62commentary.pdf

Commentary

With so

much

attentionfocused

on

planningfor the

"new

South,"thesense_{of a}historicalperspectiveisoftenlost. Carolina Planningisgrateful to

two

ofourreaders for bringing the followingarticleby

Lewis

Mumford

toourattention,suggesting thatafter

fortyyearsit

"may

stillbe worthreading."

Mumford,

best

known

forhispioneering workssuch as

The

Culture ofCities(1938), wrote

"A Thought

for the

Growing

South"_in

₁₉₄₉

_{afterspendinga yearteachinginNorth Carolinauniversities.}

_The

_article

_was

commissioned

by

George

Myers

Stephens,publisher

o/The

Southern

Packet

(who

was

also the fatherof

two

graduates ofthe

Department

ofCity

and

RegionalPlanningat

UNC-Chapel

Hill).

We

reprintthearticlehere with great pleasure,alongwith

commentary

by

DCRP

professor

David

R.Godschalk,

who

exploresthe relevanceof

Mumford

'sthoughtstothestateofthe"growingSouth

"of

today.

We

hope

thatrenewed examination ofthispiecewill be thought-provokingtocurrentplanningstudents

and

practitioners,

now

inaposition toguidethecourseof developmentinour region.

CarolinaPlanning

welcomes

suggestionsof noteworthyarticlesby "planning legends"for futurerepublication. --

Eds.

Comment

by

David

R.

Godschalk

Fortyyears ago,thegreatregionalplanningadvocate,Lewis

Mumford,

advised

North

Carolina

and

the

South

on

how

to

manage

futuregrowth.

From

hisvantage pointasavisitinglectureratthe

UNC-Chapel

Hill

Department

ofCity

and

Regional Planning,the

North

CarolinaStateUniversity School of Design,

and

Women's

CollegeatGreensboro,

he

advocated

an

urban design strategybased

on

decentralizingcities

and

keeping

them

small,uncongested

and

incontact withnature. It isinteresting tonote

how

hisadvice,publishedas

"A

Thought

forthe

Growing

South"

in

The

Southern

Packet,has

been

heeded.

Fearingthatthe University of

North

Carolina

might

become

"another metropolitanstudy-factory,withfifteenor twenty

thousand

students,"

Mumford

urgedthatamulti-campusstateuniversitysystem

be

developedto

accomodate

the

growth

in student population.

Although

the

Chapel

Hill

campus

now

has over twenty

thousand

students,the statehasfollowed

Mum-ford's"planneddecentralization"notion bycreatinga sixteen

campus

system

which

avoids thegiantismofa Universityof Michi-gan,withitsstudentpopulation of

some

fiftythousand.

And

whilethe

UNC-CH

campus

has not escaped congestion

and

the lossof

open

spaces,ithas

managed

topreserve

many

ofitsbeautifulolderbuildings

and

quadrangles.

Mumford

alsourgedthatgardencities

be

built,based

on

the"organiclimitations"of growth.

Each

would be

abalanced,

self-contained

community

oflimitedsize,

surrounded

bya

permanent

beltofruralland.

When

thecityreacheditspopulationlimit, another

new

town

would

be

startedwiththe

same

balanced, self-contained pattern.

Although

theirultimate

growth

willbe largerthanthe idealpopulation ofthirty

thousand

postulatedby

Mumford,

the

towns

of

Chapel

Hill

and

Carrboro,together with

Orange

County,havein fact

surrounded

themselves witha low-density rural buffer

which

definesthe

edge

offutureurban development. Itwill

be

interestingtoobserve

whether

future leadersare able toholdthisline.

The

Research

Triangle regionalsoisseeking

ways

to follow

Mumford's

principleof

an

uncongested balance

between

industry

and

agriculture,trying topreservethe neighborliness

and

informalityofthe

South

whilepursuingahigh-techfuture.

Whether

theregioncanpullthisoffisstill

open

toquestion.

Mumford

would

be

proud

of

our

effortsto build the largelygreen

Research

Triangle

Park

employment

center,create a regional

open

space network,protect

our

water supply watersheds,

and

intelligently guide ourregion'sgrowth.

