategy. the terrain. Innovative incursions into the to discount the ing redients provided in the example, shows a d ifferentiation b etween Procedure o r process is, of course, conventiona l territory wi ll, in all Marxist critique fo r a counter-factual the socio-administrati vc emphasis o f synonymous with t he planning function probability, mcrcase m the new history. The relationship of planning to Ashworth and the design-driven m ethod and is integra l to historical investigation. 3 millcnn1um as the social concerns of the capital, to the state a nd to class interests pioneered by Creese. Y The political Both planning and h istory are rooted in contemporary \NOrld bear upon the e thos offers constructs that could render the leaning is, in broad terms, exemplified by the common ground of ra tional inquiry. It of schola rs of h1 story. conventional account more complete, and the division between the leftist mode of is illuminating to open the pages of The The d 1scern1 ble tendency of the loose!) analysis found in Co perhaps mo re convincing. ntinental Europe a nd /den cif History, penned by the Oxford organized anti-establishment group to 4 In exploring these relationships in the functional m ethod characteristic o f philosopher R.G. Collingwood. ' In that undermine the unrepresentati ve o fficial North American histori America from colonial times to the 1920s, cal studies. The work he a dvances a conception of history story is perhaps understandable, but the Foglesong 'M applies a c ritical framework latter grounds the growth of planning in that embodies four essential attributes: inclination t o rub out the o ld writing to adopted from M arxist theoretical tenets its response to perceived urban societal first, "that it is scientific, or begins by make room for the new seems fo und in the work of Poulantzas, Offe, need and in its function as a residual asking questions ... ",secondly "that it is questionable. The way of the palimpsest Castells and Harvey. His critical analysis activity undertaken b y public authorities. humanistic o r asks questions about things will, ironically, deprive writers of the new The o ther, basicall y Marxi is important, first in its use of the Marxian st, approach done by determinate men at d eterminate insurgent p lanning histories of a frame o f posits planning as part perspecti ve to e lucidate the role and of the times in the past", thirdly "that it is reference, a backdrop, against which t o superstructur performance of planning over an e o f institutions buil t on rational or bases the a nswers which it place, develop a nd justify their appreciable s pan of time a nd, secondly, in foundations o f the socio-economic gives to its q uestions o n grounds making contributions. It is in the interest of organiza ti on of socie its e ndeavour to ascertain the adequacy of ty. appeal to evidence" and f inalliy "that it s planning history, and the continuity of Marx himself pos the lefti st lens to b ring the historical tulated that history sclf-revela tory, or exists to tell man what that history, that the o ld and the new was divided into fi ve separate e pochs: the 40 experience into focus. he is by telling him what man has done". sta nd side by s ide; that plura lism in primitive, communal, slave, feudal, Reference to Marxist theory brings the With the possible exception of the last, opinion be encouraged . Returning to ca pitalist and (as a question of the interface between theory prediction of the these a ttributes of historical inquiry could Samud Bu tler, a s tance of this s ort would future) socialist/ communist. He and history i nto the discussion. The well be presented as properties of not have the historian "altering the past" concl uded that conflict in the class and argument has been ad vanced tha t purely planning; as raw conceptual m aterial but would have her/ him opening new descriptive vers material order of society had l ed to the ions o f past events lack the underpinning a ny p lanning methodology. \'istas to broaden the horizons o f history. depth and credibilit unfolding o f the epochs40 and, in so d oing, y tha t interpretations Method frequently relates to particular A liberal, open-minded analysis of the set the direction of Marxist historical built around clear theoretical principles circumsta nces; to particular case studies. history o f planning is, in any event, provid analysis. The division is s imilarly echoed 47 e. Philosophical/ theoretical The notion of ''symptomatic history" cong ruent with the soul-searching approaches e in the categorisation of the historical merge from, and within, the holds that events in a specific locality at a syndrome of the planning profession. cauldron of preva iling s ocietal conditions domain into radical and conservative 4 41 definite time point to more general Bcrtrand Russell's advice ' is apposite: and reflect the psyche of the society - ca mps by Mandelbaum which has been pa tterns of thought and action. It is an which info rms the ways in which, inter extended b y S utcliffe by means of the approach tha t asserts that d efinitions o f "the essence of the li beral outlook lies nlin, the past is investigated from time to addition of a liberal-progressist position.42 reality at various periods in history a rc not in w hat opinions arc held but in
PLANNING JIISTO RY VOL. 21 NO. 2 • 1999 • PAGE 16 PLANNING lllSl'ORY VOL. 21 NO. 2 • 1999 • PAGE 17 how they are held; instead of being that new evidence may at any moment Nineteenth and Twentieth Cenl11ries, ' Racial inequality and held dogmatically, they are held lead to their abandonment". London: Edward Arnold, 1988; empowerment: necessary tentatively, and with a consciousness A.R. Sutcliffe (ed.), Tile Rise of theoretical constructs for Modem Urban Planning 1800-1914, understanding U.S. planning London: Mansell, 1980; L. history', in Sandercock, Making tlw Bcnevolo, The Origins of Modem Invisible Vistble, op. ctl. Town Planning, London: Routledge 34. Sandercock, Makmg lite lnvistble NOTES AND ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS and Kegan Paul, 1967. Vtstbh•, op. cif., pp. 12-13. 22. L. Sandercock (ed.), Making the 35. Beauregard, 'Subversive histo ries', This paper was prepared while the author 11. J.L. Hancock, ' History and the In visible Visible. A Multic ~tlfllml op. Ct f., p. 184 was Visiting Professor in the Faculty of the American planning profession. Planning History. Berkeley: 36. S. Campbell and S. Fainstein (edc;) Built Environment, University of Central Introduction to a new biographical University of California Press, 1998, Readings in Planning Theory, England in Birmingham. The guidance series', jo11mnl of the American p. 2. Cambridge, Mass, Blackwell, 1996. and assistance of Professor David Pln111ting Association, Vol. 38, No. 2, 23. Carr, Wltnf is History?, op. cif. 37. I Ia ll, Cities of Tomorrow, op. cif. Chapman and Or Peter Larkham, both of 1972. 24. G.E. Cherry (ed.), Pioneers in British 38. R.E. Foglcsong, Planning the the School of Planning at that University, 12. G.E. Cherry, 'Planning history: Planning, London, Architectural Ca flilalist City. Tlte Colonial Era to in the preparation of the paper is much recent developments in Britain', Press, 1981. the 1920s, Princeton: Prince ton appreciated. Planning Perspectives, Vol. 6, 1991, 25. Ha ll, Cilies of Tomorrow, op. cif. University Press, 1986. p. 42. 26. I. Borden, ). Rendell and H. 39. A.R. Sutcliffc (cd.), British Town l. P. Hall, Cities of Tomorrow, Oxford: 13. G. Santayana, Reason in science, Thomas, 'Knowing different cities: Planning: the Formative Years, Blackwell, 1996 (revised ed.), p. 4. New York: Dover, 1983, pp. reflections on recent European Leicester: Leicester University 2. G.M. Trevelyan, 'History and the 45/61/62. writings on cities and planning Press, 1981. reader', in A.F. Scott (ed.) Topics 14. M. Scott, American city planning history', in Sandercock, Making the 40. S.E. Stumpf, Philosophy: Histon; and n11d Opi11ion, London: Macmillan, since 1890, Berkeley: University of In visible Visible, op. ci f., p. 136. Problems, New York: McGraw Hill, 1963. California Press, 1969. 27. Sandercock, Making the In visible 1983. 3. ) . Bronowski and B. Mazlish, Tlte 15. Hall, Cities of Tomorrow, op. cit., p. Visible, op. cif. , p.S. 41. Mandelbaum, ' Historians a nd Western Intellectual Tradition, 5. 28. 0. Kramsch, Tropics of planning planners', op. cit. London: Dorset Press, 1986, p. 491. 16. H. White, Tlte Content of the Form: discourse: stalking the "constructive 42. Sutcliffc, The Rise of Modern Urban 4. Ibid., p. 490. Narrative Discourse and Historical imaginary" of selected urban Plnnnmg, op. etf. s. R.A. Beauregard, 'Subversive Representation, Baltimore: Johns planning histories', in Sandercock, 43. W.J. Batcy a nd M.). Breheny, The histories - texts from South Africa', Hopkins University Press, 1987. Making tlte In visible Visible, op. cif., Htsfory of Plannmg Methodology: a in L. Sandercock (ed.) Making the 17. B. Williams, quoted in G. p. 172. framework for the Assessment of In visible Visible, Berkeley: Hawthorn, Enlightenment and 29. J. Holston, 'Spaces of insurgent Anglo American Theory and Practice, University of California Press, 1998, Despair, Cambridge: Cambridge citizenship', in Sandercock, Making Geographical Papers, Reading: p. 184. Un iversity Press, 1976, p. ix. lite Invisible Visible, op. cif., p. 39. University of Reading, 1982. 6. C. Abbott and S. Adler, 'Historica l 18. F. Mcinecke, quoted in E.H. Carr, 30. Sandercock, Making the fn visible 44. ). Muller, ' From survey to strategy: analysis as a planning tool', Journal Wl1nl is History?, Harmondsworth: Visible, op. cif., p. 20. twentieth century developments in of lite A111erica11 Planning Association, Penguin, 1965, p. 107. 31. Hall, Cities of Tomorrow, op. cif., p. Western planning method', Vol. 55 No. 4, 1989, pp. 467-473. 19. M. Twain, Following tlte Equator, 7. Planning Perspectives, Vol. 7, 1992, 32. 7. C. Silver, 'American planning and quoted in F. Muir, The Frank See G.L. Dubrow, 'Feminist and pp. 125-155. planners: a review of two books in Muir Book: an Irreverent Companion multicultural perspectives on 45. R.G. Collingwood, Tlte Idea of planning history', ]o11rnnl of to Socia l History, London: preservation planning', and S.M. lfislory (originally 1926-1928; Planning Ed11cntion and Research, Heinemann, 1976, p. 85. Wirka, 'City planning for girls: revised edition 1993), quoted in A.). Vol. 3 No. 2, 1984, p. 129. 20. Mandelbaum, 'Historians and exploring the ambiguous nature of Aver, Pl11losoplntm flU' Twentieth 8. O.A. johnson and D. Schaffer, planners', op. cif., refers to Christine women's planning history', both in Cenlllnf, London: Phoenix, 1982. ' Learning from the past - the Boyer's comment in Dreaming the Sandercock, Making the Invisible 46. llnd., p. 210. history of planning', journal of the Rational City: tlte Myth of American Visible, op. cif. 47. Z. L. Miller, S11burb: Neighborlwod American Planning Association, Vol. City Plmming, Cambridge, Mass: 33. See, for example, J. Muller, ' Ethics: and Commlllllfy 111 Forest Park, 51, No. 2, 1985, pp. 131-133. M.l.T. Press, 1983. theory and practice in South Ohio, Knoxville, TN: University of 9. Beauregard, 'Subversive histories', 21. Sec, for example, D. Krueckeberg African planning', Town and Tennessee Press, 1981. op. ctf. (ed.), lntrod11ction to Planning Regional Planning Joumal, No. 31, 48. B. Russell, Unpopular Essays, 10. S.). Mandelbaum, 'Historians and History in tlte United States, New 1991, pp. 17-25; ).M. Thomas, London: Alien and Unwin, 1950, p. planners. The construction of Brunswick: Center for Urban Policy 27. pasts and futures', Journal of the Research, Rutgers University, 1983; American Planning Association, Vol. G.E. Cherry, Cities and Plans. The 51, No. 2, 1985. Shnf!ing of Urban Britain in lite
