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352 Annals Am. Acad. Pol. & Soc. Sci. iv (1964)

handle is hein.cow/anamacp0352 and id is 1 raw text is: FOREWORD Cities, or urban regions, are coming to be the habitat of most of Western man and much of the rest of humanity. More and more in the twentieth century, man has tried to shape his city in an image which he may hold. It may be an image of a city beautiful, or convenient, or efficient, or healthful, or of a city of social justice where the individual may be free to attain his greatest potential. In recent years, man has exercised strong powers to shape and reshape the physical city, and he has begun to realize that economic productivity makes possible greatly expanded social and cultural programs that may advance him far toward his other ideals. City planning has been preoccupied by the physical city, and its objectives have been largely in terms of physical arrangement, better housing, transporta- tion, and community facilities. These objectives have been generally in the direction of neatness, order, convenience, and, sometimes, beauty. Planners have believed that the form and condition of the physical city influence the biological, social, cultural, and economic life of city man, but generally they have not been able to define the functional relationships involved-stating, for example, mental health as a function of the physical structure of the city-or to formulate goals for urban development in these terms. Knowledge in the biological and social sciences has not been rapidly translated into formulations of the needs of man that should be served by the city. And then the planner comes up against the old problem of sorting out the often conflicting goals of the different economic and cultural groups that com- prise the city and of arriving at some concept of the public interest which often has to reflect a choice between a present good and the advantage of the next generation. In the process of planning, ideals have to be translated into specific goals which specify ways in which the ideals can be attained. Then the goals-which really say, Wouldn't it be nice if . . .-must be tested for the probable costs and benefits, to various participants, of their attainment and for the feasibility of governmental action. When this has been done, government is in a position to commit itself to the actions necessary to attain a set of goals, which become committed policy objectives. Then they must be translated into measurable criteria by which progress toward them can be evaluated. A volume such as this cannot make much progress in such a process. Hope- fully, it can make a useful contribution. Some articles deal with fundamental physical, social, and economic needs of the human being which should be served in the city. Some, of another order, deal with adjustments to the physical form of cities, or to the systems of government, education, social service, housing, or transportation which men have set up to serve them. As might be expected from a set of articles written by diverse authors from quite different points of view, this volume does not present a systematic study of objectives of urban development. In some areas, the authors have concentrated exclusively on certain aspects of the subjects which seem to them to be of critical importance today. Some have written of ways in which objectives and criteria may be formulated and tested. Few have felt themselves able to suggest measur- able criteria by which progress toward urban development goals may be evaluated. At the same time, here are presented some thoughtful statements on goals for a wide range of aspects of urban life. Perhaps the opportunity to look at these together may be a contribution to the policy-making task of civic statesmen. ROBERT B. MITCHELL iv

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