Book Description

Excerpt from City Planning for Milwaukee, 1916: What It Means and Why It Must Be Secured The cities of Europe were originally strongly fortified by surrounding walls and bulwarks and had therefore to congest their population in exceedingly small areas. Values of land were consequently high and the development thereon resulted in comparatively tall, expensive structures, generally of such beautiful and harmonious design as corresponded with the high artistic development of former centuries. Relieving somewhat this congestion a number of public squares or plazas, needed for public purposes (mainly open markets) were placed here and there. Around these plazas, public and private buildings were grouped, again in exquisite architectural harmony and with a refinement of taste that almost surpasses modem comprehension. There was, however, seldom sufficient space for public parks or private gardens inside the fortifications, but around the narrow confines of the city an endless expanse of agricultural or forest lands was always ready for the recreation of the urban dweller. Only after the social structure became more stable did houses invade this realm of nature outside the fortifications, but the fortifications themselves remained undisturbed long after the introduction of gun powder. Now, in the abandonment of these fortified areas modem city planning had its impetus. The old moats and bulwarks were in the course of time transformed into boulevards, a word that has become identical with wide streets, beautifully planted with trees and lined with fine buildings. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.