PLANNING IllS'! ORY VOL. 21 NO. 2 • 1999 • PAGE 18 PI.ANNING IIISTORY VOL. 21 NO. 2 • 1999 • PAGE 19 as a foundation for a s ufficiently identities requires deep understanding a nd culturally-integra ted future to avoid awareness of loca l h istory a nd its HKSTORJICAIL political dissension, w hich h as plagued expression in physica l planning. This ANAlYS KS JIN countries as diverse as Cambodia, Nigeria resistance is championed by theorists (e.g. HKSTORJICAILIL and South Africa. Nyberg, 1988; Frampton, 1988; Hough, Y=UNJPRJEJP ARJED Owing to unreliable, incomplete o r 1990) and by the economic benefits that nonexistent records, these regions can unique regional qualities a ttract via JPlANNKNG CONTEXTS therefore be classified as historically tourism. unprepared . A s these post-colonia l ROGER BODEN societies attempt to reclaim their pasts, H is torical analysis Department of Town and Regional Planning, University of the Witwatersrand, unravelling their complex proto-histories What sort of historical analysis is most Private Bag 3, Johannesburg, South Africa. w ithin a confused, s patial p alimpsest, all suited to these needs? Norma tive Tel: (00 27) 011 716 2666 E-mail: [email protected] but lost under colonia l smudging, it seems historical analysis s eeks systema tica lly a nd desirable to reassess the tools available for ri gorously to reclaim material fa cts a nd Revised man11script accepted for pub/icati01t 5 Oece11t ber 1998 this task. The a ims of this paper evidence, in order t o a nswer questions consequently a re to define historical about the past w hich m ay o r m ay not research for this unprepared condition, have a bearing on the future. From a assuming a planning focus; to determine planning perspective, the primary focus the value of an accurate histo rical basis for has been on answering questio ns with Introduction types of evidence have s upplemented contemporary urban planning; to identify implications fo r professional solidari ty Over the p ast two decades, the fi eld of these written r ecords - notably mapping problems peculiar t o this unprepared and pride, or t o know the background to planning history has enjoyed r enewed originally generated f or military, tax, or histo rical environment, a nd to evaluate the specific problems a nd issues (Johnson a nd interest and considerable g rowth (Abbott trade purposes, but with the later addition ability o f a range of historical research Scha ffer, 1985). There is a lso a b ias and A dler, 1989 p. 469) in those first-world of insurance documentation. Oral methods to cope with these contextual towa rds procedura l and policy issues, centres from w hich m odern planning evidence from interviews of the agents of problems in answering significant urban undercutting o ther l egitimate substantive emerged (Benevolo, 1967). Planning urban planning a nd change has o nly planning questions. concerns re flecting local contextual histo ry is not as popular in the developing recently become scholarly acceptable. By interests rather than broader theoretical world, for r easons related t o other contrast, historical investigations into The significance of an accurate historical understandings. Historical r esearch in priorities s uch as survival, economic urban pl anning in the s econd category of base planning is, therefore, "an intellectua l growth imperatives, or even states have frequently had to rely heavily Recent trends have created demands for battleground w here i mages of the past embarrassment over p erceived on archaeological evidence, or p assing greater h istorical accuracy, or at least count, not onl y because they serve as 'shortcomings' in the historic and cultural textual references. The available mapping clarity, in the unprepa red r egions of the justification for current policy, but because evolution of these countries, judged b y tends to be inadequate, sporadic in world. As contemporary c ulture moved they help t o set the agenda w ithin w hich narrowly-conceived and frequently coverage of planning topics, temporally fro m the modernist t o a n increasingly the debate takes place" (Mandelba um, irrelevant economic and technological aperiodic, a nd geographically fractured p ost-modernist era, this s hi ft is quoted in Johnson a nd Scha ffer, 1985, p . criteria. concentrated around major colonial refl ected in inconsistent values, in societa l 132). Furthermore, from a historical research administrative and economic centres. conflicts over what t o s alute or retain in In contrast to more abstract locational, perspective, the world can be divided into Explorers, missionaries and colonists wrote specific planning c ontexts, causing clashes econo mic or political models o f urban two categories. There are the regions virtually all of the ea rly source materials over whose version of history is 'correct'. analysis popular with policy p lanners, w here a ncient civilisations (from for this second group of regions. A price has been p a id in many post sequential morphological study o f Mesopota mian t o Mayan, Roman and Attempts to depict their indigenous, pre colonia l contexts w here the search for settlement development, form and lndo-Chinese) provided written records o n colonial development and human truth is replaced by less-demanding typologies has g rown in significa nce since settlement thus depend custom, belief, administration and so on, on archaeology l legelian 'syntheses'. 1980. This topic is ex tensive ly covered in w hich predate the a d vent of Western and oral tradition (e.g. Wilson and However, a ttempts have been made German, British, Italian and American Thompson, 1985, introdu colonialism b y over a thousand years. ction), given that since the early 1980s to refocus fi rst-world sources (Moudon, 1986, 1997; Sla ter, 1990; Then there a re those regions lacking pictographic records, such as the San rock historic research from grand narratives to Whitchand and Larl,ha m, 1992). paintings, are ritualistic rather w ritten r ecords predating the Age of than more populist themes, in arguments for Practising pla nners a lso face the major linguistic o r cartographi Expansion - most of Africa, large p arts of c in nature. For cliomctrics (Fogel and Elton, 1983) and issue o f improving theory a nd praxis by these regions, the histori Southern and Northern America and c pattern of Foucaultian methods (e.g. Boyer, 1983, unravelling the political, institutiona l and colonial and subseq Australia. uent events and 1994). Furthermore, q uickening c hange, as physical conte't of their planning settlement shifts present oth Modern historical methods, developed er technological eras spin by, generates huge acti,•ities. Abbott and Adler (1989) dissect for the first category of regions, have methodological problems related to biased waves of angst (Toffler, 1970}, this usage of historical analysis as an or inconsistent re norma ti vely assumed written (or even porting. Yet these accentua ting the desire for security found everyday planning tool in depth. countries struggle with complex, statistical) evidence as a primary data in ex plicit histo ric ties (Lynch, 1972). Rigorous c ase studies can a lso improve heterogeneous c ultural forms, and source, fine-tuning s pecific analytical and To resist creeping multinational links between theory a nd p ractice (De widespread needs to reconstitute their past interpretati ve methods accordingly. Other standardisation by s trengthening regional Neufv illc, 1983). These efforts to use
PLANNING I !!STORY VOL. 21 NO. 2 • 1999 • PACE 20 PLANNING IIISTORY VOL. 21 NO. 2 • 1999 • PAC E 21 hi!>tori cal under!>tanding will be effective if Project or policy development that memory so that proposals and policy students comprehend the complex Customarily, comprehensive land-use can be framed for rapid assimilation in interplay of economic, social, "We analyse the past systematically - as plans occur at most spatial scales. their milieus, as witnessed by the technological, poli tical, military and facts related to issues, as issues related Structure or local plans, urban renewal contrasting fortunes of Battery Park City, religious forces behind urban forms. The to values, as values related to purpose plans and development plans, forming New York and London's Canary Wharf. process is unavoidably dynamic: historical and direction ... to uncover those critical the basis of much past planning, began In redesigning the former site, which analysis is the best, if not the only, way to junctures when influential choices are with a nod to the settlement's history. stood vacant from c. 1968 until 1978, fu ll y g rasp this. available to planners and policy makers, These included short narratives listing Cooper and Eckstutt (1984, 1986) Thus London (Rasmussen, 1948) and choices that have made a difference in major dates, milestones in the growth of employed their familiarity with New York Delhi (King, 1976) reveal the roles played the shape and functioning of cities and the town or city, and previous planning culture to produce a solution acceptable to by political, trade and military inputs in regions. In studying these critical policies or frameworks. However, they local developers. By 1985 it was fully let permanently shaping these- and many decision moments ... [to] ... uncover seldom went further. Even Great Britain, and profitable. The mini-Manhattan other- great capitals. essential issues and values that have with its s trong conservation lobby, tended exotica at Canary Wharf, however, for shaped the planning profession and the to identify specific culturally-significant or years remained an incongruous addition to Trend identification institutions it has served ... [makes] ... historic buildings, sites or districts, but t o the Thames waterscape, bankrupting its I low ca n transient fashions be separated future policy options more compre ignore other options. Nor were Canadian developers. from more durable trends? Can unique hensible" (Johnson and Schaffer, 1985, p. conservation choices related to structured characteristics, which cause a city to 132). sustainable agendas (critical coverage in Developing theories contradict national trends, be explained the RTPI's magazine P/an11ing Weekly is too Most substantive planning theorists have without exploring historic trajectories and Abbott and Adler (1989, p. 472) claim that extensive to cite individually). relied on historical analysis to support identifying when and why its polity the tools which they describe represent The planning of many post-war British their theories. For example, physically rejected custom and habit? How else can "universal approaches and tools for use by and American suburbs disregarded directed contributions included one explain cases such as the decision of practising planners, [which] apply to all contemporMy sociologica l critiques of new conservative (Geddes, Mumford and Portland, Oregon to reverse anti-planning sorts of situations, both within and beyond town life and wasted formal and Unwin), Modernist (Le Corbusier and practices after 50 years (Abbott, 1983)? normal realms of activity". But this contextual opportunities (as in the Gicdion), Brutalist (the Smithsons, Team assumes access to first-world quality Smithsons' [1 968, 1970] and Willmott's 10), structuralist (Lynch, Appleyard and Collective memory archival r esources: an assumption that will [1962] critiques of much new town Maki) or contextualist (Rowe and Koetter, If, c1S Geddes (in Tyrwh1tt, 1947), Rossi be disputed later. planning between 1947 and 1968). Nor and Bentley et al., 1985). Socially-driven (1982, p. 7), Boyer ( 1983) and others have Mandelbaum (1984) further identified was subsequent local experience cases include Willmott, Jane Jacobs, argued, c1t1es like cultures possess a the value of planning history as a means adequately utilised: the emerging 1990s Herbert Gans, and John Friedmann's shared memory, then understanding this of knowing the immeasurable present by American 'edge ci ty' (Garreau, 1991) is (1982) nrg ument for a commune-based artifice, through the known past- a past still socially s terile, hostile to resident metropolitan structure. Peattie ( 1987) and "casts new light on past policies, which (particularly in a post-colonial needs for free mobility and local street Appleyard (1977) founded their views on altering in the process our perceptions context) may "morally bind the future", surveillance (Langdon, 1994). Similarly, city development on studies of Ciudad of which programmes can or cannot particularly in fo rmer colonial countries. over the past few years, the Bri tish Guyana. succeed ... as memory gives purpose Historical planning analysis therefore Department of the E nvironment attempted nnd meaning to people, the past to defend relies on materia l that describes human existing town centre shopping The history of planning theory supplies direction to institutions. processes for determining and customizing components from threats posed by new This field of study is under-developed, as OrganiL:ations and institutions are not peripheral retail centres. the use of geographical space, whether This aping of theorists tend to be considered organic, but like people, they display American customs failed through physical traces, eyewitness to balance new synchronically. Precedents include collective memories, and what they accounts, personal and official records development and truly sustainable Sennett's (1969) reader on sequential choose to remember has a bearing not conservation policies. In and/or scientific technology. These offer a ironic contrast, theories o f urban culture, a nd the only on the past, but on the present and the transatlantic popularity basis for evalua ting issues, ideas, events, of the "new importance of specific historical contexts in future as well" Uohnson and Schaffer, organizations and procedures, and the urbanism" (Langdon, 1994) suggests that the genesis of the Burgess, Hoyt, Harris 1985, p. 131). complex patterns containing them, to historic behavioural patterns, based on and Ullmann, Meltzer (1984) and Curitiba street-oriented inter-wa identify thei r effects on planning within a r suburban life urban morphology models. They show The other concomitant educational aspect and mixed use node specific society or culture (Bolan, 1969). s, serve social and the value of an historical perspective in of historical research is its ability to cultural needs of persistent relevance. correlating the development of theories penetrate and dispel myths that people Typical histo More s ignificantly, cities as organisms rical foci of assistance to with the dynamic socio-economic and harbour about the past, particularly when should be understood to behave planners physical contortions of modern cities. these arc used to entrench privilege or Jlistorica consistently with their collective memory. l investigations then assist in four power. llistorical analysis can dispel Geddes (in Tyrwhitt, 1947) initiated this areas of planning activity, and in two Educating planning students v ia historical confusions about the past and prevent awareness, which has only recently educational facets of planning - training analysis of urban growth planning disasters entailing proposals that planners, and acquired popular credence. Historical educating affected As a corollary, extended experience in ignore generative forces and choices active analysis can reveal dominant features of communities. teaching undergraduates shows the unique in the past, but which remain operational value of historic analysis in helping (Boden, 1992). Inadequate hindsight