He

would

certainlyurgeus to

do

even

more

to createa regionaltransitsystem

and

tocurbthe overzealous

development which

threatenstoblend

our

individualcitiesintoa single sheetof

urban

area.

The

1988

World

Class

Region

conference

was one

efforttorespond to

Mumford's

challengetoprovidethe "social vision

and

theciviccourage"to

match

ourgreatnatural resources.

In short,

Mumford

emerges

asawisecounselor, aprophet with honor. Hisadviceis stillfresh today. I

wonder

how

much

oftheadviceoftoday's urbanistswill

be

abletowithstanda similarassessmentfortyyears

from now.

fill

The

Southern

-&

PACKET

A

Monthly Review

of

Southern

Books

and

Ideas

Volume

V

APRIL

1949

Number

4

AThought

_for

a

GrowingSouth

By

LEWIS

MUMFORD

Lewis

MUMFORD,

writer and proces-sor of the Humanities, has been working with southern students this year in the fields of architecture, city and

regional planning, and art.

As

visiting lecturer at the North Carolina State Col-legeSchoolofDesign,attheDepartment of City and Regional Planningat Chapel Hill and at

Woman's

College of the State University at Greensboro he has had opportunity to add to his general knowledge of the South through obser-vation of

community

growth in North Carolina.

Though

he uses this state as his example, he points out that most of the South can benefitfrom similarconditions in planning for the future.

His current writings appear in the Saturday

Review

of Literature and the

New

Yorker. His interest in higher education brought

him membership

on the Commission on Teacher Education of

The

American Council on Education.

THE

people of North Carolina are

justly proud of their

many

natu-ral resources, spread out in great

diversity, from seashore to upland. But one of their most important assets they seem to have overlooked: their present pattern of population distribution.

Almost alone

among

the industrial areas of the nation,

North

Carolina is still a state in which most of its popu-lation is either rural or living in cities

of less than a hundred thousand. In other words, industry and agriculture are still in balance here.

Whether North

Carolina will maintain this balance does not depend

upon

uncontrollable forces of nature: it depends

upon

whether people understand the advantages of such a population pattern and whether the state uses its powers to maintain it.

(What

applies to

North

Carolina

ofthe South. I have used

North

Carolinaas

an example

becauseitisthat partofthesouth with

which

Ihave

had

the

greatest first-handcontact(Inthisarticletheterms"South"

and

"North

Carolina"aremostlyinterchangeable).

Thanks

to Dr.

Howard

Odum

and

his fellowworkers,

Chapel

Hill

and

the Universityare the

home

of

modern

regionalisminAmerica.

But

if

North

Carolina continues forverylongto followthepath ofleast resistance,asitis

now

doing,itwill

commit

the

same

mistakesthathave

been

made

in

most

otherparts ofthe country. In that case the

citiesof

North

Carolinawilllosetheirregional

character-istics,insteadof developing

them

further,

and

willtake

on

theworstfeaturesofmetropolitanareaseverywhere,with blight

and

bankruptcyastheir finalportion. Infiftyyears,if

North

Carolinadoes not plantomaintainitspresent de-centralized pattern, Charlotte, Raleigh,

and

High

Point willbeindistinguishable

from

Detroit;

and

thesurrounding countrysidewill

become

merelya realestate speculators'

annex

tothe

growing

metropolis.

Followingthe

same

patternof uncontrolled

growth and

expansion,

Chapel

Hillwill

be

another metropolitan study factory,withfifteenor twenty

thousand

students; its

cam-pus overcrowded, its old buildings either destroyed or reducedto insignificance,its

whole

educationalprocedure over-organized, over-routinized, over-institutionalizedby the

mere

factofcongestion.

Under

suchconditions,the

South

willbewealthierinall

the things that

money

can

buy

and

poorerinallthe things thatare

beyond

priceor purchase: neighborlyassociation, friendlyintercourse,

home

life, intimate contactwith na-ture,thespiritualvalues thatcannot

be

mechanized, stan-dardized,or whollyinstitutionalized.

