The Development of Park Systems in American Cities 1 7 



are visible, that the general public is beginning to realize that some 

 things have been, not only planned, but done, and well done. 



The acquisition of outer park systems is passing rapidly from 

 the stage of undertaking to that of accomplishment. The crea- 

 tion of civic centers, the grouping of public buildings around a mall, 

 is passing from the stage of agitation to that of undertaking. The 

 development of the water fronts of American cities as the river- 

 banks of European cities have been developed has passed! from the 

 stage of airy speculation to that of active agitation supported by 

 plans and cross-sections. 



The City Plan. 



There is nothing abstruse about the things that make a city 

 beautiful, unless it be the city plan. That can scarcely be called 

 abstruse, but it is fundamental. As the increasing attention that 

 is being paid to this apparently uninteresting topic is one of the 

 results of the outer park movement, it would seem more logical 

 historically to discuss it as a result. The preservation of places of 

 natural beauty, which perhaps may be termed the battle cry of the 

 outer park agitation, unqualifiedly demands that when a system of 

 city streets approaches the boundaries of a natural park the rigid- 

 ity of its lines shall give way to the flowing curves of the natural 

 contour of the ground. But the instant the city plan gives way at one 

 point, the question is raised why it should not give way even at points 

 where parks are not projected. The result of raising this question 

 has been the realization of the fact that the plan according to which 

 streets of a city are to be opened is more fundamental than any of 

 the functions to be provided for by that plan, and that what is called 

 an outer park system is but one of those functions. Consideration 

 of the city plan lies therefore at the very foundation of the subject. 



While this consideration has not made great progress in this 

 country, the signs of the times are noteworthy. Park and munic- 

 ipal art associations, formed frequently with no suggestion of a 

 purpose to discuss that stupid thing called "the city plan," which 

 is generally known as the map of city streets, are beginning to 

 devote more and more attention to it. Several organizations of the 

 larger cities have special committees on the city plan. Other asso- 

 ciations have published reports advocating radical changes therein. 

 Official art commissions, such as that of New York, have been 



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