PLANNING JIJSTORY VOL. 21 NO. 2 • 1999 • PAGE 22 PLANNING IIISTORY VOL. 21 NO. 2 • 1999 • PAGE 23 .1lmo~t mvari<~bly condemns these studies not a concern here, and on an inherent "rew generalisations cover such vast cliometn c method b 1mpo tent w here stretches of human experience, and essent1al b,1c.,elmc data were never, or to the ash-heaps of time. tendency to focus o n powerful, glamorous of and dramatic persons o r events, rather those that do arc so vague as to be poorly, collected. little operational value. Far from Specific his torical research methods than everyday life a nd people. He also Given these broad historical foci, five questions the rigour with which diminishing historical specificity Psycholog1cal investigation .1 naly tical methods suited to one or more assumptions are initially established. cliometric techniques have often shown Th1s is mentioned but d1smissed for two ... [apparent historical continuity to be] of these foci are now described and Unless authors arc prepared to resort to reasons. Unprepared contexts, which are s asses cd for use in historically-unprepared oral traditions, narratives in unprepared ... quite discontinuous ... cliometrics ha c.,hort of conventional material for narrative led to ever deeper probing into the regions. All of these techniques settings are severely restricted by the or cliomctnc stud1es, are even less li kely to g mcorporate three acti vities - the collection availability of sources, particularly those details of issues rather than permittin offer suitable, unbiased secondary sourcec., universal scientific conclusions to be of descriptive information, analysis of this reflecting the views of indigenous groups, fo r psychological investigations. Also, 1983, . 68). data and its interpretation. Treatment of and the importance of avoiding biased drawn (Elton, in Fogel and p Erikson's pioneering use of this approach each stage, however, varies by method. reporting owing to eyewitness prejudice, (1969) confused spi ritua l and psychologiCal The famili ar traditional approach i s whether by colonist, o fficial, missionary or Cliometrics also denies the importance of issues. narrati ve; the Foucaultian version draws aborigine. particular events, shunning the out the collective memory through identification of generati ve forces, and Foucau lti an or genealog ical m ethod ind iscriminate data review; cliometrics C liometrics disclaiming the unpredictability o f human Strangely, it may be easie r to uses statistical data manipulation; In contrast t o the narrative a pproach, behaviour. ' psychoanalyse' society than ind ividuals. a rtcfactual analysis e mploys cliometricians argue that statistical For the g roup of historicall y-unprepared Foucault's method, based on N ietzschean archaeological, formal, technological or methods and computer capacity permits countries under consideration, it is philosophy, has gamed support in recent psychological reconstruction, and more rigorous analysis of events. They unlikely in most cases tha t adequate base years. The method seeks to uncover the psychological analysis a ttempts to also provide tools for extending the data will be available. Thus many c., tream of c.,ocietal consciousness, to find a reconstruct the s ubject's thought processes. historical perspecti ve to include the total third-world countries, such as South Africa way of analysing systems of thought as The central characteristics of each method populace - to explore how they fared or the SADEC countries, have had they emerge m rec.,pon<>e to human drive-., are described below, together with through history, rather than focusing unreliable census data before, during and fears, dreams and amb1tions. No attempt susceptibilities to bias and limitations on predominantl y on the princely and the since their colonial eras. Poorer, 1s made to test a rat10nal, progressi,·e their application to historically-unprepared powerful. indigenous populations were normally theory \\here events develop log1cally reg ions. Dependence on quantifiable material associated with the least r eliable data, for through the mtcrplay of confl1cting forces. inclined researchers to select topics related the least defensible, most prejudiced reasons. The traditional narrative approach to supply, demand, employment and "[AI genealogy of values, morality, This method relics on literary sources transportation, and possibly an interest in ascetici ... m and knowledge will never books, diaries, government archives and Marxist concerns. Economic history Compensatory roles confuse 1tself seeking their o rigins [but] reports, newspapers and the media, as therefore became a n initial vehicle for To summarise, these opposites only make cultivate details and accidents major evidence: if possible, key cliomctric s tudies. sense as a dualism, as poles of a spectrum. accompc1nying each beginning, it will be participants are also interviewed. After Computer technology has transformed Both methods have value, but cannot scrupulously a ttentive to their petty reviewing this material, points of view are the techniques of the cliometricians, supplant each other. The skill lies in m;dicc, it will await thei r emergence, fit assessed for mutual agreement or largely replacing bibliographies with discs finding valid, effecti ve combinations to once unmasked as the face of the other" (1983, p. disagreement, and conflicts probed, much load ed with copies of original data, to available d ata, as Fogel and Elton (Nietzschc, in Foucnult, L977a, p. 144}. as a detecti ve would do. Points of view permit fellow historians to review the 3) conclude: approximate to hypotheses, and the studies and assess software programmes, However, no effort is permissible with thb intention is a lways to build a narrative methodology and conclusions. Elton (in "We sta rt from the proposition tha t if ,1pproach to mnp the destiny of a people: model explaining how and w hy things Fogel and Elton, 1983, p. 66), however, these two species exist, they arc both happened. This method moves from warns that this e mphasis on quantitative legitimate ... and in some respects "on the contrary, to follow the complex inducti ve to deductive reasoning as the methods could lead u sers into adopting a competing models of research, they are course of de-.cent I'> to maintain pac;sing theories arc tested. mechanistic view of mankind: neither mutually exclusive nor events m the1r proper dispersion: it IS to Cherry's writings on famous English intrinsically antagonistic. Quite the 1dcntih the acCJdcnb, the minute ode planners (1981) and the evolution of the "preoccupation with statistics and contrary, precisely because each m devJahons" (l Jett'>che, m Foucault, Royal Town Planning Institute {1974), and behavioural models ... [gives] ... has a comparative advantage in certain 1977a. p. 1-16). Warner's (1972) studies of American urban cliomctricians such extraordinarily domains of research: they s upplement planning typify this method; altho ugh simplistic views of human motivations, and enrich each other". The method accepts that, at any time, Warner combined these sources with relationships, personalities and ethics whnt emerge~ •.., the product of a archival photographs of urban conditions, that they arc incapable of sensibly But both methods are inoperable without particuiM stage in the development of mixing narrative and artefactual analysis. interpreting their own findings". suitable historical base material. By taking variou-; forces, depending on who has Fogel's criticisms of this method (in Figel similar precautions to those of cultura l c1 ppropriated the rules of the system. and Elton, 1983) fall into two areas Hoped-for universal applications from anthropologists, oral traditions could fill in I his 'effective history' ditfers from concentrating on poor execution, which is these studies may, in fact, be mirages: some narra ti ve data gaps. However, the other forms of history in that it recognises
PLANNING I IISTORY VOL. 21 NO. 2 • 1999 • PAGE 24 PLANNING IIISIORY VOL. 21 NO. 2 • 1999 • PACL 25 no O\ ert VMdstick tor measurement. The Rasmussen's ( 1948) study of London. errors, e.g. Von Sch liemann's 'discovery of mores of the past, he correctly indicated world ts .1 m" of entangled events. The Kostof's recent attempts produced lengthy Troy', and flawed ethnocentric the need to consciously plan for change 'objectiveness' of the historian is seen as a studies on city shape and components interpretations of exotic cultural material. and uncertainty. smce this vernacular ma'>k, di'>tancmg history from reality. (Kostof, 1991, 1992). Despite a s tated Not all artefacts survive over time - those society, typically, could not absorb stresses Religiously followed, it would avoid those concern for the city as an artefact, Kostof that do usually remain because they are from a rapidly-growing and increasingly 'politicnlly correct' historical distortions (1991. pp. 9-14) pays minimal attention t o more durable, or of more expensive culturally heterogeneous population. But which have characterised some post precedents found outside the first world materials (e.g. coins ()ones, 1969), he overlooked two pomts. independence revisionist histories, as and the ancient Middle East, India and jewellery, tombs, temples, and palaces) First, a culture by definition "is the total much
I'LANNINC IIISIORY VOL. 21 NO. 2 • 1999 • PACE 26 PI.ANNINC I IISIORY VOL. 21 NO. 2 • I'JlJY • PAGE 27 methods did this hybrid set of data facili ties and infrastructure. neighbo urhoods built between 1960 and order in the American city. She rigorously necessitate? l990. Rapoport's non-verbal fo llowed Foucault's pre&cription, 'llldepellrlellf' Bophutntstun11n (1979-1990) communications method provided a concealing emerging themes as long as S11urct' matennl 011 Mnfikmg's evolutio11 before The planning and construction of the structure for these interviews (Rapoport, possible. These themes were Jeffersonian 1884 Capital complex - Secretariat, Law Courts 1982). In relation to the methods covered anti-urbanism (a lesser key), planning as Archaeological evidence is g rowing o n a and Parliament, together with new formal above, this is a variant of the artefactual social control of the proletariat, and the scattered hierarchy of dispersed settlement and informal residential areas, occurred in approach, since informants are asked to appropriation by 1909 of planning by patterns, dating from c. 400 to 1500 AD, in this period as the town grew from 60,000 evaluate places and orthogonal business interests (main themes). Her BotS'.\'ana and South Africa's Northwest to 130,000 people. The only spatial record photographs of typical elements and research depicts the planner diving Province (Hall, 1988). The size and of this growth is in extensive aerial housing types within the study area. "increasingly into more abstract and more ::.omething of the linkages between these photography taken between 1976 and Efforts to draw residents into using extensive dreams after each rebuff by the sites is known, but many require 1986. Systematic records of many o f the Lynch's legibility methods failed, as local real powermongers" (Boyer, 1983, pp. 135, cxcav<~ tion to be fully understood. decisions behind the form, phasing and residents invariably functioned by 205, 273, 284-5). Thereafter, there is a gap in data until the character of this g rowth do not exist. referring to the simplest path and node This method unveiled the influence first European explorers traversed the config urations, ignoring other components. exerted over ideas and activity fields by area. Wilson and Thompson (1982, pp. Tl1e liistoricnl rinln A by-product of the political those in dominant positions, and stresses 139-140, 153) quote the explorers Daniel, ln general, local historica l narrative (and reorganization of the region was the the unyielding grip on power exerted by Burchell and Campbell (c. 1800-1 813) as limited statisti cal information) is clustered relocation of municipal and governmental big business. This exposure of covert referring to sizeable towns, "with stone a round three major events- the s truggle records from Mafikeng to South African forces was exactl y what Nietzsche sought. hut foundatio ns, byres and enclosing between Rhodes and the Barolong for Government archives at Kimberley, Cape Some of the methodological issues walls". These early explo rers described a territorial hegemony (1880-1884) Town or Vryburg. The disposition of this involved have already been discussed. social structure of ex tended families and (Shillington, 1985; Molema, 1966); the Boer material was not recorded: tracing the Three major weaknesses are consequently tribal groups reflected in Kgotlns, or War siege and the choice of, and rapid history of formally-developed areas was Identifiable. First, Foucault's method is circular courtyards, surrounded by family growth of, Mafikeng as the Tswana almost as difficult as it was for informal heavily dependent on extensive written compounds. This town building tradition 'capital' (1977-1989). Only the last of these areas (where the original inhabitants had documentation in books and the media. continued until 1884 with few apparent has a planning thrust. There are no died, and current residents did not know Secondly, Boyer's numerical citations changes, as is shown in early photographs references to the planning of the the sequence of development. Official obscure an unstated preference for left in the Mafikeng museum. pre-existing indigenous settlement at records did not exist for