THE THEORY OF CITY DESIGN. 95 



other city that grows by chance will equally exhibit great imper- 

 fections, and fail of its possibilities. 



21. Conclusion. — The treatment of the subject of this paper, is 

 by no means exhaustive, and may be taken rather as a general 

 indication of its scope, than as a systematic and complete presen- 

 tation. In concluding I may be permitted to express my 

 indebtedness to the paper by Herr J. Stiibben (Baurath, and 

 Assistant Burgomaster of Cologne) on the same subject, and to 

 that by Mr. J. Sulman, read at the Melbourne meeting of the 

 Australasian Association for the Advancement of Science, more 

 than ten years ago (1890). Both advocate the radial-ring system. 

 As to the adoption of the radial element there can I think be no 

 question ; and I have shewn the great advantage of the ring 

 system. This system may in my opinion well form a feature 

 relieving the uniformity of the rectangular, but since all three can 

 be employed with advantage, it ought not to be dominant. A 

 complete and final abandonment of the present practice of lightly 

 regarding the matter of city design, and a really exhaustive study 

 from every possible point of view of any selected site, as a pre- 

 liminary qualification, is what is desired. Given this, we shall 

 have in each case a noble and far-seeing design, and the cities of 

 the Commonwealth will bid fair to be all that we could wish, so 

 far as the art of city building is concerned. And unique among 

 them should be that which will be known as the Capital of 

 Australia. 1 



[Added 12th Sept.] Since writing the above my attention has 

 been called 2 to an article on "City Plans" by Horace Bushnell, d.d. 

 Essay V. in his "Work and Play." 3 He affirms that there can 

 oe no absolute plan for cities, each must be designed by itself. 

 The essay is an exposition of the subject from the standpoints of 

 convenience, health, and artistic development. Although the 



1 May I add that it would be easy to introduce and familiarise the 

 people with the metric system, which must inevitably be adopted, if all 

 the measurements, dimensions, etc., are given for the Federal Capital in 

 that system. 



2 By Mr. J. H. Knibbs. 3 Lond., Alex. Strahan & Co., 1864. 



