URBAN AND REGIONAL PLANNING

HISTORY AND PRINCIPLES

April 8, 2016

This is the sixth part of the EnP board review series. I’m going to provide a timeline
and discussion on urban and regional planning history.
This lengthy part 6A post is going to cover the subject on history and principles. As much as this
is the most enjoyable part of the review (it is for me, anyway), only a mere portion of this may
crop up in the exam.

Tips
 Cluster the contributions according to their similarities, don’t memorise one by one. It’s what I
already did for this post, so you don’t go back and forth on sudden, familiar terms.
 Repeatedly read through the timeline to appreciate the development of urban planning.
 Names are important, dates are for reference. Works are for deeper appreciation. Principles
matter the most.
 I’m linking the names of the urbanists to the most concise biographies I can find online. Refer
to those for backgrounders, and to this post for their roles in urban and regional planning
history.
Let’s start with the Ancients.

~~~

First off: The Fertile Crescent and Ancient Egypt. These civilisations started the spread of
urbanisation. I will start with Mesopotamia, which dates all the way back to 10,000 BC.

Mesopotamia (presently Iraq, Syria, Kuwait, Turkey, and Iran) (10,000 BC – 7th century AD)
 Is the scope of the Tigris-Euphrates river systems. Water was the basis for the earliest urban
development.

The Fertile Crescent was called so because of the rivers Tigris and Euphrates and their
adjoining water bodies.
 A major civilisation was Sumer, and the people created 15 city-states. These cities used water
canals and stones for their boundaries, and had a temple in its centre, dedicated to a patron
god/dess.

The Ziggurat (temple) of Ur (one of the city-states) showed how religion was very
important to the early civilisations. Source: purpleteal.wordpress.com
 The ancient city-state of Ur. Observe how agricultural spots are present in the far
north of the city, and that the temple and special houses for leaders, which are the
source of power, are protected inside the walls, surrounded further by a moat. There is
only a drawbridge to connect this special area to the surrounding houses. Source:
2.bp.blogspot.com
Ancient Egypt (3,000 – 300 BC)

 The power of and respect for religion extended all the way from the earliest of Mesopotamia
all the way to the Egyptian civilisation. Ancient Egyptians worshipped their kings as gods, and
once they died and were buried, lived forever. Thus the monumental temples, mortuaries, and
tombs.
 The pyramids were constructed in capital cities, tying the power with the largest settlements.
The city of the dead is called a necropolis.
 The temple of Hatsephsut (left) and the Pyramids of Giza (right) are examples of how
the ancients worshipped their buried kings. These grand tombs also exhibited perfect
symmetry. Sources: Wikipedia and cdni.condenast.co.uk
~~~

Ancient Greece spanned three centuries (8th to 6th centuries BC). It saw the flourishing of
philosophy, art, and science in Classical Greece. Religion and politics directed movements and
development during this time. Ancient Greece is an influence to the Roman Empire and
eventually Western Civilisation.

Hippodamus of Miletus (498-408 BC)

 “Inventor / father of formal city planning”
 Made the Hippodamian Plan or the grid city to maximise winds in the summer and minimise
them in winter. This shows his geometric, arranged style in design
 Also worked on the Piraeus Port and Alexandria
 Piraeus grid. Source: museumofthecity.org
The grid pattern was adopted worldwide. Satellite images give us appreciation:
 Grids have their pros, such as the ease of mobility and administrative organization, but are also
criticised for lack of identity, and in some cases, lack of liveability. In the book Image of the
City, Kevin Lynch pointed out three observations about the grid of Los Angeles City. To quote:
As the core of a metropolis, central Los Angeles is heavily charged with meaning and activity,
with large and presumably distinctive buildings, and with a basic pattern: its almost regular grid
of streets. Yet a number of factors operate to result in a different, and less sharp, image than that
of Boston. First is the decentralisation of the metropolitan region, whereby the central area is
still by courtesy, “downtown,” but there are several other basic cores to which people are
oriented. The central area has intensive shopping, but it is no longer the best shopping, and
great numbers of citizens never enter the downtown area from one year to the next. Second the
grid pattern itself is an undifferentiated matrix, within which elements cannot always be located
with confidence. Third, the central activities are spatially extended and shifting, a fact
which dilutes their impact.