these areas, as wing o;ources. Lastly, the determination Montshiwastad: information had to be families living on 'tribal' lands paid no not to synthestse the material, which this Fcmnrlmg penorl (1884-1899) gleaned from specific descriptions of rates, and received no municipal service&). philoo.,ophy requires, leaves the reader The layout of the various urban segments Tswana culture by Schapera (1955, 1956, In this case, anthropological, 'hangmg' wtthout readily-identifiable when Mafikeng was founded can be 1976), BreutL. (1955), Hull (1976), Hardie environmental and historical research conclusiOns at the end of the book. gleaned from two sources. A roughly (1981) and Frescura (1985) and methods were unavoidably combined to Boyer also d1splayed the method's drawn plan shows the indigenous Kgotlns, archaeological evidence (Hall, 1988). The answer the questions of what was value. Frco.,h ins1ghts were gained, the military outpost a nd scattered early history of the settlement is also planned, where, when, how and why. In detailing how business interests subverted colonists' homes (unda ted, c. 1884, referred to in Mathew (n.d.) and McKenzie the process, influences and priorities could and infiltrated the planning process. She Mafikeng Museum). The unchanged (in Dachs, 1975). Eyewitness descriptions be discovered, but messy research realities a lso spells out how planning became the character of much of the traditional of the Boer War siege (Mafikeng in histo rically-unprepared environments servant of capital accumulation through residential area South-West of the original Museum), and the only African siege preclude sole dependence on conventional the zoning game, and by organizing CBD is also shown in large-scale aerial biography (P i aa~e, in Komaroff, 1973) methods, despite the claim discussed engineering and transport infrastructure, photography flown around 1976. ignores the impact of the s iege on earlier advanced by Johnson and Schaffer on which the materialistic post-war Mafikeng's growth. Fairly extensive (1985). The combination of historical, ~uburban boom relied. The Boer War ulllil 'indepe11dence' material is available o n the proposals archaeological and anthropological (1900-1978) behind the planning of the new capital evidence for the founding eras (1801-1884), Conclusion Maps of the town appeared irregularly, (1978-1990). However, only by and Rapoport's method with conventional The revival in popularity of historical largely ignoring tribal areas, during this interviewing the professionals involved narrative data for the later growth era, analysis has much to offer to both first era . Only three parts of the current city could the contested background to these provided a sound basis for discerning and third-world planners. These were formally planned: the gridiron reports, and to the contentions between links between the two periods, explaining opportunihe& lie m theory-building - for colonial settlement dates from 1884, early President Mangope and the Secretariat's influences behind the form of various policy and procedural investigation and in the years of British administration; a architects, be revealed (Boden, 1989, 1992). parts of Mafikeng. development; in improving the fit between few segregated townships were laid out to proposals and the form and inhuman apartheid standards (1960-1976), Extensive interviews with local leaders Foucaultian - Boyer's study of American decision-making structures of a city, and extensions were planned East of the and residents were also necessary, to planning: 1890-1980 mctroplcx or region; in uncovering truths town, during the housing boom of the discover conceptual, cultural and Boyer's (1983) study of American planning about the development of the profession; 1970s, to house professionals involved in psychological influences behind the used Foucault's method to grasp the in dispelling 'urban (planning) legends' providing new governmental and private informall y-planned r esidential values behind the continuing quest for and distortions in understanding theory
PLANNING I IISTORY VOL. 21 NO. 2 • 1999 • PACE 28 PI ANN INC IIISTORY VOL. 21 NO. 2 • 1999 • PAGE 29 tkvclopment. llistorical <'lnalysis also Foucaultian IT\ethods by themselves. Se!Jiember, Johannesburg: Department of self-management anc.J the reconstruction softens the h<~rs hn ess of an unbridled Instead a hybrid of archaeological, Town and Regional Planning, of the local '>la te', joumal of Planning and scientific, technical and financial future, narrative, and artefactual analysis, University of the Witwatersrand, 1996. Cducatwn Research, Vol. 2 No. 1, 1982, wh1ch otherwise discounts so much of combined with extensive interviews with Boyer, M.C., Dreaming tlte Rational City, pp. 37-51. value to humanity. Planning proposals professional and peasant sources alike, Cambridge, Mass: MIT Press, 1983. Carreau, )., fdge Ctly, New York: produced with inadequate historical was necessary in order better to uncover 13oyer, M.C., Tlte City of Collective Memory, Doubleday, 1991. c1warcncss arc frequently rejected as differences of interpretation, explore Cambridge, Mass: MIT Press, 1994. Classic, 11.11., folk Housmg 111 Mrdd/e mappropriatc. values, physical mnemonics and 13reutz, P.L., Tlte Tribes of tire Mafeking Virgi111a- a Structural Analysis of Histone However, difficulties confront the a rtefactual meanings. Without these, the District, unpublished rnimeo, Pretoria: Arilfacls, Knoxville, Tenn: University of historical p lanning analyst in unprepared forces and decisions behind urban spatial Department of Nati ve Affairs, 1955. Tennessee Press, 197'5. contexts, which demand modified or growth and change could neither be Cherry, C.E., The Evolution of British Town I !all, M., Tlte Changiltg Past, Cape Town: alternative method s. These problems identified nor understood. This eclectic Planning, London: Leonard Hill, 1974. David Phillip, Cape Town, 1988. revolve around faulty or incomplete methodology is akin in spirit to the desire Cherry, C.E., Pioneers in British Planning, llardie, G., LXflressionism in lite Arclutecture population and census data, patchy of Foucault and Nietzsche to reveal the London: Architectural Press, 1981. cif tlw Tswana, Unpublished Ph.D. thesis, geographic and dynamic mapping of obscure a nd covert elements of history, Cooper, A. a nd Eckstut, S., 'A viable Boston, Mass: Boston University, 1981. areas, and biased administrative and avoiding convenient, conventional vision - Battery Park City markets la rge llerbst, K., ' Brazil's Model City', Planning, political r ecords. Eyewitness accounts are foreclosure of what are reall y untidily scale development', Urban Land, issue September, 1992, pp. 24-28. a lso unrepresentative of all points of view, tang led themes, without being narrowly 43 (1 0 October), 1984, pp. 2-6. I lough, M ., Out of Place: Restoring Identity particularly in relation to growing interest restricted to their procedural prescriptions. Cooper, A. and Eckstut, S., 'Perspectives to the Regirmal Landscape, New Haven, in the tides of popula r, rather than elite, Shortage of conventional resources Battery Park City update', Progressive Conn: Yale University Press, 1990. history. cannot be an excuse for abandoning an Architecture, Vol. 67 No. 6, 1986, pp. Hull, KW., African Cities and Towns Before Severa l prominent historical methods historical dimension in planning. Rather, 37-39. tlw [uropc'/111 Ccmquesl, New York, were assessed for their ability to perform it demands some ingenuity and g reater Dachs, A., Edited Papers of John McKenzie, Norton, 1976. in these restrictive ci rcumstances. persistence: Johannesburg: Witwatersrand )ones, T., 'The Roman coin mystery - the Difficulties exist in every example, as was University Press, 1975. romance of objects', in Winks, R. (ed.) shown in the three case studies. The truly "the o nly antidote to a s hallow De Neufville, J.l., 'Planning theory and Tlu• flt~lcman as Detecltve: Essays 011 unprepared context, c haracterised by knowledge of history is a deeper practice - bridging the gap', jormrnl for Et•tdt•ncc•, cw York: Harper's incomplete data, cross-cultural issues, knowledge, the knowledge which Plmming Education and Research, Vol. 3 rorchbook~, 1969. huge prejudices aroused by colonial produces not dogmatic certitude but No. 1, 1983, pp. 36-45. John-;on, D.A. and Schaffer, 0., Guest conflicts, inaccurate census material, and diagnostic skill, not clairvoyance but Erickson, E., 'The case of the fit in the Editonal: 'Learnmg from the past - the sporadic mapping exercises, undermined insight" (Schlcsingcr, 1969, p. 535). choir', in Winks, R. (ed.) Tlte Historian as history of planning', joumal of tire the efficacy of the narrati ve and Detective: Essays on Evidence, ew York: Amenctl/1 1'/ann11tg t\.:,~acwtwn, Vol. 51 Harper's Torchbooks, 1969. o. 2, 198.5, pp. 131-133. Fogel, R. a nd Elton, C.R., Wlticlt Road to the King, A.D., L/rbn11 Colomal Develop111e11t: Past: Two Views of History, New Haven: Cttlttll'£', Soon/ Power a11d E11vironment, Ya le University Press, 1983. London: Routledge and Kegan Paul, Fot1cau lt, M., 'Nietzsche: Genealogy, 1976. REFERENCES History', in Bouchard, D. (ed.) Lnnguage, Komaroff, J. (cd.), Tin' Baer War Diary of Sol Co unter Memory: Practice: Selected Essays T. P/aatjc• - nn African at Mafikeng, Abbott, C., Portland - Planning, Politics and Bolan, R., 'Community decision behaviour: mu'l Interviews by M. Foucault, Ithaca: London: Macmillan, 1973. Growth in a Twentieth Century City, the culture of planning', journal of the Cornell University Press, 1977a. Kostof, S., Tlte City Shaped: Urban Pattems Lincoln, Nebraska: University of A11terican In stitute of Planners, Vol. 35 Foucault, M., 'History o f systems of and Meat1111gs Tltrouglt Hh;tory, London: Nebraska Press, 1983. No. 5, 1969, pp 301-310. thought', in Bouchard, D. (ed.) Thc1mes and Hudson, 1991. Abbott, C. and Adler, S. 'Historical Boden, R., Tlte Urban Designer as Language, Counter Memory: Practice: Kostof, 5., Tlte Clllf Assembled: lite Elements ana lysis as a planning tool', jounza/ of lnlerprelant, unpublished Ph.D. thesis, Selected Essays and lnterviews by M. PLA NNING I II S I'O RY VOL. 21 NO. 2 • 1999 • PAGE 30 PI I\NN1NC IIIS'I ORY V01. 21 NO. 2 • llJ9'1 • PAGE 11 1\,Hhew, Z. K., A Sl10rl Hislory of the Schlesinger, A., 'The problem of hope: Rarolong, unpublished mimeo, place of contemporary history', in Winks, R. production unknown, undated . (ed.) The Historia11 as Detective: Essays on 1rHJE RJEGJENJERA 'fliON Of THIE 1\elt?.er, J., From M£'/ropolis to Metroplex Evidence, New York: Harper's lilt' Social tlluf Spatial Pln~ming of Cities, Torchbooks, 1969. OJLD TOWN OJF JEDKNJEUIRGH Baltimore: johns Hopkins U niversity Sennett, R., Classic Essays on the Culture of Press, 1984. Cities, Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice JBY JPA 1Rl[CK GJEDDJE§ Molema, S.M., Monlshiwa: 1815-1896: Hall, 1969. Rarolong Chief and Patriot, Cape Town: Shillington, K., The Colonization of the Struik, 1966. Sou /hem Tswana (1870-1900), SOFIA G. LEONARO Moudon, A.V., Built for Change Johannesburg: Ravan, 1985. Patrick Geddes Centre for Planning Studies, University of Edinburgh Neighlmrhood Architecture in San Slater, T. R. (ed.), The Built Form of Western 12 St Albans Road, Edinburgh, El 19 2PA Francisco, Cambridge, Mass: MIT Press, Cities, Leicester: Leicester University Tel: 0131 667 2339 E-mail: [email protected] 1986. Press, 1990. Moudon, A.V., 'Urban morphology as an Smithson, A. and Smithson, P., Urban Revised manuscript accepted for publication 2 Felmwry 1999 emerging interdisciplinary field', Urba 11 Stmc/ 11 re, London: Studio Vista, 1968. Morphology Vol. 1, 1997, pp. 3-10. Smithson, A. and Smithson, P., Nybcrg, F., 'Scattle: towards a rhetoric of Ordinariness and Light, London: Faber place', Public Lecture, University of the and Fabcr, 1970. Introduction Witwatcrsrand, May, 1988. Summerson, j., 'Urban forms', in Handlin, the Old Town's fabric in the absence of Edinburgh, the capital of Scotlan Peattie, L., Planning: Rethinking Cuidad 0. and Burchard, N. (eds) The His torian d, has necessary maintenance. Living conditions Guattana, Ann Arbor: University of and the City, Cambridge, Mass: MIT suffered much in its turbulent history. fu rther deteriorated as a result of the great Even n ow the Old Town shows visible Michigan Press, 1987. Press, 1963. fire of 1826. There were many attempts by scars from the wounds caused by the Peterson, J.A., 'The nation's first Toffler, A., Future Shock, London: Pan, the Town Council to make improvements, many battles comprehensive city plan: a political 1970. fought over it, some won but these were mostly in response to some and some lost. With the insta llation of a analysis of the McMillan Plan for Tyrwhitt, J. (ed.), Palrick Geddes in India, crisis, and were piecemeal, incomplete and new Scottish Parliament focusing more Washington, DC (1900-1902)', joumal of London: Lund Humphries, 1947. largely ineffective. There were some the Amencan Pllllming Association, Vol. Warner, S.B., The Urban Wilderness: a attention on the city, it seems appropriate notable exceptions, including the work of to review the replanning of the Old Town 50 No. 2, 1985, pp. 134-148. History of tl1e American City, New York: Lord Provost Chambers, for example, who Rapoport, A., Meaning in the Built Harper and Row, 1972. by Geddes at the turn of the last century. had promoted the City Improvement Trust This paper r eviews two elements of this E11vironme11t, Beverley Hills: Sage, 1982. Will mott, P., 'Housing density and town in 1867 in order to bring piped water, Rasmussen, S.E., Lo11do11 -the Unique City, design in