You

canalreadyread

what

will

happen

in the future to thestate at largeif

you

lookat theeditorial pages of

your

newspapers: theyare

filledwith syndicated features:

mouldy

crumbs

ofgossip dropping

from

thedinnertables of

New

York

and

Wash-ington.

With North

Carolina'ssteadyindustrialization,theforces

thatare

now

at

work

will

produce

congested cities

and

a sickly,bleached out kind oflife,imitatingthefashionable patternsof

New

York

and

Chicago, but incapable of pro-ducing anythinginits

own

right

worthy

ofbeingexported

from

the region

and

universalized.

Yet

the

problem

of transformingthecurrentpatternofindustrializationisnot

beyond

theabilityof

man

tosolve.

Most

ofthe

measures

that

must be

takeninthe

South

may

be

ofa positive rather than a remedial nature: they arematters ofpreserving a balance that still exists, rather than of re-establishing a balancethathas

been

almostutterlydestroyed.If

you

value thelifeofthesmalltown,withits

emphasis

on

family,with

itsnearnesstothe

open

country,withitssociallifecentered primarilyintheschool

and

the church, withfactoryworkers

who

willtendtheirgardens

and

neighboringfarm workers

who

are still available for jobs in factories~if

you

value

thesethings,

you

can

now

takesteps topreservethem.

And

if

you

look forwardtoacontinued

development which

will bring

North

Carolinathe best that theworld

now

offersby

way

ofmusic, painting, sculpture,

drama,

enablingittobe acreator insteadofa

mere

consumer

ofthearts,

you

can bringallthisabout without acceptingalsothe over-crowd-ing,thewaste

and

fatigueofunnecessarytravel,

which

are the penaltiesformetropolitan development.

But

do

not mistake the problem.

Your

existing small towns, with occasional

happy

exceptions, are not ideal, eitherinoutlineorcontent;yourbiggercitiestoo,

need

a

good

dealofdoing overinorderto

make

them

serve public needs-for

open

spaces, greenbelts, playgrounds, school

and

community

centers-that

were

not recognizedevenhalf acenturyago.If

you

facethese deficiencies

now

and

frame a public policyofguided

urban growth

foreachstate asa whole,thecitiesofthe

South

may

show

as

many

advances asthe

Tennessee

Valley doesin

power

development and

flood control.

For

the decentralization ofcitiesis flood control-theflood controlof population.

But

thetimeforadecisionis

now

athand.

During

the next generation, possiblyduringthe nextdecade,thecitizensof

North

Carolina will

make

commitments

that will pro-foundlyaffect the futureoftheir

landand

theirpeople.

And

iftheyfailtograspthe

problem and

letthe currentnotions of"profit,prestige

and power"

continuetodominate, then theirinactionwillinitselfconstitutea decision,

and

bythat facttheywillhave batteredtheir finebirthright fora

mess

ofmetropolitanpottage.

But

theadvantage of thepresent distributionof population,

which

is theresultofhistoric accidents, entirelyunplanned, cannot

be

maintained with-outboldintervention

and

positive action

on

the partofthe

state,incooperation with theleadersoffinance,industry

and

business.

To make

thisdecisionintelligently,

you must

understand the lesson first taught halfa century ago by

Ebenezer Howard:

the lessonof guided growth.

Though

he applied that lesson first ofallto the

growth

ofcities, it

appliesequally toany other kind of

human

organization,to a factory,

an

office,ahospitaloracollege.

Howard

observedthattheover-growth ofcities

was

not

theblindresultofnaturalforces;it

was due

tothepurposes

and

intentionsof

men,

seeking acheaper source oflabor, high landvalues,a large

market

todispose oftheirgoods,

and

many

other factors.

But

in thecourse of

promoting

such

growth

inthe nineteenth centurythe

most

successful

citiesover-reachedthemselves; they

grew

sobig thatthey cutthemselvesoff

from

therealsourcesoflife

and

became

disorderly,lopsided environments, withinsufficientparks, playgrounds

and

privategardens,with expensive

and

time-wastingtransportationsystemsthattook peopledaily

from

congested

homes

where

they

had

rathernotliveto equally dismalfactories

and

offices

where

they

had

rathernot work.

over-expan-sion

and

congestion,

and

the less they

had

available for health, recreation, education

and

culture. Originally the

open

country, through the presence of nature

and

the

maintenance

oftraditional

ways

oflife,

had

many

precious elements the bigcity lacked;but thecitytook

away

ever growing

numbers

ofpeople

from

the country.