Plato (428-347 BC)

 In his Dialogue, Plato established one of the oldest environmental law principles and an
economic idea: The Polluter Pays Principle. It states: “If any one internationally pollutes the
water of another, whether the water of a spring, or collected in reservoirs, either by poisonous
substances, or by digging, or by theft, let the injured party bring the cause before the wardens
of the city, and claim in writing the value of the loss; if the accused be found guilty of injuring
the water by deleterious substances, let him not only pay damages, but purify the stream or the
cistern which contains the water, in such manner as the laws… order the purification to be
made by the offender in each case.”
 This principle is reflected in our Philippine environmental laws. For example, in the
Environmental Code (Presidential Decree 1152), Section 20 discusses clean-up operations
with regard to water pollution:
It shall be the responsibility of the polluter to contain, remove, and clean-up water pollution
incidents at his own expense. In case of his failure to do so, the government agencies concerned
 shall undertake containment, removal, and clean-up operations and expenses incurred in said
operations shall be against the persons and/or entities responsible for such pollution.

Aristotle (384-322 BC)

 Aristotle, in his distinction of corrective and distributive justice, provided the foundation for
the concept of intergenerational equity by stating that “Human well-being is realised only
partly by satisfying whatever people’s preferences happen to be at a particular time; it is also
necessary for successive generations to leave behind sufficient resources so that future
generations are not constrained in their preferences.” This is what is referred to as ‘for our
children’s children, and their children.’ (Source: An Introduction to Sustainable Development)
 Intergenerational equity is an approach of the United Nations for sustainable development,
climate justice and solidarity.
~~~

The Roman Empire (29 BC – 393 AD) excelled in military science and engineering. This is
reflected in their designs and inventions, which were built to ease transport and enhance military
movement and strategies.
The City of Rome, the Imperial City
 The city was a military camp or castra, and had grand walls for protection
 Rectangular and grid-iron street patterns were used
 Source: the-colosseum.net
 Notable infrastructure: The Forum, the Appian Way (Roman road or via appia), the Basilica,
arches, the Colosseum, and so on. The significance of all these infrastructure is, aside from
reflecting the Roman culture and needs, these were carried on to be used by the next
civilisations, even to the present time.
 More notably, the Romans were heavily dependent on water from the Tiber River, thus the
engineered sewerage, canals, hydraulics, and the Aqueduct.

The Roman Aqueduct. Source: roman aqueducts.info

 Despite the excellence in physical planning, engineering and architecture, the downfall of
Rome came from mostly socio-political reasons. The Vikings destroyed the Aqueduct, which
cut the city’s lifeline. Religious divisions, absence of military discipline, murder, and citizen
unrest also brought about instability which eventually led to the fall of Rome.
~~~
 The Medieval Period or the Middle Ages

Cathedral Cities
 Focal point of radial city growth was the cathedral or any similar monumental structure
 Retained the walled city from Roman practice
 The enclosure of the cities posed problems for growing populations because of the limited
resources, epidemics, and generally unhealthy environment.
 Munich, Germany on Google Maps. Notice how growth radiated from the
Frauenkirche or Cathedral of Our Dear Lady (centre). It is also “walled” if you look at
the street perimeter.
~~~
The Renaissance Period

Settlement growth during the renaissance is very similar to that of the middle ages, so it was
also radial in pattern.
Commerce was a driving factor of the renaissance period, calling for accessibility and easier
mobility. This led to the development of plans that follow the topography of an area.

Radial growth with fingers in Venice. Take note of how the settlements conform to
topography.
The radial pattern that Venice exhibits is the star-shaped urban form. Doesn’t this look familiar–
on a 20-million population scale? But this one is a combination of star growth and really bad

sprawling.
 You can see the “fingers” of the settlements in Santa Rosa, Dasmarinas, and Tanza
(south), and in Bulacan, Rodriguez, and Binagonan (northeast).
Anyway, this star is characteristic of what Leone Battista Alberti (1404-1472) came up with in
his study of architecture. With principles from Plato and Aristotle, he wrote the De Re
Aedificatoria, which contained ten books of planning and design principles.
As I said, the growth of commerce played an important role in the different renaissance
cities. Try to find the similarities in the following maps of Florence, St. Petersburg, Amsterdam,
and Vienna.
Paris is a hallmark in European planning, so I’m devoting a part to have a closer look at the city.
Georges-Eugène Haussmann (1809-1891)’s work on the renovation of Paris is a distinguishable
accomplishment in planning. In his plan, the Arc de Triomphe became the center of twelve
avenues, radiating outward, connecting to the city. Baron Haussman also assured green spaces by
lining the avenues with trees and by using pocket parks all around the city. To date, this planning
design is still used for the development of other cities, making Paris the best planned city.
Arc de Triomphe. Source: travellingandfood.com

~~~
 The City Beautiful Movement (1800s to mid 1900s) emphasised beauty and aesthetics in design.
Think monuments, great and grand buildings, parks, perfect landscapes and lakes, and circular
road systems.