a new town: a pi lot study a t regeneration: fi rst his survey method and, sanitation and a measure of light and air in particular, the d rawings commissioned London: Jonathan Cape, 1948. Stevenage', Tow11 Planning Review, Vo l. to the choked and overcrowded Old to illustrate it; secondly, the action Rossi, A., Till' Architecture of the City, 33, 1962, pp. 115-127. that Town; but these measures also brought the followed, via regeneration and Cambridge, Mass: MIT Press, 1982. Wilson, M. and T hompson, L., A HistonJ of clearance and wholesale demolition of old development schemes. It begins, however, Schapera, 1., 1\ Handbook of Tswana Law a11d Soll /h('m Africa to 1970, Ca pe Town, buildings. Some sixteen new streets were with some context on the p lace, the man Custom, London: Cass, 1955. Oavid Phillip, 1985. created. and his a pproach. Schapera, 1., Govem111e111 and Politics in Whitehand, J.W.R. and Larkham, P.J. (eds) The first informal recording of 16th Tribal Societies, London, Watts, 1956. Urba n Landscapes: lnlemalional and 17th-century houses was made by the Context Schapera, !., Tribal f11novators: Tswana Chiefs Perspectives, London: Routledge, 1992. self-taught artist and engraver Bruce After the departure o f the wealthy to the and Social Change- 1795-1940, London: I tome from 1908. His work was New Town in the 18th century, all th Athlone Press, 1970. at published in the Book of the Old Edinburgh were left in the heart of the c ity were the Clull1 and his drawings were exhibited in old, the unemployed, the poor and the the Survey of Edinburgh by Patrick destitute. It is true that lawyers s till came Geddes. Brucc Home became an active to town, s ince the Courts remained in the collaborator with Geddes and his sister centre. They cond ucted their businesses became Geddes' secretary. from l ocal taverns, but they no longer In 1875, the Cockburn Association of lived among t he poor as in previous Edinburgh was created in response to the centuries. Many wealthy citizens never set dreadful environmental conditions in the foot in the Old Town, s ince it was their city, and as a reaction to threats to its servants who came to the markets in the amenity in the absence of legislation for High Strbee t to uy necessities. The elegant the protection of old buildings of merit. parties and lifestyle had l ong since The Association, since then, has been departed from the Old Town. working for the preservation and Thus dereliction and d isrepair took over enhancement of the built environment of PLANNING I IISTORY VOL. 21 NO. 2 • 1999 • PACE 32 PLANNING IIISI'ORY VOL. 21 NO. 2 • 1999 • PACE 33 thL' ci ty of Edinburgh; counting among its Edinburgh, a model for the world, which of plants is then correlated with geology part of the famous Ci ties and fown members many e minent citizens including would turn the downward spiral of and earlier geographical and climatic Planning Exhibition organised by the Patrick Geddes. degradation and despair into an upward changes in order to a rrive at a dynamic Royal Institute of British Architects in the Patrick Geddes {1854-1932) was born in spiral of hope. How did he achieve such a conception of the s tock of vegetation. Galleries of the Royal Academy.7 Working Ballatcr, grew up in Perth and studied feat? For Geddes, the procedure was similar closely with Frank C. Mears, who was botany ,, t the School of Mines under Dereliction and degradation, according in the s tudy of human settlements and later to become his son-in-law, Geddes Hu,ley. Although trained in biology, he to Geddes, are man-created: he was s ure, cities, except that the problem is, of used Edinburgh as a case study, a was the archetypal 'lad o' pairts' whose therefore, that regeneration could be also course, more complex. Human beings demonstration of how to make a generalist interest soon l ed him to become man-directed. Armed with this conviction, interact in much more diverse ways and diagnostic ctty survey of the kind that he social geographer, practical administrator, and with all the zeal of his young years have greater power to a lter their was advocating prior to planning action. historian, dramatist and philosopher. and the unconditional support of his new environment. Here, there are other factorc; The Survey included maps, plans, models, Geddes soon involved himself in the wife, he s tarted his married life with a such as sociological characteristics, levels drawings, photographs, documents and renovation movement in the Old Town of purpose, setting for himself the real of educati on, as well as psychological statistics. Ed inburgh, through his connections with objective for any planner: "To improve the forces a t work which are not relevant in This paper next discusses the drawings the 'Secula r Positivist' debating group. living conditions and standard of life of the s tudy of plants. Geddes' City Survey by Mcars, w hich were part of the total Me mbers of this g roup included Or and the inhabitants of their Town".4 He was is, therefore, an extension and an survey. These are a remarkable Mrs Glasse of the G reyfri ars Church and convinced that, as in war, a strategy was adaptation of the principles of the demonstration of Geddcs' ideas. They James Oliphant, then headmaster of the needed to fi ght for regeneration. In order botanica l survey to people living in cities, were made especiall y for the Survey of Charlotte Square Institution for the to win, the attack h ad to be concerted, interpreting the observations of the Edinburgh as an example of his method to educati on of girls. James was married to systematic a nd sustained. Let us first present in the light of the past, and even demonstrate, in a visual form, phases in Edith Morton, daughter of Frazer Morton, examine the Diagnostic Survey of discerning something of the future: "for the development of Edi nburgh over a Liverpool merchant origina lly from Edinburgh, then the Stra tegy for the future is already incipient, as next several cnt1cal historical periods.M They Northern Ireland. She was one of three Regeneration that resulted from it. season buds are already here".6 The City effecti vely make the connection of the sisters who had received an excellent Survey required the assistance of all the present wi th the past. education in Germany, including training Diagnostic civic survey sciences to encompass Geddes' triad of The illustrations arc in pencil and in music. The other two frequently visited 'Place-Work-Folk'. water-colour, and to a large scale. They thetr sister in Ed inburgh. Rebecca Morton "The Survey of our City and its region In plants and animals, evolutionary were made with the lay person in mind, later married Peter Dott of the firm of is of fundamental importance alike in forces dictate that one generation must avoiding the use of maps. The public in Aitkcn Dott and settled in Colinton, a the understanding of its past and communicate i tself to the next. Geddes general finds it difficult to relate to maps village near Edinburgh. Geddes, Oliphant, present, and towards the preparation of inferred from this that, in the human case, since these are abstractions for the trained and the Morton sisters, among others, the Greater Edi nburgh of the near civilisation's evolution is reflected in mind of architects, surveyors or engineers. were founder members o f the futurc".5 history. Therefore, history is of great Mears' illustrations arc, consequently, in 'Environmental Society' in 1884. In 1886, importance in seeking the affiliation of the the tradition of 'bird's eye views' that the third sister - Anna - married Patrick Geddes considered it essential for any city present to the past. The tracing of the dates back at least to the early 1500s. For Geddes. to carry out a careful 'Diagnostic Civic process of change and the identification of the Survey they were complemented by This original group soon evolved into Survey' before action. [n recent times, the the phases of change, whether progressive speciall y-taken photographs of street the better-known circle called the City Survey has gradually become or degenerative, are vital for the better scenes (c. 1904- 10). The use of 'Edinburgh Social Union'. Their sectorial, an expensive and sometimes underst«nding of the present and to photographs is an innovation for this immediate aim was to make the best of mea ningless forest of statistics, which discern something of the future. This link period in Edinburgh although, elsewhere, present conditions and to raise the simply confuses the lay person. Critically, with the past - the recognition of trends, topographical recording had been standa rd of comfort without waiting for it has lost the diagnostic clement. The the identifica tion of problems and undertaken since Fo' Talbot. the operation of legislative processes. In Geddesian Survey, by contrast, went possibilities - is the ding11ostic element that The study of place, or site analysis, this, they set out to do something about beyond the interpretation of the conditions many city surveys now fail to recognise or undertilken by Geddes in Edinburgh, the unwholesomeness of the homes of the of the city in the present, seeking rather to ignore a ltogether. Geddes recognised that starts from the region - the natural setting poor, and to provide opportunities for connect contemporary conditions with a detailed and comprehensive survey of of the city. fhe study thus seeks to "healthy enjoyments and higher tastes and their origins - local, regional and general. this kind is necessarily difficult and understand the area's geological pleasures by a process of aid and As a botanist, Geddes knew that plants laborious, but not insuperable. He also beginnings, its geography, climatic example". 2 There are similarities with the require specific environmental conditions anticipated that many would hesitate to conditions, natural resources, distribution methods of Canon Sa muel Barnett or habita ts in order to flourish. In a undertake o r even discourage such of population and settlement patterns on working in Whitechapel in London3 and of botanical survey, it is customary to start surveys as too time-consuming. the wider regional scale. Octavia Hill, whose work was deeply by detailed observations of an area, The First Planning Survey of Edinburgh The first of the Mears drawings (Fig. 1) admired by Anna Morton. recording o n a base map the distribution by Patrick Geddes is a perfect example of shows Edinburgh in this context. Here, After marriage, Geddes chose to live in of types of vegetation and their how to make a City Survey prior to we .1re meant to observe and understand James Court, in the s lums of the inner city. associations. This, then, can be studied in development. It took shape at the O utlook the city both in its immediate and in its There, he developed a method for the relation to climate, topography and soil Tower over many years, and was first wider landscape or regional setting. It regeneration of the Old Town of conditions. A search of past distribution exhibited in London in October, 1910 as PLANNING I IISTORY VOL. 21 NO. 2 • 1999 •3 PAGE 4 PLANNING IIIS"I ORY VOL. 21 NO. 2 • 1999 • PAGE 35 shows the upland ranges from the convey lhl· role th.1t the llty has l'cntland Hills to the Firth of Forth, and it pcrforml•d smCl' the earliest histone also shows the c ity fringed with rustic life periods. In th1s drawmg, Edinburgh Castle 1s depicted perched atop another "... from the sportsman's solitudes and great volcanic rock the surviving lava pastoral hamlets of the Pentland slopes plug of a crater 1tself eroded away, and such as Stevenson's Swanston Village, with cl long ridge or 'tail' running down through the agricultural and the mining eastwards from the crag to low ground at vi llages of the Lothian Plain, to the the foot of Salisbury Crags and Arthur's characteristic fishing vi llages on the Scat. The drawing shows the incipient coast. Thus the real country is Edinburgh as a citadel or local hill-fort accessible a nd its vi llages are not yet associated with a sea port (Leith) and an mere dormitories around the ci ty ... ".'1 agricultural plain. In this, Ceddes found a direct parallel with Athens with its To the north and cast it shows the Acropolis, the Piracus and Attica - a widening estua ry of the Firth of Forth, common combina tion in Mediterranean with Fife and its strings of fishing vi llages Europe, but less common this far north. visible a long the coast on the opposite Thus "Ed inburgh the Athens of the North" shore. Towards the West, the historic h<1d , for Geddes, more to do with its crossing o f the 'Queen's Ferry' is indicated geographic and historic origins than with where eventuall y the Forth Bridges were the 18th- and 19th-century borrowings of to be built. The regional view includes the Creek architecture in the city. Ci ty of Dunfermline with its extension in Mcars' dr«wings are based on detailed Rosyth. Finally, far beyond Stirling, the observation; as he him<;elf said, great Highland hills are set against the sunset. "•t is difficult, at first, when one is Regional analysis is complemented and walkmg the streets of a c rowded city, to deepened by historical understanding. visualise the anc•ent open site on which The first signs of human habitation in it is butlt, but contmued observation, prehistoric times are found, according to coupled w1th the study of models and Mears, on Arthur's Seat. Some maps, has resulted in the conclusions photographs s how traces of cultivation set forth m the series of drawings of the terraces on the sides of this extinct Edinburgh Survey". 