steel skyscrapers to subways and automobiles. The need 

 now is for new inventions aimed at meeting today 1 s 

 critical needs. 



The scale of metropolitan areas in the beginning of 

 the twenty- first century is likely to be many times the 

 size of the largest cities of the beginning of the 

 twentieth century. The population densities in major 

 cities will probably increase, most likely achieved by 

 higher average building heights. There will be 

 concurrent changes in movement patterns, supply 

 systems, and waste management processes. Multi-use 

 facilities that combine living, working, education, and 

 recreation spaces will emerge. New sources of energy, 

 new types of communication/information techniques, and 

 new working schedules will also influence urban 

 conditions. 



An international effort is needed to develop 

 performance requirements for urban hardware that are 

 appropriate to local conditions and stated in terms of 

 human requirements for education, health care, 

 administrative services, employment, and recreation. 

 Today, requirements are too often expressed in 

 mechanical terms. Building codes in all parts of the 

 world, for example, prescribe solutions that involve 

 unnecessarily high standards and excessive use of 

 materials. It is often impossible to use new materials 

 and innovative construction methods because the 

 specifications in these codes do not allow for their 

 performance capabilities. 



Proposed Initiatives 



Two major actions are recommended. First, we 

 recommend that the United States support an 

 international program to help plan neighborhoods and 

 whole communities, and to upgrade slum areas. This 

 will require integrated systems of urban facilities and 

 services capable of meeting the major economic and 

 social requirements of daily living. 



Second, we recommen d that the United States 

 encourage an organized international effort to marshal 

 information, experience, technical assistance, and 

 research capabilities to help carry out the tasks of 

 providing acceptable minimum standards of living for 

 the hundreds of millions in urban areas who now lack 

 them. A stronger network of urban research centers is 

 needed in the United States if its scientific and 

 technological potentials are to contribute effectively 

 to an international effort. The results could produce 

 both major advances in the handling of domestic 

 urbanization problems and new insights for contributing 



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