Daniel Hudson Burnham (1846-1912)

 Called the Father of American City Planning
 He designed the World’s Columbian Exposition, together with Frederick Law Olmsted and
John Wellborn Root. The plan for the expo was the first comprehensive planning document in
the US.

The World’s Columbian Exposition. Source: radford.edu

 He gave the famous quote: “Make no little plans; they have no magic to stir men`s blood and
probably themselves will not be realized. Make big plans; aim high in hope and work,
remembering that a noble, logical diagram once recorded will never die, but long after we are
gone will be a living thing, asserting itself with ever- growing insistency. Remember that our
sons and grandsons are going to do things that would stagger us. Let your watchword be
order and your beacon beauty.”
 His plans include Chicago (the greatest feat; was described as “Paris on a Prairie”), San
Francisco, Cleveland, and locally, Manila and Baguio.
 Burnham’s plans for Chicago (left), Manila (centre), and Baguio (right).
Sources: wikimedia.org and burnhampi.files.wordpress.com

Canberra, Melbourne, and Washinton DC are cities that reflect the City Beautiful
movement. Sources: edu-geography.com, central equity.com.au, cdn.boulevards.com
Sir Ebenezer Howard (1850-1928)
 Wrote the book Garden Cities of Tomorrow. The book was first printed as “Tomorrow: A
Peaceful Path to Reform” in 1898, and was reprinted as Garden Cities of Tomorrow in 1902.
Howard addressed the population and pollution that came about during the industrial
revolution by creating garden cities.

The concept of the three magnets, an illustration of the garden city, and the diagram of
how the plan will work. Source: scodpub.wordpress.com
 Howard’s umbrella concept was to create a 5,000-acre central city of 58,000 people with
1,000-acre garden cities of 30,000 people (each) surrounding it so that anthropogenic activities
and growth would be controlled. (If 1 acre = 0.4 hectares, then the central city would be about
2,000 has. and the garden city would be 400 has. That’s like a city as big as
Marikina surrounded by garden cities as big as UP Diliman. Those would be really dense
 cities.) These cities had greens and spaces all over, and would be connected by roads and
railways for mobility. The logic behind it was the three magnets, where he gave value to the
relationship between town and country (in Philippine terms, urban and regional areas).
 The garden city was continued by Howard’s followers, among them Sir Raymond Unwin, who
was the architect-planner for Letchworth, Sir Frederic James Osborn, who championed garden
cities, and Louis de Soissons, who was the architect for Welwyn. Unwin also wrote the
book Nothing Gained by Overcrowding.

Here’s how the garden cities actually look like:

Letchworth, the first Garden City. (Hertfordshire, United Kingdom)

Sources: cashewnut.me.uk and letchworth.com

Welwyn Garden City. Sources: cashwenut.me.uk and medias.photodeck.com

 London’s Greenbelt, as shown in Unwin’s plan, and together with other greenbelts in
Britain. Sources: mediaarchitecture.at, theplanner.co.uk, and rtpilondoncalling.wordpress.com /
Wikipedia. Here‘s an interesting article that shows the greenbelt as a social space.

Read about the garden city movement in detail in another post by the SCOD Public Blog.
Charles Edouard Jeanneret, known as Le Corbusier (1887-1965)
 Created the Radiant City, where he designed very heavily with cubist aesthetics. With the
objective to decongest an entire city, he sought to house 3 million people in 60-storey
buildings, box-type houses, and orderly and rational city blocks. While this plan was
modernist or futuristic and very aesthetic, it was critiqued to be socially disadvantageous and
unrealistic for settlements because there were too many standards that catered to what was
only temporary. It also became a planning paradox in the sense that congestion was being
solved by more congestion.
 Le Corbusier also wrote the books Urbanisme and The City of Tomorrow and Its Planning.

Le Ville Radieuse or the Radiant City. Sources: adsttc.com and rosswolfe.wordpress.com

Between Ebenezer Howard’s garden cities and Le Corbusier’s radiant city, the former was
favored. It also paved the way for new towns, where social and community issues were
addressed. The separation of people and cars also came into play, as well as the separation of
homes from factories.