11 volcano.10 The rest was, presumably, covered by forest. There was extensive Mcars further observed that marshland and several small lakes, but also potential cultivable land. "... the earliest inhabitants were free to lt is well known that in the Roman t<~kc their pathways by the best routes period there existed two small camps at over the open moors untrammelled by this corner of Empire- one in lnvcresk boundaries or vested interest, and in and one in Cramond, joined by a road the main these e<~rly tracks, consecrated linking them with the rest of Britain. The by centuries of use, form the framework Roman camps were well located for sea on which the modern city has grown·'}2 access; they were near a good source of water and good cultivable land. The greater city of today has grown over I •I Edinburgh might well have developed and <~round the old centre, and all of its \\ around these original camps, vestiges of modern developments have been which are still visible. However, profoundly .1ffected by ancient and ~\ insecurity fo llowing the decline and sometimes prehistonc road lines and eventual disappearance of the Romans in boundaries. I hus the Ccddesian analysis ~ Britain, especially at the time of orse shows that the anc1ent road pattern is still f invasions, made the inhabitants of these crucial for this difficult site, and modern lands seek refuge in the strategic outcrop transport planners ignore it at their peril. where the Castle now stands. The next two Mears drawings show In the second drawing of the Mears Edinburgh c. 1450, in profile as seen from series (Fig. 2) the main purpose was to the South (Fig. 3) and from the air in a PLANNING HISTORY VOL. 21 NO. 2 • 1999 • PAGE 36 PI.ANNING I IIS l ORY VOL. 21 NO. 2 • \ 999 · PAGE 37 ---..,_.. - -,_ .. ''~J.i. ... ' '/ ' .. Fig. 2 Edinburgh: bird's eye view showi11g the primitive !till-fort a11d fishing port (Frank C. Mears) --- ·---- ...... ___... .. "" ' / ' '· / •, Fig. 3 Edinburgh: bird's eye view from tlte south as at c. 1450 (Frank C. Menrs) 'bird's eye view' from the East looking Nor' Loch as a partial moat, and the towards the Castle (Fig. 4). They show the growth of ecclesiastical foundations medieval development of Castle and Royal outside the city walls to the south, such as Burgh with Holyrood Abbey and the Greyfriars and Blackfriars. beginnings of the Burgh of Canongait.13 Geddes pointed out that the The 'bird's eye view' conveys the nature overcrowding and underhousing of \ I and feel of the city on a ridge, a Edinburgh, with high rents and high land I perception now compromised by the values, could be traced to the restricting ---~ ' infilling effect of the George IV Bridge and defensive walls of the medieval city. Its North and South Bridges. The 'bird's eye geographical siting explains the difficulty view' clearly shows the city walls at their of providing an efficient water supply for greatest extent, including the 'Fiodden the old ci ty, this being the cause of the Wall' built in 1513, the development of city's dirt. Ceddes observed, incidentally, Fig. 4 Edinburgh: bird's eye view looki11 g west ns at c. 1450 (Fm11k C. Menrs) PLANNING I II STORY VOL. 21 NO. 2 • 1999 • PAGE 38 l'LANNlNC lllS fORY VOL. 21 NO. 2 • 1999 • PAGE 39 that thts dirt and overcrowding were North Bridge and later The Mound. A rc~ponsiblc for the intensity and variety of succession of New Town extensions dtscascs 111 the population of the Old concentrated residential development in Town w hich, in turn, may have been the Edinburgh on the north side for a long pnme factor m the development of time. Edinburgh as a centre of medicine. In the south, properties previously owned by religious institutions reverted to " ... it is no mere accident that Pasteur, the Town after the Reformation. Mld his foremost disciple Lister, should Gradually, this land was g ranted for have been aroused to their cleansing secular uses such as the U niversi ty, the tas l-.s in the midst of cities so Hospital, the Museum and the College of pre-eminent in their overcrowding, their Art (Fig. 6). A 1 o\ Ll J- r dirt and disease as old Paris and old Thus Ed inburgh developed, according 14 Edinburgh". to the Geddes analysis, as a city with three \ \ parallel axes: (1) an administrative axis - •I! \t "' Pl,AN 0' THC N£W AOr'AL ifUIJGH There followed a period of along the a ncient High Street, (2) an I $H0WIN(, Tl-lr PROI/AI!t.l { ..-rCN'SIONS intensification of the disastrous wars educational and cultural axis in the south, 4 N0 ~OUNOA P/£j DURJNC flU between England and Scotland. The and fina ll y (3) a commercial axis a long flfiPfii.NfN C£NfVhr' immediate consequence of such r epeated Princes Street in the first New Town. The conflicts was a community denuded of its study o f 'Place', therefore, is no mere Fig. 5 Edinburgh: Ecclesinsticnl settlements. Plrm of I he nrw Royal Burgh showing the probable active male population for many study of geography or history, but of the extensions and boundaries duri11g /he 13th cr11tury (Frn 11 k C. Menrs) ~u ccessive generations, with only women, interconnections of history, geology, children and old men left in town. The geography, a rchaeology and anthropology. situation was further aggravated by the ,_ .... ,.f ...... ,.... ,.. .., ...., ... """".1·... , .... !>hcltering of fugitives from the devastated " ... lt goes deeper than what is directly ...... _, countryside in the already-crowded city observable on the g round ... [or w hat is) centre. This, Geddes rightly points out, is to be found in Archives. It looks a t the L- -~ Edmburgh's most tragic legacy from the [richer) connections of different areas I ; .. past. withi n the city as well as the regional, '·-·.. - ·._.... The Union of the Crowns and provincial, national and world w ide ---...... , subsequently of the Parliaments deprived connections of the city itself"_l 5 '*'·--...... , Edinburg h of its prime function as a nues Examination of the city fabric over the -~··· · -C."1 ca pital. The city lost important reve -·.. ·- ·~ ~ ..... t ... and suffered a stagnation of trade. years s hows periods of prosperity and ...... !"m' _.. :·~ ~;::.. ·= .. ~---____ periods of dire poverty. The city should ... ,..,.. _, _ _ _ .... ,,,t Notable, too, was the collapse of the .,.. , . Darien scheme, a vain attempt to break be seen as the direct expression of the long out and establish a 'Scottish' trading interaction of a particular p eople ('Folk') colony in what is now Panama. The civil with a particular p lace, causing wars of 1715 and 1745 had a further characteristic structures (physical, social, depressing effect. Each of these events is economic a nd institutional) to evolve. recorded in the monuments and buildings This interaction h as taken place from the of the city. beginning of human h abitation and it is Fig. 6 Edinburgh up to 1765, showing ::oeculnr inslttll fl()n::; m1 sites cif monnstenes etc. The next Mears drawing (Fig. 5) is a also happening now. n11d cnrn; ing sonte of ilu'tr fu nctions (Frank C. !vicars) diagrammatic plan rather than a v iew. It In any development, it is important to shows that the necessary expansion of the examine the pattern of growth and its ca tegory ca lled 'work'. Geddes' triad of Survey. city, once overcrowding became rhythm; then to correlate this with the 'place-work-folk', based on Le Play's 'Lieu The 1mpact of the Survey was felt intolerable, could not take place to the needs of society, the level of education -Trnvnille-Fnmil/e', was represented in the deeply by Geddes' followers. These south even though this was physically the and the rate of participation of active symbol of three doves which appeared in included, a mong o thers, Abercrombie, easier route. During medieval times, great citizens, on which the city depends. all publications from the Outlook Tower. Pepler, Unwtn, and llowa rd in Engla nd; areas of land to the south had been Structures of trade and commerce, of Recently, the three doves have been Mumford and o thers 111 America; Fra nk granted to religious orders, leaving only economic acti vity, institutional structures included in a c ity street plaque in the and Mary Tindall a nd Robert Grieve in small areas, such as George Square, for of government and local administration, newly-named Patrick Geddes Steps Scotland; Percy Johnson-Marshall in development. Private development, social structures, income levels and (formerly Castle Wynd) going down to the Scotland and then in India; a nd John therefore, had to expand to the north education levels, physical structures of Grassmarket. They summarise, in a furner, Kenneth Watts and Max Lock in where the first New Town was eventually road networks a nd utilities, water and simple and symbolic form, the three South America, South-East Asia and Africa built, following the construction of the sewerage, all collecti vely came under the interconnecting main elements of the city respectively. fhus the seeds of the PLANNINC J IISTORY VOL. 21 NO. 2 • 1999 • PA CE 40 PI /\NNINC IIISroRY VOL. 21 NO. 2 • 1999 • PACE -11 Gcddcst.m Survey were spread far and The second was the Educational wtdc. Programme, organised by james Oliphant, offering training and work skills to Strategy for the regeneration of adolescents from the Castlehill School with Edinburgh the s upport of the School Board. P.1trid. Geddes, bursting into the The third was the Entertainment Edmburg h scene at the end of the last Committee, which aimed to provide century, and fully conscious of the healthy enjoyments s uch as music and nchncss of past history, had no doubt that poetry, as opposed to the supposed the Old Ttwm could be raised from the brawling and boozing 19 spare time ashes of despair and degradation. He was occupations of the urban poor. Led by .1 lso convinced that the best planning is Ana Morton and Marjorie Kennedy-Fraser, not accomplished by doing things for the committee organised music and poetry others, who then sit back and opt out, but evenings at the Outlook Tower. by empowering the people to act for The fourth was the Public Open Spaces themselves. This conviction was based on Committee, chai red by Frank Mears, w ho Reclus a nd Kropotkin's anarchist ideas, surveyed all available open ground in the but also, Boardman16 claims, on the BibleY Old Town with a view to convert such In childhood, Geddes had learned that the grounds where possible into gardens. Israelites, returning a fter their long Lastly, the Housing Guild was where captivity in Babylon, had found the city of Geddes had more direct action and Jerusalem in ruins. Their leader required influence. This also provided a link with each head of family to rebuild or the Edinburgh Architectural Association rehabilitate first thei r own house and the (EAA), which h e had joined in 1884. piece of ground in front (individual responsibility), and then also to take turns The built environment m rebuilding the city wall (shared Geddes's first lecture for the EAA was responsibility). In this way, everybody called, rather modestly, "A layman's view took part in the realising of the ew of architecture".20 Among the members of Jerusalem. Like an Old Testament leader, the EAA of the time were Hippolyte Blanc, Gcddcs set about galvanising his Thomas Ross (of MacGibbon and Ross), netghbours into individual and Robert Rowand Anderson, Sydney community action to achieve similar ends. Henbest Capper, and the University's Professor of Fine Art, C. Baldwin Brown.21 Social improvement One of the founder members of the EAA The building boom of the late-19th century was Ceorge Aitken {1836-1921), who had a provided replacement for nearly two practice in Dundee. He became a close thirds of the old fabric, and many collaborator of Geddes and was involved buildings were in danger of demolition. in the work for the Dunfermline Report People were deserting the city centre in and later in Geddes' proposals for the droves. Geddes involved himself in the Roya l Mile. Ai tken and Geddes were work of regeneration, especially through responsible for the 'conservation' of Lady his 'Social Union' connections. By then Stair's House (Fig. 7), now the Writers' these were o rganised in Ruskinian Museum, which was then in danger of Gui ld s.'~ demolition. The first was the Artistic Guild, led by At this s tage, Geddes was able to link John Duncan, which was later to become his biological repertoire with the stylistic the O ld Edinburgh School of Art. The concerns of his new associates, especially Guild's a tm was to beautify interiors and Aitken and Capper. Aitken was very exteriors in the Old Town. Much of its much in the classical Beaux Arts tradition, work survives in buildings such as w hile Capper was more interested in Ramsay Garden, and its ideas in Tile romanticism and Arts and Crafts Evergreen, a quarterly published by movement. Fig. 7 Lndy Stair's House rellovaiJVII by C.S. Ailkt'll, Arclutecl, 1897 Gcddes and colleagues at the Outlook Geddes had wanted to improve the (collec tioll of tile Patrick Ceddes Ce11/re ji>r Pla1111i11g Studies) rower in 1896-7 and edited by 'William conditions of the poorly-lodged students Sharp', alias Fiona McLeod. of Edinburgh University and the Watt PLANNING J IISTORY VOL. 21 NO. 2 • 1999 • PAGE 42 l'LANNlNC lllSlORY VOL. 21 NO. 2 • 1999 • PAGE 43 ln-.htull' \-. p.nt ol h1-. ~tr,1tcgv for With the boost of new funding, Geddes called "The Ascent of Man". time was for building in the neo-classical rl'gl'l1l'rclhnn he "'-'t c1bout prOVIding was ablt' to contin ue with his work in The o rganisation of the Tower as an style; but Gcddcs wanted something in the i\Ccommndatwn for them m the Old Town 'conservative surgery'; that is, renovating 'Index Museum' no longer exists, however vernacular which would express national 111 ''hat he calkd Um\ ersit\ Halls. The and upgrading most sites capable o f it is s till admired b y local and foreign romanticism, with opportunity for hrst rl'nm' 1'1/\NNINC IIISIORY VOl .. 