Those

who

remained

suffered ofter

from

remoteness

and

loneliness,

from impoverishment and

the lackofsocialcontacts.

Howard

concludedthatneitherthe

overcrowded

citynor

the depopulated countryside

were

satisfactory

human

environments.

He

proposed

toremarrythe

town and

coun-trybycreating a

new

type of

community, which he

calleda gardencity,to

combine

theadvantages ofboth

and

evade theirpenalties

and

defects.

Howard

believed thatalmostall

theadvantagesfordaily living incitiescould be achievedin abalancedself-contained

community

of

some

thirty thou-sandpeople,

surrounded

bya

permanent

beltofrural land, capableof holdinganother

two

thousand.

The

emphasis

in

thisnotion falls

on

the

words

"balanced"

and

"self-con-tained."

By

a balanced

community,

Howard

meant

not a suburb ora fractional part ofacity,

however

generousits

open

spaces,buta

complete

urban

community

in

which

the

work

places

would be

withinwalkingdistanceofthe

homes.

To

be

self-contained,sucha

community

must be

limitedin

area, inpopulation

and

indensity.

When

thetime

came

to

accommodate

more

people,asaresultofthe naturalgrowth ofpopulation or the expansion ofindustry,

one must

not keep

on

adding automatically to thefacilities ofthe old centers:

one must

create

new

centers,alsoinbalance,with an eventualduplicationofthefacilitiesforbusiness,

indus-try,education

and

sociallifegenerally.Balanced

develop-ment

and

guided

growth must go

hand

inhand.

With more

ofsuchcitiesinexistencethecountryside

would

profittoo:

more

local

consumers

forfruit,vegetables,

wood,

services

and

awider range of seasonalindustrialjobs.

Thisisnottheplacetodescribe the extraordinary influ-ence of

Howard's

idea

on

town

plannersallovertheworld, nor his final triumph, after founding

two

experimental townsinEngland, inthe British

New

Towns

Bill of1946,

which

providedforthe buildingofaseriesof

new

towns, limited tosixty

thousand

population,asa

means

of

opening

up

theoverpopulateddistrictsof

London

and

controlling futuregrowth.

What

iseven

more

important,

Howard

calledattention

toa factorcompletely overlookedinthegeneralexpansion of industrial

and

municipal facilities in the nineteenth century:theorganiclimitationsof growth.

With

all living organisms thereis a definite

form

of growth;

below

that limit

we

produce

dwarfs,

above

that limit giants, both penalizedbythis failureto

keep

tothe

norm.

Now

citiesare notorganisms but

human

organizations; yet theysharein

some

degreethisspeciallimitation. Historically,the

over-expansion ofcities is associated with the disruption

and

disintegration ofcivilizations.

The

old

American

notion,

"thebiggerthe better",has

no

foundationinfact.

Ifthenotion ofcontrolled

and

limited

urban

growth

were

acceptedinthe South, iftheadvantages ofthesmallcity

were

fullyrealized,theappropriatepolitical

and

economic

agencies for

promoting

this kind of

growth

couldbe de-vised:agencies

which

would

partlyassistinthere-planning ofthe existing centers, partlyinthe

development

of

new

centersoflimitedpopulation

and

balancedfacilities,partly intheunificationof groups ofrelatedcitiesthat

would

have the benefits ofcentralized effort for

common

purposes withoutthe penaltiesofcongestion.It

would be premature

tooutlinesuchpolicies

and

programs,

though

it is impor-tanttounderstandtheirfeasibility.

At

thistimeitiswiserto stress

how

the principleofcontrolled

growth

would

apply tootherinstitutionsaswell. Letus take,for

example

the Universityof

North

Carolinaat

Chapel

Hill.

The campus

of theStateUniversityat

Chapel

Hillis

one

ofthe

most

beautifulinthe

whole

country.

