The Disappearing City....


Cities, while they may seem to be places of progress and innovation, are often formless and only mechanically efficient. Cities do not meet our expectations of being places of beauty where the buildings interact and change along with the people living in the city. Instead cities use an extravagant amount of energy and their form is often complex and lacking in 21st century innovation. Progress, for cities, should not be measured by their size in area but in the character and feeling that a city evokes. Planners need to create cities where the form of the city follows the function of social needs of the people. Expansion does not always mean progress, and in many cases creates anti-cities, like suburbs. It seems as though this idea of urban development and planning has been debated for some time. In 1969 Nixon created the Urban Affairs Council. The following link is to an article from the time that follows this event. 


Nixon Addresses Urban Planning