21 NO 2 • 1999 • P/\CI 44 PLANNING I IISTORY VOL. 21 NO. 2 • 1999 • PAGE 45 N01ES fnwn, ''s recorded in the Geddes Centre's After a period o f obscurity a nd neglect following the death of Patrick Geddes, the photngmphic collection. They identified 1. Book of lite Old Edinburgh Club, 14. Geddes, ' Beg innings of a Survey', n. City Council created the O ld Town 75 pu~ces of land suitable for conversio Edinburgh: printed by T. & A. Ofl. et/ ., p. 284. Conservation and Renewal Committee to The group then converted these derelict Constable for members of the C lub, 15. A. Geddes, L'Ctude de In Vi/le, continue his work. The Committee has sttes into tnncr-city gardens with the help first volume 1908. article written in Montpellier, now been in existence for some 12 years, of the chtldren and residents, thus 2. Edinburgh Social Union, Mi11ute 1912- 19 14; in Stra thclyde University and the results are beginning to be bringmg life into the previously s tark, Books, Edinburgh Room, Edinburgh Archives, T. Ged 23.9. 14. appreciated. Edinburgh's Old and New dreary and dark alleys of the Old Town Central Library, 1885-1892. 16. P. Ooardman, Tlte Worlds of Pat rrck Towns have been designated as a World (Fig. 8). The Committee also distributed 3. S. Barnett, The Ideal City, edited Gl'dcles, London: Routled ge and Heritage Site by UNESCO in 1997. bulbs to be planted in pots on people's w ith an introduction by H. Mcllcr, Kegan Paul, 1978. The people of Edinburgh should never balconies. The O ld Town came to life as Leicester: Leicester University 17. Old Testament, Book of N ehemiah, forget the work done by Patrick Geddes Gcddcs had predicted Press, 1979. Chapter 3. towards the regeneration and renewal of 4. Minutes of the meeting of 6 18. Edinburgh Social Union, Minute the Old Town, the heart of the Scottish " ... let endure, and plant again the Ja nua ry 1885, Edinburgh Socia l Books, Of'· cif. Capita l. As Mumford said," ... what h e fragant closes. Union, Min11/e Books, op. cif. 19. Ibid ., Minutes of the meeting of 6 accomplished as a solitary thinker and Their child ren's c hildren shall have 5. P. Gcddes, ' Beginnings of a Survey January 1885, p. 1. doer has become the task of our whole roses". of Ed inburgh', Scoll ish Geographical 20. P. Boardman, No/ Housing but Home generation".27 Magazine Vol XXXV, 1919, pp. 281 - Building. Tlte Life-Celllerl'd Approach 298. of f>alrick Geddes, Oslo: AAS & 6. Ibid., p. 281. Wahl s Ookyry kkcri, 1948 (reprint). 7. Sociological Society: Cities 21. Intere!> tingly given this c onnection Committee, City Survet; Preparatory with Geddes' conservation and la Town Pln11ning, London: regeneration acti v ities, G. Baldwin Sociological Society, 1911. Brown became a key fig ure in the 8. It is interesting to compare the study of conservation a t the turn of views and interpretations of the the century: see h is The Care of early town by Geddes and Mears 1\IIW'nt Mcmuments, Cambridge: with a recent commentary on C..1 mb ridge University Press, 1905. planners' views of the medieval 22. Edinburgh Soetal Union. Un iversity town: K.D. Lilley, 'Mondem visions o f Strathclyde Geddes A rchives. of the medieval city: competing MS T.Gcd 20/2/91. conceptions of urbanism in 23. K. M tchaclson, 'The Old Town European civic design', Enviro11menl Yea rs', Lecture d eli vered a t the 1111d Plan11ing 8: Planning n11d Desig11 O utlook Tower a t the inaug uration Vol. 26, 1999, pp. 427-446. of the Gcddes Exhibition in 1995. 9. Geddes, ' Beginnings of a Survey', 24. According to an existing drawing op. cif., p 282. in the C entre's collection. Catalogue 10. Sec the Ca talogue of lite Archives of cif 1/w !l.rcltives, op. cif., Volume I. /he Pntrick Geddes Centre for 25. P. Gcddcs, The Masque of Ancient Pla11ni11g Studies, Volume II, Uaming, Edinburg h: Pa trick Edinburgh: Patrick Geddes Centre Geddcs and Colleagues, Outlook for Planning Studies, 1998. Tower, 1913, Prologue: The School 11. F.C. Mears, 'Primitive Edinburgh', bc1g. Scolfish Geographical Magazine, Vol. 26. S. Leonard, Ramsny Gardens, XXXV, 1919, p. 298. Edinburgh: Patrick Gcddes Centre 12. Ibid . for l'lanntng Studies, University of 13. P. Geddes and F.C. Mears, Outlim• Edmburgh, 1989. cif n Survey cif Edinburgh, reprinted 27. L. 1\lumford, ' Introduction', in from the Catalogue of the Royal Ty rrwhitt, J. (ed .) Pn trick Geddes m Institute of British Architects' Town lmlm, London: Lund Humphries, Planning Conference Exhibition at 1947. the Royal Academy, p. 5. Printed by Wm Clowcs & Sons Ltd, London, 1910. fig. 8 Childre 11 from Castlehi /1 School nud their teachers cttltivating the ga rdens (collection of the Pntrick Geddes Cc!ttlre for Pln111ti11g Studies) 1'1./\NNINC IllS I ORY VOI . 21 NO. 2 • I 1900, AltaM1ra Press, 1999, Inclltston 111 tlu!SC ti/IIIOIIIICemenls of publtcalitlll does not prccl11de fulla revh>tu at a later date London Suburbs, London: Merrell together w1th subd•scipllne~ '" llolbcrtson, 1999, 240pp, 250 d1verse as gender l> tudte~, art 120pp, ISBN 0 7619 8962 5, £:32.00 hb (pb also available) Colin Chant (ed.). Crt1et. a11d David Coodman, Curopean Cllies Cerrylynn K. Roberts (ed.), Tl1e tllustrations, ISBN I 85894 077 X, history and urban morphology, Tt•rl111ology and Technology: Industria/to Posl American Cities and Teclrnology £:25 are brought together to rt•ve.ll lnduslrinl City, London: Render: Wlidemess to Wired City, the nature of suburb1a from the nineteenth century to the prt'~l'nt Lisa C. Tolbert, Co11slmclmg Th1:- IS a ~ene::. of text!> and Routledge, 1999, 284pp. 260 London: Routledge, 1999, 288pp, Regarded by some as idyllic, by rmvn~capes : Space and Society 111 rt•ader;, produced by Routledge illustrations, ISBN 0 415 20080 6, 74 illustrations, ISBN 0 415 20086 others as tormenting, the day and from Britam to North ca and Australia. Antebellum friiiii'SSI'e, Umvers•ty tn as~OCiilllon w1th the Open £16.99 pb (hb ® C55.00) 5, ( 16.99 pb (hb@ £50.00) suburban ideal has impulses Ameri of North Carolina Press, 1999, University, in support of an !>teeped in architectural, socia l Eleven c hapter~ together 3 12pp, ISBN 0 8078 2466 6, undergraduate module of that The book is divided into three ~nd historical significance. From with the edi tors' Introduction comprise this volume. They £:39.95 hb (pb also available) n.1mc. fhe books are well principal sections: cities of the Volker Welter, Collecting Cities: the Chaucerian vigour of the produced clnd fluently written; Industrial Revolution including lmngt•s from Pat rick Geddes' Cities medieval outskirts to the include: Peter Newby and Mark Turner, ' Britb h suburban t,,.,tc, the• reildcrs contatn interesting case s tudies of Manchester, nnd Torun Planning £xllibitio11, Utopian vbion~ of post-World 1880-1939', R ich~rd l urkmgton, Donald A. Krueckeberg, The mahmal. lhe papcrb.1cks are Glasgow, London and Paris; Glasgow: Collins Gallery, War 11 planner!>, the dynamic ' British "Corpor.1 1ton Suburb1a". Amt•ncau Planner 810grnplues nnd l'~Pl'Ct.1lly good value for money European cities ~mce 1870, Umversity of Strathclyde, 1999, outward growth and mgenuity m central the changmg fortunc~ of Norn~ Rt•coll<•ctiOIIs, Center for Urban r!w ~ene::. prl'Senl~ a new including London, Pari~. Berlin, 56pp, 34 colour illustrations, pl.1nmng around Green L1vcrpool', jeremy Policy Re~earch, Rutgers tllu~lrclled ~OCta l htl>lory of Milton K eyne~. and the n!.C of ISBN 0 907114 26 1, £:7.00 London IS a unique and trend Wh1tehand and Chn'>hne CMr, LJnivers1ty, J, 1994 (2nd ed1110n, tl'Chnology, ustng pnmanly modern urban planmng and ~ettmg example of th•s 'England'., garden .,uburbs new to Europe 1998), 552pp, urban ~ethngs as a ::.ource of post-war recon ~.tru ch on; and 1 h1s is the catalogue of the phenomenon which still !5B 0 88285 148 9, £19.95 pb hl'toncal tNtdence and a focus fr urban technologv transfer exh1b1 hon displayed at the re~onates world-w1de. Th1s development and change', R1chard llarns, ' I he makmp, of the m terprl'tallon of the covering Colomal India and Colllns Gallery (see otices, this official defm•hve h1story Amencan suburbs, 1900·19'i(h. ,, h•~ t oncal relation!. of technology Russia. 1ssue). The Ceddes Exhibition is examme~ th• ~ revolutionary development from the vanety of reconstruction', L.ury Mc(.lnn, W. Boes iger et al., 1.£ Corbuslt'r, ,md ~~x:•ety Drawmg on fam1liar to Plmrning 1-l•slory 'Suburbs of de.,m~· the ~uburban '>w•tzerland· B1rkhau~er, 1999, pl·r~pechve-, and wntmg!> from a readers (see Volker's research per!>pechve!> that have shaped 1t, landscape of Canad1an Clhe,, c 1708pp, 2687 dlu~trations, ISB\. number of d1~c•pllnes, mcludmg David Coodman (ed.), Tilt• report in Vol. 20 No. 1). This fully Illustrated w1th maps, 1900-1950', Robert Lewi~. 1 764'i 5515 8, £375 Mch,leology, urban h•story, Cu ropean Cities nnd Teclrnology small-format publication contains plans, pamllngl> and ' Runnrng nngs around the Cl t> hl'tonc.ll geography and Reader: lndustnallo Post lndut./nal a chronology of the Exhibition photograph~. many spec1ally essay North Amencan mdu~trhll Mch1tectural h1~tory - th1s !>Cries City, London: Routledge, 1999, matenal, an introductory commi ~!> •oned , and •s the first suburbs, 1850- 1950', Veromc.1 Oavid V. Mollenhoff and Mary l'Xplore~ how towns and c1ties 304pp, 120 illu~trallon~ , ISBN on Geddes and his civic survey book to cxamme London's Strong-Boag. babel Dyc:k, K1m J. llamilton, Frmrk Lloyd Wrrglll's h;we been shaped by 0 415 20082 2, £: 16.99 pb (hb@ ilpproach, and on the vast range "uburban growth m its entirety. England and Loube )ohn~on, MmrOIIIItl rarace: The Endur/1/g appllcatl()ns of a range of £50.00) of materials gathered for the Of great importance to architects, ' What women's "P"Cc~? \tVoml'n f'mvt'T of 11 Cw1c Vr~ron, technologies and how such Exhibition. planners, ~oc iolog1sb, hi s torian ~ in Australian, Bnhsh, C.111,1di.1n Un1ver:-.1ty of W1scons1n Pre::.s, tt•ch nolog ical applications have The 'Collecting cities' c1nd the two- third ~ of us who and US suburbs', Tony Du1gle, 1999, 320pp, ISBN 0 299 15500 5. bct•n influenced by their social Cerrylynn K. Roberts <1nd exhibition itself contains 76 c hoo~e to have o ur homes in the '"Cioria Soame": the "pre.1d of C43.9'i contexts, including politics, Philip Steadman, Amaicnn Cities items, and there is a fu ll and suburb~. this volume will raise suburbia in post-wiH Austr,liiJ', Pconomic!>, cu i tu re and the nnd Tecllllology: Wildemess to detailed listing of them - q u e~ tion s and help us Andrew Jonas, 'M,lkmg Edge natural cnv1ronment. Wired City, London: Routledge, including their dates, o rigins, underst,lnd the evolving City: post-!>uburban dl•velopml•nt Robert A.M. Stern et al., New r!w '>l'rleS comprises: 1999, 272pp, 190 illustrations, authorship (where known): all of reconciliation between c•ty and ISBN 0 415 20084 9, £:16.99 pb which make this a useful country. and life on the frontier 1n York 1\rcllllt'Ciur<.' and Urbnmsm, Monacclll Pre~::., 1999, 1008pp. (hb @ £55.00) catalogue. {from publisher) Southern Cahforn1a', D.n 1d Ames, 'Understandmg wburb., 1200 11lu::.trahons, £-15 Colin C hant and David Cop1es from the Col/ins Gn/lery. as h1stonc lando,cape, through Coodman, Prt•·llldus/nnl Cit1es Chronologically th•~ volume 22 Riclrmond Street, Clasgoru CJ pr~ervallon ', and Pl'ter J muf lt•clmolo:;:y. London: ranges from the earliest 7XQ. Richard Harris j . Larkham (ed::.) l.arkham, 'C.ono,ervahon .1nd Ri chard Longstreth, Dm•e-m, lire Routledge, 1998, 368pp. ISBN 0 technolog•cal d1men~1on~ of and Peter : management m Ll-.. .. uburb., Sullt'r/1/tlll.t•t 11111f lilt• -IJ'i 20076 8, £:16 99 pb (hb@ Amencan ~ ttl ements to the Tlrt• Most Re110lullonnry Measure Cha11K111K Suburbs. fmmda/1011, London: lram.JCIImniiOII of Commt•rc1al £:5'i00) 'wired city' concept~ of the 1960s A llrslory of tire Rural Development J'orm muf frmc/1011, ~pelt'<'"' Lo~ An11d~ 1914-41, and internet commumca!lon~ o f ComiiiiSS/On 1909-1999, Salisbury: Spon, 1999, 280pp, ISB 0 41 9 l.1mbndge, Ma~s. \.liT Press, the 1990s. Ceograph1cally, 1h Rural Development Commission, 22050 X hb Peter Reed {ed }, <..ltl',\1 PI.ANNINC l liS I'ORY VOL. 21 NO. 2• 1999 • PACE 48 PLANNING lllS'I ORY VOL. 2 1 NO. 2• 1999 • PACE 49 JP U 1B L TI C A 'f TI 0 N s~ JP U 1B 1L TI CC A 1r TI 0 N s~ RJELlEV ANT JOURNAL AIBS'fRAC'fS IBOOK RJEVTilEWS ferti le pla1n~ and les::. than the fm,ll redempt1on of Keith D. Lilley (1999) 'Modern import11nce to the Nation of explored with relation t o current Wolfgang Voigt, Atla11tropa. ago when the Ci11 Europe and mankind from the evils of an visions of the medieval city: cultur11 l landscapes, defined approaches to urban Welt ba rtcn am Mi ftelmeer. vall eys between . Afnca were flooded. industnali!:>ed mas::. soc1ety competing conceptions of broadly a:. natural space:. !:>haped morphology. Topography, Arc!litektentraum der Modemr Subsequently, Ssrgel ba~ed his wh1ch seemed to be unable to urbanism in European civic by human mtentions. Dunng the hJ!:>toric form and culture are all Dolling und Galitz Verlag, Hamburg, 1998). 144 pages, w1th pro)l'CI on hard ~C1enttfJc facts, beat poverty and war. lmttally, de!