The Game of Planning – A Review of Alexander Garvin’s New Book – Part 4

Fourth of a 4-part series

And then there’s Robert Moses

Robert Moses, in the late 1930s (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Any discussion of the ever-controversial Robert Moses must account for The Powerbroker: Robert Moses and the Fall of New York, the monumental, Pulitzer Prize-winning biography by Robert Caro because it is the seminal work on Moses. In the endnotes of The Planning Game, Mr. Garvin acknowledges the grandeur and scope of The Power Broker and then adds the following:

But the book contains errors of fact, sometimes provides an erroneous context for the events it describes, and includes opinions that ignore important, relevant information. Thus, despite my admiration for the author’s achievements, I have avoided using any information from The Power Broker that is not corroborated by at least one other unbiased reference. Instead, wherever possible, I have relied on newspaper articles, primary sources, and Moses’s published accounts of what took place and what he thought.

The Game of Planning – A Review of Alexander Garvin’s New Book – Part 3

Third of a 4-part series

Bacon of Philly

In Philadelphia, Burnham’s approach to big plans was exchanged for a focus on discrete, individual projects that nevertheless contributed to a grand vision.

Edmund Norwood Bacon (May 2, 1910 – October 14, 2005) was a noted American urban planner, architect, educator and author.

Several years ago, the actor Kevin Bacon said that in his home town of Philadelphia, his father was more famous than he. Edmund Bacon headed the planning commission from 1949 to 1970 and deserves much of the credit for reviving downtown Philadelphia.

The Game of Planning – A Review of Alexander Garvin’s New Book – Part 2

Second of a 4-part series

Burnham: No Little Plans

Daniel Burnham on the terrace of his Evanston, IL home. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Following the success of the World’s Columbian Exposition of 1893, and with the city’s civic and business elite behind him, Burnham led the planning of improvements for Chicago beginning in 1906. Six committees worked on various issues: lake parks; streets and boulevards; railway terminals; interurban railways; and finance.

The Game of Planning – A Review of Alexander Garvin’s New Book – Part 1

First of a 4-part series

Are you a planner? Then what do you have in common with Georges-Eugène Haussmann, Daniel Burnham, Robert Moses, and Edmund Bacon?

Plenty.

According to Alexander Garvin, author of a new and engaging book titled The Planning Game: Lessons from Great Cities (W.W. Norton & Company, 2013, 223 pages), all planners are involved in “the planning game.”

Museums Magnets for Communities

Why do we choose to live where we do?

While economics is a significant part of the decision, public amenities are just as important – and in well-planned cities, towns and villages, those amenities are in easy walking distance and help knit the whole community together.  Schools are not just places to drop off the kids

Governor O’Malley Signs Sustainable Communities Financing Bill Into Law

2013 tax increment financing law enhances authority for local government funding for community revitalization and economic development

Press Release: Thursday, May 16, 2013; 10:30 a.m.

BALTIMORE, MD – Governor Martin O’Malley today signed into law a bill passed by the Maryland General Assembly that expands municipalities’ and counties’ authority to finance costs for infrastructure improvements located in or supporting a Sustainable Community through tax increment financing (TIF).

Sailor-Planner Writes About War… of 1812

Havre de Grace’s Bicentennial Bash

Appears in the May 2013 edition of SpinSheet magazine

Like tall ships? Battle reenactments? Outdoor orchestras? Fireworks on the water? How about the idea of a whole town letting loose in celebration of two centuries of pent-up pride in staving off the world’s most powerful navy? Then why not take an early season cruise up north this year? North to Havre de Grace, MD, that is.

Boning up on her past, historic Havre de Grace recalls a harrowing event at the hands of the British Navy 200 years ago this month during the Chesapeake Campaign of the War of 1812.

The Concord Lighthouse, built in 1827, anchors one end of the waterfront promenade where the Susquehanna River meets the Bay in Havre de Grace.

The town is justly proud to be chosen by the Maryland War of 1812 Bicentennial Commission to kick off the Maryland Chesapeake Campaign celebration in 2013. A big May 3-5 festival is
just the beginning.