Frank Lloyd Wright (1867-1959)

 Champion and proponent of urban decentralisation, and involved communities in his plans
 Designed the Broadacre City, a 1,000-hectare city complete with socio-economic amenities.
This planned city included social services in the forms of schools, trains, and museums, as
well as employment in the forms of markets, offices, nearby farms, and industrial areas. The
one big criticism on this plan was that Wright included a helicopter in it.

The Quadruple Block Plan (left) and the Broadacre City (right).
Sources: mediarchitecture.at and metropolismag.com
Henry Wright (1878-1936) and Clarence Stein (1882-1975)
 These two go together because of their plan of Radburn, a garden city in New Jersey. Radburn
was designed to separate vehicles from pedestrians. It also used the concept of a superblock
and exhibited cul-de-sacs (meaning dead ends).

Radburn’s gardens and paths. Also, the plan showing the separation of people from
cars. Sources: Wikipedia and flickr.com,
 The superblock was created by Henry Wright. This was a series of homes surrounded by
green pathways.
 The superblock. The cul-de-sacs (those little circle dead-ends), the garden walkway or
“green island” in the middle, and the thoroughfares are very obvious from this
perspective. Source: pinimg.com
 Clarence Stein, on the other hand, initiated plans to produce greenbelt resettlements all over
the US. He wrote the book Toward New Towns for America.

These are the resettlement towns with garden city themes. (Left) Sunnyside Gardens,
NJ, (centre) Chatham Village, Pittsburgh, and (right) Baldwin Hills, LA.
Sources: queensnyc.com, pittsburghartplaces.org, amoeba.com
Clarence Perry (1872-1944)
 Perry made the concept of the neighbourhood unit. Similar to the superblock, it is bounded
by major streets and caters to its community with a church, a school and shops. This concept
highly values open spaces. This unit is very small, at only 200 sqm. up to 2 sqkm.
 The neighbourhood unit. Source: Wikipedia

~~~

The Regional Planning Movement

Sir Patrick Geddes (1954-1932)

 Introduced the notion of region and became the Father of Regional Planning. This came up
from his being a biologist, sociologist, and geographer all at the same time; he dissected the
planning environment by analysing the occupational activities, used observation, and
combatted the gridiron tradition with “conservative surgery” in planning. He came up with the
Valley Section, shown below.
 The Valley Section. This shows the major occupations per area. Source: spur.org

Yes, the Valley Section is exactly what we’re using in land use planning today. That’s
the ridge-to-reef transect. Source: HLURB CLUP Guidebook Vol. 1
 Also introduced the term conurbation, which means “an aggregation of continuous network
of urban communities.” Or simply, “A large area consisting of cities that have grown so that
there is very little room between them.” (Merriam Webster) This is what it looks like:
 Tel Aviv’s conurbation. Source: israel.travel
 Geddes emphasized the relationships of people and cities, thus the city-region term.
 He also used the rational planning method of Survey Analysis
 Wrote the book Cities in Evolution
I found an online presentation all about Patrick Geddes, his works, and real life situation of his
works. Here it is:

Sir Leslie Patrick Abercrombie (1879-1957)

 Created the post-war plans for London, and combatted sprawling by resettlement
 Made the London Country Plan (1944) and the Greater London Plan (1943)
The Abercrombie Plan. Source: thesemaphoreline.wordpress.com
If you zoom in to the legend, this is what’s written:
 Read more about the Abercrombie Plan in another blog by Sam Hind
at thesemaphorline.wordpress.com.
Lewis Mumford (1895-1990)
 A historian-sociologist who studied cities and architecture
 From his 23 books, the most prominent in city planning is The City in History, which pointed
out how technology and nature could be harmonious. This also gave the concept of an organic
city and rationalised how planning has various disciplines.
 Mumford was friends with City Beautiful advocates Frank Lloyd Wright, Clarence Stein, and
Frederic Osborn. Mumford and Wright exchanged transatlantic letters on professional and
personal matters.

One of Wright’s letters to Mumford. Source: news.rracution.com

Benton McKaye (1879-1975)

 Originator of the 3,500 km Appalachian Trail in the eastern US
 Was a forester and conservationist, and co-founded the Wilderness Society. He
championed regional conservationism

The Appalachian Trail extends from Georgia to Maine. It is the home to at least 2,000
plant and animal species. Millions of people take a shot at this hike-only trail.
Sources: atc.civicore.com and daveallenphotography.com
Several of our great urban thinkers were good friends and colleagues. And it was from there that
they created the Regional Planning Association of America, with Clarence Stein as the founder.
The group meticulously assessed the city, shared knowledge and ideas, and rallied political
action. The RPAA lasted ten years (1923-1933).

The RPAA group. From left to right: Clarence Stein, Benton McKaye, Lewis Mumford,
Alexander Bing (a real estate developer), and Henry Wright. Sources: personal.umich.edu,
Wikipedia, ak-cahce.legacy.net, boiseplanning.wordpress.com

The City Functional Movement

Edward Bassett (1863-1948)

 Urban planner and lawyer who was the Father of American Zoning. He was the first to
usezoning as a means of implementing land use in New York. He wrote books about zoning.
 Also coined the term freeway and parkway
Don Arturo Soria y Mata (1844-1920)
 Made the concept of the Linear City, which has many parallel and specialised functions.

Ciudad Lineal. Source: Wikipedia

 The linear city gears away from the usual centric urban forms. The lines help control the
expansion of a city.

Linear growth. Source: prezi.com

Here’s a Prezi presentation on Arturio Soria y Mata and his work on the linear city.

Tony Garnier (1869-1948)

 Followed Soria y Mata’s linear city and created the concept of a linear, industrial city. He
envisioned the plan to cater to 35,000 residents, and followed the principles of function,
greeneries, open space, and exposure to the sunlight.
 The industrial city is linked by circular patterns
 He also already used the concept of zoning and labeled spaces into leisure, industry, work, and
transport.
 Une Cite Industrielle. Sources: aria.archi.fr and s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com
Thomas Adams (1871-1940)
 As an architect, he worked primarily on low-density residences or garden suburbs
 Founded the British Town Planning Institute, became the Town Planning Advisor to the Local
Government Board, then moved to Canada and yet again became an adviser to the
Commission of Conservation
 Wrote the book Rural Planning and Development
 Pushed for planning legislation by mandate, local plans, zoning, building regulations, and
recognised the responsibility of a licensed or professional planner. (This stems all the way to
our present laws.)
~~~