>lgn', £11UITOIIIIII'Ill Olld last ten year:., the Park Scrv1ce':. s1gmf•cant in shapmg more 3- on a detatled he concentrated on mastenng the Plar111i11g 8: Pl111111illg a11d Desig11, many programmes for cultural recent development and the numerous illustrations, ISBN for example 48 DM. oceanographic :.tudy of the Med1terranean for the benef1t of vol. 26 pp. 427-446 landscapes have established the detail of the current urban 933374-05-7. iterranean by the :.cientist mankind. Later, he envisaged agency as" professionalising landscape. Med most astonishing thing Otto )essens, who had calculated development and 'civilisalton' of In Europe, during the early 20th force for the evaluation of thb The the Atlantropa Project - that the current water level of the African contment w1th the century, new civ1c des•gns often heritage. Its efforts have Shigeru Satoh, 'Urban design about the plan of the German architect the sea was mamtamed by help of the newly-gamed drew upon 1mage!> of medieval themselve:. become model!> to and change in Japanese castle S§rgel to block the 88,000m' of water wh1ch electricity. He C\ en had the 1dea Cllles. In order to create the 'c•ty emulate for other stewards of towns', pp. 217-234. Herman Straits of Gibraltar with a dam streamed each :.econd mto the of ::.peeding the lowering of the of tomorrow', and define what historic landscapes. is its invento r's amazing Mediterranean. Mediterranean by diverting was 'modern' in new city design, This paper describes the This paper explores urban form optimism about mankind's Once Ssrgel had outlined the ~ome of its water 1nto an the medieval city frequently intentions, scope, succcsse~, and design in Japanese castle abilitie!:>. SOrgel, who was born ba:.1c pnnciples of the proJect, he arttfic•al sea ,lt the centre of the became charactcnzed and lessons learned and plan~ for the town::. of the Edo penod - the in Regensburg in 1885 and d1ed could convince a number of Afncan contment. dep1cted a~ 'natural' and future of thl? '\!PS cultural most common urban type, from in Mumch m 1952, hved at a well-known archJtt>ct:. from One welcome side effect 'Irregular' in 11:. development landsc.lpe actJvihes. 1t a~~\?s~e!> wh1ch mo!:>t of today'!> cities have time wh1ch did not as yet fear Germany and other countr1es to env1s1oned by S<)rgel env1saged and form. Th1:. can be seen in the Park Serv1ce's landscape developed. Original layouts, a butterfly flapping its de~ 1 gn both the techn1cal wa::. the lasting 1mprovement of the writing of p11rticular programmes and their impacts f1•ng-Tsui design p rinciples, and that wings on one side of the world infrastructure and to plan the the African m1croclimate. urbanist!>, planner!> and on selected properties within the morl? modern adaptations of would inevitably cause a new cities wh1ch would be built Atla11tropa- tht• land adjacent to d~•gners working on European ational Park system, evaluates form are explored. tornado on the other. Rather, for on the recla1med land Leaftng the Atlantic ocean - was the ci\'lc design~ in the period the intelll>ctual rigour of 1b appli SOrgel the world was an through the page~ of Vo•gt'!> name e\·entuall} g•ven b) Sdrgel behveen 1890 and 1950. I cation of methodology and Kwang-Joong Kim, 'New form, unsati:.factory reality and 11 wa~ lavl!:>hly-11lustrated and to h1::. brainchild (lf an emergtng examine the wnting of Camillo practice in landscape clas::.1c problem: pseudo-public mankind':. task, and obligation, beaut1fully-produced book, one new continent, wh1ch comprt~t·d S1tte, Le Corbu:.ier and Thoma!:> preservation, and explores its res1dential redevelopment in to improve it. encounters project::. by Peter Africa and Europe but wa!>, of Sharp to chart how they, as well dual mandate as owner of Seoul', pp. 235-250 Toward~ this end Si\rgel Behren::., Emil Fahrenkamp, Han::. cnur~e, domm,lted by the wh1te ,,s '><>me of the1r contemporane:., significant cultural landscapes propO!>ed, m 1927-8, to ert>ct a D PLANNING HISTORY VOL. 21 NO. 2 • 1999 • PAGF "il PLANNING IIISTORY VOL. 21 NO. 2 • 1999 • PAGE 50 JP U JB IL K C A 1r K 0 N §: BOOK RJEVKJEW§ Neverthelc~~. ht!> project never earlier collaboriltor-. -.uch ,1s Moderntty: wttness John Ru~ktn , came clo~e to realisatiOn. S6rgel Mendebohn bctng, of cour-,e, tn Lebcrecht Mtgge, Lewts htm~df was Atlantropa's greatest exile. But, by then, the proJeCt Mumford, Jaqueltne Tyrwhttt, obstacle. When Germany !>et out was given a new ll'ase of lt fl' rn Artur G ltk!>on, Buckminster to domtnatc the world in the the pages of light ftction Full er, and Doxiades and hi~ Second World War, S6rgel depicting technologtc.1 1 utoptil'>; l:ktstiks movement. conti nued to propagate an a genre of literature wtth a long Nevertheless, Voigt's book A tlantropa exhibition w hich tradition in Germany, where the open!> an interesting and timely presented the project as an co Herr /nge 11icrtr was - and b a debate about a possible operative initia tive, which would highly-esteemed figure. relationship between large-scale peacefully uni te all human races Beyond the figure of Stirgel MCh ttectural projects and today's and people. Once the Third and the history of the Atlantropa alleged ecologtcal cnsis. But, for Reich had collapsed, 56rgel re project, in the final chapter~ of tht~ debate to be fruitful, both emerged from the ruins of hts this excellent book Vmgt plan·~ oppostng po!>thons must, of home town of Mumch and the project tnto the cour~e. be questioned. In tht-. prat~ed Atlantropa as the only contemporary context of -. F1:1tlllt • A, IL AltCU ITI"T[N +...... - 11UNCtltN lrg. 2 'Tire New Centta': note relatro11slrrp to old town. lal•t•r ami Appd, arclrrtt•cts. (Dc rrtsclres Mrrscum, Miinc/rt'll) PLANNING I II SfORY VOL.. 21 NO. 2 • 1999 · PAGE 53 PLANNING I II S fORY VOL. 21 NO. 2 • 1999 • PAGE 52 K J[ s~ JP U lB 1L li C A 1f K 0 N s~ JP U 1B JL C A 'f 0 N lBOOK JRJEVliEWS 1BOOK JRJEVlilEWS disrepa ~r and ~ometlme~ mto premature, when after (.•arty l.ngl.md (illmost exclusively of life Mark Clapson, /llt•llll'r!l/t• Gret'll commendrng the pos1t1ve soCI I'L/\NNING IIIS IORY VOL. 21 NO. 2 • 1999 • PAGE '>5 PI./\NNINC IIIS IO RY VOL. 21 NO. 2 • 1999 • PAGE '>4 liNS1rRUC1lONS TO AUTHORS PLANNING HKSTOJRY (Revn§edl June 11999) BULLETIN OF THE INTERNATIONAL PLANNING HISTORY SOCIETY NOllE§ IFOJR COl\ITIDJEUfOJRS RCS/ IBG, Notes for Co11tributors Length Referencing The pnmc aim of Pln1111111g History is to increase NotiCes of relevant pubhcahons from publishers' Histont now .1cceph (www.rg.... org/ pu/8publano. \lam arltcle~ should normally be Plmming awareness of developments and ideas an planning pubhcaty matenal are useful; and full publication submissions usang either OxfMd html), accessed I December an the rt>gaon of 3,000 word:,. In history in all parts of the world . In pursuit of this, rcvaew., (700- 1,000 words) .uc encouraged. 1998. t•xcepltomal carcum~tanccs longer (sequential numbered endnotes) contributions (in English) are invited from members Abstract., of relevant journal papers, particularly Rc~earch or Harvard referencing. paper:. mny be carrat>d. and non-members of the International Planning tho ~e origm.11ly pub l 1~h cd 1n a language other than rhl• Oxford footnote system m ay rt•ports .1nd rt>ports on Authors should use the l listory Society alike, for any section of Pln1111i11f? English, are rt•questt•d . use op. cit. ;md Ibid. conferencl's and events should following conventions for books, 1/istory. Non-native English speakers should not be Reports of rt•cent conferences and other events chapters and journal papers normally be 1,000-2,000 words. concerned if their English is not perfect. The Editor MC very wt• lcome, and :-.hould conform to the above Form of s ubmissions Book n.•views are usuall y 700- respectively. For the Oxford will be happy to help improve its readability and Authors should submit two clear notes on style and la yout. 1,000 word::.. system, authors' initiab Mt' comprehension, but unfortunately neither he nor the paper copies of their text, placed before the last name; for Society can undertake translations. double-spaced and with a t least NOTICES OF CURR ENT EVENTS Non-sexist and non-racist the Harvard system, the rcvcr~e Contributors should s upply one copy of their I" margins. Pages should be language is true. text, clearly printed, in double spacing and with These <~re welcome from any part of the world. numbered. A disk copy is also All contnbutions should be generous margins. Do not supply copy already an Orgam~ers of evt•nts ~hould, however, bear in mmd for Oxford: encouraged, which should be in wntten as far as •~ po~~able using column format. A disk copy is also encouraged, that Pln1111111.1: IIJStorl( •~ only pubhshed three times 1. M. Scott, Amencn11 City Word Perfect or Word, for PC. non-~t·xast ;md non-raca~t whach should be an Word Perfect or Word for PC tf per ye.u, normally in Apnl, August and December. Pln1111mg Smu 1890, Berkehy E-maal submisl>ions are language. Guadance on ~uch possible. lllu..,trahons should be clear black and Please try to l'nsurt• th,H C,1lb for Papers etc. are Univer~ity of Cahfornaa acceptable (mail ftles as m.1tters as gaven m the foumnl of whale photographs wath good contrast (it as rarely nohfted to tlw Ldator an ~ufficaent ltme for anclu~aon Press, 1969. 'attachments'), but please do Ct•ogrnplry nnd H1glrrr Educnt1011, possable to prmt satisfactonly from colour L.1ter tn">crt... .Ht' po~-.able at the time of despatch. bad. the~e up with a paper copy. 1996, pp. 123-136. 2. j. Hobton, 'Space~ of transparencaes or photocopaes) or good quahty lme Sufficaent copat•s, folded ,,., requared, must be insurgent ci ta zen~h ap', an L. Submissions not conforming drawings. Contnbutors are responsable for :.ecunng ~upplted b) thl• e\·cnt organa~r 'othmg larger to the above house style will be Illustrations Sandercock (cd.), Mnkmg tilt• any necessary copynght permassions to reproduce th.1n ,, sanglc A4 -.hL'l't wall normally be accepted. returned to the author. lllu..,trallon., are encouraged, hwis1ble V1s1ble. A illw.trahons, and to ensure adequate Every effort wall be made to anclude such anserted Multlcllllllrnl Pln1111111g 1/"tory, t•ather an the form of clear lane acknowledgement. Captions should be pnnted new.., m.ltcn,ll wathout co~t . Hmve,·er, the Edator Berkeley: Univer~•ty of Peer review drawangs or black ;md whate double-spaced on a separate page. re~n e-. thL• nght to m a J..e ,, charge for such Cahfornia Press, 1998. All p.1pers arc now subject to a photogr;aph.., wath good contrast. matera.1l ,H normal advertasmg rate~. peer rcvaew process. Views are lt •., rarely pos~able to pnnt 3. C. Abbott and S. Adler, ARTICLES ~oug ht from at least one ... ata.,factorily from colour 'Historical analy!oa!> a~ a NOTES FOR ADVERT ISERS revaewcr; adentities of author tran..,parencaes or pnnts, or from planning tool', foumnl cif tile These should be in the range of 2,500 - 3,500 words. Ammcn11 PlnmJIIJS Associntia11, ,1 nd reviewer are usuall y not photocopaes. l ligh-quality laser They may be on any topic within the general remit Plnll/1111,11 I btmy h.1s ,, carculahon of approximately Vol. 55 No. 4, 1989, pp. 32 1- revea led. Comments from pnnt is u::.ua lly acceptable. The of the I PI IS TilE INTERNATIONAL PLANNING HISTORY SOCIETY endeavour~ to fo~ter the study of planning history. lt seek~ to advance ::.cholarsh1p m the fields of history, plannmg and the environment, particularly focusing on industrml and post-indu~tnal c1hes. In pursUit of these aims its mterests are worldwide; welcome::. members from both academic disciplines and the profess1ons of the bUilt env1ronment. Membership of the Society is both multi-disciplinary and practice-oriented; encourages and gives support to networks, which may be interest-based, region- or nation-based, working in the fields of p lanning history; provides services for members: publishing a journal, promoting conferences, and providing an international framework for informal individual member contact; invites national organisations, whose work is relevant to I PI IS, to affiliate status; administers its affairs through an elected Council and Management Board. The Society wa:. inaugurated in January 1993 as a successor body to the Planmng ll i::. tory Society, founded in 1974. Its membership IS drawn from several disciplines: planning, arch1tecturc, economic and soc1al history, geography, sociology, politics and related fields. Membership is open to all who have a workmg mterest in p lanmng h1~tory. The Society for American City and Regional Planning I h~tory (SACRPI f) and the Urban History Assoc1allon (UHA) are American affiliates of IPHS. Members of IPHS elect a governing Council every two years. In turn, the Counc1l elects an executive Board of Management, complemented by representatives of SACRPI I and UHA. The President chatrs the Board and Counctl. PRESIDENT MEMBERSHIP Professor Stephen V. Ward Applications are welcome from mdtvtduab and School of Pfannmg institution~ . rhe annual sub~criphon ts: Oxford Brookes Umverstty Heading ton Australta 28.00$ Aus Oxford Canada 28.00$ Can OX3 OBP France 100.00 FF UK Germany 30.00 OM Italy 30,000.00 Lira Tel: 01865 48342 1 japan 2, l50Yen Fax: 01865 483559 Netherlands 34.00 IIFI USA 18.00$ us E-mail: [email protected] UK 10.00 c Further alternative currencies avatl able on request EDITOR OF PLANNING HISTORY from Or David W. Massey, Treasurer, IPHS, Department of Ctvtc Des1gn, University of Or Peter j. Larkham Liverpool, Liverpool L69 3BX, UK. Tel: 0151 794 Birmtngham School of Planning 3112, E-mail: dwmas~ [email protected] c. uk Umvers1ty of Central England Perry Barr Apphcattons for membersh1p ~hould be sent to Or Birmingham Robert Home, IPIIS Membersh1p Secretary, B42 2SU Department of Surveytng, Umversity of East UK London, D.1genham, Es~e' RM8 2AS, UK. Tel: (0)181 590 7722 x2504 I Fax. (0181 849 3618 Tel: 0121 331 5145 E-matl: r.k.homt>®uel.ac uk Fax: 0121 356 9915 Cheques, drafts, orders etc. ~hould be made payable E-matl: [email protected] to the ' lnternahonal Planning I !istory Society'.