City Planning and the Planning of Cities: The Recent Historiography

Abstract

Recent historiography on city planning has greatly expanded its scope. Although the modern profession often dates its origins as the turn of the century, events of the earlier nineteenth century were actually incipient forms of contemporary planning. Moreover, though city planners are nonelected public employees, the profession has been inextricably tied to both the private sector and the political process. Much planning in U.S. cities has not been done by planners. In addition, a tension between idealism and realism has been present since the beginning. Because of external constraints, the planning profession's greatest impacts may have been in its indirect influence on the urban agenda and in the vision it has provided for a better urban future.