City Efficient Movement

Constantinos Apostolos Doxiadis (1914-1975)

 Jumping some millennia after ancient Greece, another Greek planner-architect, best known as
Konstantinos, studied the science of human settlements, known to us today as ekistics. This
branch of science is vast and looks into the culture, economies, and society in varying scales,
let’s zone in on the principles most used in the practice of urban design and estate planning.
 Following the Greek grid and the principles of ekistics, this was how Konstantinos designed
Islamabad:

Source: skyscrapercity.com
 Francis Stuart Chapin (1888-1974)
 As a sociologist and educator, he stressed the importance of quantifying social activities in an
evolving city through statistics.
 He was the first to write the textbooks on urban and regional planning:

Source: Amazon
Let’s go to a couple of economic and transport concepts, as these had lots to do with this
movement. But to relate that to how the movement is called–city efficient–let’s state the premise
that human activity (employment, settlement, transport, traffic, and mobility) follow land use.
Just so we’re all on the same page, and we know why this suddenly crops up here.

Ira Lowry

 Published A Model of Metropolis, which is a computer model for spatial organization of

anthropogenic activities in a metropolitan area. The model generates an assessment that can be
the basis for urban policy decisions.
 Lowry worked with Robert Garin on a model. This model came up after a series of research on
land use and transportation. Population densities, transport zones, and land use forecast
techniques were already being done.
 The Lowry Model. Source: Wikipedia
 The model became a tool for urban and regional planning. Simply, it looks at the relationship
and logic to the spatial arrangement of human activities.
 In this model we learn about gravity modelling (in transport planning, trip distribution),
which means, in English, the farther the distance, the more interaction declines. That’s also
more commonly known to us as distance decay.
Other concepts that are part of the “social physics” include agglomeration economies, economic
equilibrium, … But we’ll get to that in the next post.

