Urban Planning & Development in NYC & L.A.

In the decade between 1880 and 1890, New York City became a highly industrialized center. Even before the last turn of the century, the railroad companies and the growing number of East Coast mills who shipped things in and out of the city helped New York City turn into one of the first American "company towns."1 But the industrial revolution also brought with it pollution, disease, despair and slums. And, since New York City was one of the first large cities to be developed in America, many of its city planners learned by trial and error. Later, urban planners in places like Washington and Indianapolis had the benefit of being able to study the mistakes made in cities like New York.2 However, by the time that urban planners started working on longrange development plans for New York in the early 1900s, much of New York City had already developed spontaneously according to the functional demands of the moment.

Then, in the 1920s, regional planning commissions sprang up in America from coast to coast.3 The Los Angel

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the combination of America's failing economy and New York's urban problems brought regional community planning for a standstill to nearly 25 years.14 Eventually, New York City's urban problems became so immense that they began to affect not only surrounding cities, but surrounding states as well. Thus, the need arose for various "tri-state authorities" which would handle the problems of transportation, supply, zoning, and taxation for the New Jersey, Connecticut, and New York areas.15 By the mid-1960s, the mistakes of New York City's early urban planners had become manifest. In the metropolitan city of Manhattan, major problems such as poor inner-city pedestrian and vehicle circulation were most evident. And, for most of the people employed in downtown Manhattan, the journey from subway door to office elevator had become a dreary, slow shuffle along crowded stairs and sordid underground walkways.16 Also, the specialty shops in Manhattan were vanishing, as were small restaurants, personal service establishments and other pleasant elements of other less-populated cities' sidewalk scenes. As the crowds of workers, shoppers, and holiday travelers in Manhattan increased, so did the problems associated with high-density central
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Approximate Word count = 2658
Approximate Pages = 11 (250 words per page)

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