During

thelast

fifteenyears

an

enormous

growth

has taken place there:

more

students,Ihave

been

told,

were

graduatedsince1935 than during the

whole

ofthe institution's previous exis-tence. Scarcely apatch of land

on

the

campus

has not

been

builtover or has not

been

assignedtoastructure

soon

to

be

built.Ithas reacheditsnaturallimitsof

development

with

its present student population;

and

in certain buildings, likethelibrary[Wilson Library

-

Eds.],ineptplanning

and

design have

produced

a structure entirelyout ofscalewith therestofthe

campus.

At

thispoint

comes

achoice.Ifthe university continues its automatic expansion at

Chapel

Hill,allthat

now

makes

the

campus

soadmirablewill,inthe courseofthenextthirtyyears,

be

over-built

and

destroyed-destroyedby people

who

piously respectthepast,buthave not yet learned theonly terms

on

which

its traditional virtues

may

be

preserved.

But

another path of

development

ispossible:not

contin-ued

agglomeration but

planned

decentralization.

To

pre-serve

Chapel

Hillthereis

no need

to limitthe

number

of students given a higher education by the state.

What

is

needed

istofollow

Ebenezer Howard's

principle,the prin-ciplefollowedby natureinthe

overcrowded

bee-hive:

and

that is to hive off

and

start a

new

part ofthe University, indeeda series of

new

parts,each destined inthe

end

to

become

asbigas

Chapel

Hill

now

is.Inother words,instead oftryingtodoublethepresentstudentpopulationatChapel Hill,

two

centersinsteadof

one

shouldbebuilt;insteadof triplingit,three centers insteadof

one-and

soon.

One

of

these

new

centers might

be

placedin the Ashevillearea, anotherinthe

Winston-Salem

area,perhapsa thirdinthe Charlotte area.

The

precedentfor thisalreadyexists: for the Universityof

North

Carolinaisnot

one

institutionbut three,

and

Raleigh

and Greensboro-not

to

mention

the stateteachers'colleges-sharepartofthepopulation that mightotherwise unwiselyhave

been

concentratedatChapel

North

Carolina

would

notmerely conserve

one

ofits

most

valuabletreasures,

Chapel

Hillitself,but

add

considerably totheeducational

and

culturaladvantages of otherpartsof thestate. Particularly inadulteducation, the teachers in decentralizedinstitutions,

no

longer obligedto travellong distances

from Chapel

Hill,

would

have a

much

closer relation tothepeople theyserve.

Inshort,withcitybuildings

and

ininstitutional develop-ment, congestion brings the penalty ofdisorganization, inefficiency

and

lapse of function.

By

the

same

token, organization

and

economy demand

a deliberate policyof decentralization.

The

old-fashioned

method

of funneling peopleintocenters that

become

ever

more

congested

and

ever

more

expensivetorun

and

ever

more

unsatisfactoryin their

human

and

socialrelationships,

need

not

be

copiedby the State of

North

Carolina. All its industries, textiles,

ceramics, furniture, cigarettes,

may

greatly increase

and

many

new

industries

be

added, without breaking

up

its

present population pattern-provided its leaders

under-stand

how

valuable thatpattern is

and

how much

the

whole

community

hastogainby maintaining

and

perfect-ingit.

The new method

of

growth

istosetalimittoautomatic

growth and

totakecareoffresh

growth

bybuilding

new

centers,also limitedin size

and

area

and

density.Ifthe

new

method

ischosen,allthatis

good

inthetraditional

agri-culturalfolkwayscan

be

maintainedinthe

neighborhood

unitsofthe

new

centers.

Yes,

and

much

more

can

be

added,providedthecitizens ofthestatehavethesocialvision

and

theciviccourageto

match

their great natural resources.

To

accomplish all

thesevaluablesocial results

under

thedemocraticprocess

will,plainly,requirepoliticalskillofahighorder,coupled withanant-likepatience

and

persistenceingettingaround obstacles.

But

if I can judge at all

from

the southern studentsIhave

been

teachingthisyear,thesequalitiesare alreadyathand, waitingfortheleadership thatwillgive