Let’s continue to the dawn of the automobile and its effects.

~~~

Urban Renewal

William Levitt (1907-1994)

 Father of American Suburbia / The King of Suburbia / The Inventor of the Suburb
 Mass produced houses that were affordable
Suburbanization was also when people put the car on the pedestal. This created gated
subdivisions that catered to people with cars. As a result, urban sprawl became a disease.
(Check out how bad in this other blog post.)
 This is what a sprawl looks like. Such a terrible waste of space. Eden Prairie, Florida,
US. Source: twisted sifter.com
This socio-geographical disease was coupled with pollution, rapid population growth rates, and
many more urban problems, which led to the Urban Renewal Movement.

Catherine Bauer Wurster (1905-1964)

 An advocate of social and public housing. She authored the American Housing Act of 1937
and was an adviser to five presidents.
 Wrote the book Modern Housing
 She also worked with Lewis Mumford
Robert Moses (1888-1981)
 Known as the Master Builder of New York, because of his plans that had parkways,
expressways, and housing development all over the city
 Moses’ proposed Lower Manhattan Expressway.
 The catch with Moses’ grand masterplans is that they require the destruction of existing
communities and neighbourhoods to be built. This was an irony in doing supposedly public
works.
 The urban renewal under Moses was also done through gentrification, which means that
renewal and rebuilding for investments and “improvements” really displaced the poorer
residents. This was a problem of social exclusion, which is, in fact, just a step beyond racism.
Social exclusion drove away the poor, black neighbourhoods, and the “smaller” people of the
community.
Robert Moses was one of the most controversial figures in the history of urban planning. I’m
leaving some articles on the matter:

 5 things in NYC we can blame on Robert Moses

 The legacy of Robert Moses
 Tracing the legacy of a controversial master builder

The problem of social exclusion gave rise to Advocacy and Equity Planning, where planners
advocated for and sided with those who were socially excluded.
Paul Davidoff (1930-1984)
 Father of Advocacy Planning. He paved the way to stand against the destructive effects of
urban renewal
 Wrote the famous article Advocacy and Pluralism in Planning
Here is a good read on Advocacy Planning.
Saul David Alinsky (1909-1972)
 Founder of modern community organizing
 Wrote the book Rules for Radicals
 Worked with the poorer communities, and influenced neighbourhood organisations
Sherry Arnstein (d. 1997)

 Social and health worker

 Published an article on the ladder of citizen participation, which gave not only a voice but
power to the citizens. This addressed how citizens were being victimised, and led the way to
participatory planning.

Eight rungs on the ladder of citizen participation. Source: lithgow-schmidt.dk

~~~

New Urbanism

Jane Jacobs (1916-2006)

“Cities have the capability of providing something for everybody, only because, and only when,
they are created by everybody.”

— Jane Jacobs, The Death and Life of Great American Cities

 An urban activist who was strong and vocal against urban renewal; she fought for new
urbanism
 Wrote the powerful book The Death and Life of Great American Cities, which was an open
attack on urban renewal. In this book she provided insight into the decline of neighbourhoods
in New York, and gave a voice to how planning should be for all people, including thriving
slums and the communities that were thought to be eyesores to a city, and which were
scheduled for destruction to build Robert Moses’ expressways.
 Her book and activism led to the eventual fall of urban renewal towards city diversity, mixed-
use, dense neighborhoods, and vibrant communities.
 Also wrote the book The Economy of Cities

Here’s a cool graphic novel panel I found portraying the face-off between Jane Jacobs
and Robert Moses. Source: planetizen.com
 From the graphic novel Robert Moses: Master Builder of New York City.
Source: archdaily.com
Read more about the fight between urban renewal and new urbanism here.
~~~

Environmental Planning

Rachel Louise Carson (1907-1964)

 A marine biologist
 Wrote the powerful book Silent Spring, a haunting compilation and narrative of research
about the detrimental and even lethal effects of pesticides and fertilisers on the living
environment. This book launched a global environmental movement. (It will also scare the
hell out of you when you read it. It changed many aspects of my lifestyle.)
 Read more about her life and her writings here. She’s called to be the “best nature writer of the
century.”
Ian McHarg (1920-2001)
 Was called an “architect who valued a site’s natural features” (New York Times)
 Transformed efforts of traditional planning into environmental planning by using the
technique of sieve mapping or overlay, which took into account the varied features of the
environment.

Sieve Mapping. Source: saylordotorg.github.io

 Wrote the book Design with Nature, which triggered responsible planning of landscapes,
respecting natural features
 Laid the foundation for Geographic Information Systems (GIS).
A timeline of GIS history may be found here, as created by GIS Lounge.
~~~
Here’s a presentation I delivered on history, principles, and theories, covering this post. Feel free
to share:

I hope you enjoyed that as much as I did writing and researching on it. Let’s keep going.