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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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