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Encyclopedia of urban planning
Urban Ecology, 1 (1975) 115-118 o Elsevier Scientific Publishing Company, Amsterdam - Printed in The Netherlands
Book Reviews
URBAN PLANNING
Encyclopedia of Urban Planning. A. Whittick (Editor). McGraw-Hill Inc., New York, N.Y., 1974,1218 pp., $29.50. An encyclopedia is “a work containing exhaustive information on some one art or branch of knowledge, arranged systematically”.* The “Encyclopedia of Urban Planning” might, therefore, be evaluated with respect to these criteria; specifically, whether or not the field of urban planning is developed as an art or branch of knowledge, the extent to which the information provided is exhaustive, and the clarity, order, and structure of the information provided. Prior to such an analysis, however, the basic format of the encyclopedia, its goals, and contributors, will provide some context for the discussion that follows. The encyclopedia contains: (1) An annotated bibliography of the 96 contributing authors chosen from a variety of countries and disciplines. (2) A short 4 page preface by the editor, Arnold Whittick, an architectural historian and author. (3) The encyclopedia proper, some 1135 pages of information arranged alphabetically. (4) A 30 page index of the material. In the preface, the editor states that the encyclopedia is designed to respond to a growing need for information on urban planning: “The broadening basis of the profession of urban planner involves a knowledge of many different subjects, and therefore the need for basic information in a form convenient for quick reference is becoming increasingly insistent.”
The encyclopedia is undoubtedly the first of its kind in the modern era, is international in scope and covers planning history, theory, and practice in “48 of the principal countries of the world where systems of planning legislation and administration are maintained”. The list of contributing authors reflects the ambitious scope of the Encyclopedia, and in fact, includes many of the internationally known authors, historians, practitioners, and theorists involved with urban planning - a significant number of authors are involved with national planning policy and practice, while others are more closely identified with specific areas of specialized planning techniques. Following the brief presentation of each of the authors’ credentials, there is a list of those encyclopedic entries for which he/she is responsible. For the most part, each author has contributed a few * Oxford International Dictionary of the English Language, Unabridged, 1958.
116
short essays on planning personalities or on selected planning topics, or has contributed to a longer essay on one of the 48 nations reviewed. Even as prolific a writer as Lewis Mumford is responsible for only seven of the numerous entries in the Encyclopedia, although he as well as two other contributing authors, Albert Mayer and Sir Frederic J. Osborn, are themselves entries within the body of the Encyclopedia. The one exception to the role of dispersed authorship lies with the editor himself, who accepted responsibility for sixty entries including two of the three biographical sketches mentioned above. As suggested earlier, the “Encyclopedia of Urban Planning” might be evaluated with respect to a standard definition of encyclopedia in general, and for the purposes of this brief review the general hypothesis that urban planning is a coherent branch of knowledge can be accepted at face value. Similarly, the need for “basic information in a form convenient for quick reference” is a reasonable hypothesis for the field of urban planning as any dynamic growing branch of knowledge. The immense energy expended with respect to these two premises is evident not only in terms of quantity, but in the quality of many of the articles contributed. Thus, brief evaluative comments will be restricted to the exhaustive nature of the information provided and its structural clarity. The scope of entries in the “Encyclopedia of Urban Planning” includes: (a) An overview of urban planning in 48 countries organized with respect to six major content divisions ranging from the contextual, legislation and administration, to the substantive, past and present practice. (b) A comparative analysis on planning legislation, one of the few attempts to knit the contents of the Encyclopedia. (c) Disciplinary aspects and techniques related to the urban planning process. (d) Biographic sketches of important and significant innovators or effective advocates of important innovations in the urban planning field generally; the criterion of selection is “confined to those whose contributions to planning can be evaluated in historical perspective”. Clearly, an exhaustive list of national planning profiles, comparative essays across these profiles, fully elaborated discussions of disciplinary and interdisciplinary contributions to urban planning, and a complete set of actors instrumental in developing the field of urban planning is not only impractical but, judging by the sheer quantity of text in the “Encyclopedia of Urban Planning”, undesirable. The art of any encyclopedia is not what to include, but what to artfully exclude. Inclusion and exclusion in turn rely upon a clear definition of the problem domain, or branch of knowledge in question. Where the Encyclopedia fails is in the communication and elaboration of a clear structure of inter-related information, information that articulates the hard skeleton of a coherent body of ideas. This failure is due, in part, to a clear lack of concensus as to the structure, components, and dynamics of the field of urban planning, a field as varied as the cultural milieu in which it is
117
postulated and practiced, a field that has, to date, resisted both the opportunities and constraints of an integrative scientific taxonomy. In the absence of such a structure, the listing of entries in the Encyclopedia by alphabetic order is a necessary but not sufficient substitute. Two elements are lacking, an integrated guide to the use of the Encyclopedia, and an explicit set of criteria that would define the inclusion or exclusion of entries. In the first case, a short series of concise themes might be presented in the preface outlining the linkages amongst a series of entries such as those outlined above in (a) through (d) referenced with respect to an alpha-numeric code that would facilitate thematic search. In the second case, a more definitive hierarchy of importance would avoid the entry of such items as “overspill” as non-essential; provide a clear definition of purpose that would establish context for items such as “ecology”, interpreted in a highly specific manner; and add a sharper focus and consistency on the level of information content, avoiding the inconsistent use of mathematics, used in the essay on “transport”, and ignored in the discussion of “population growth and distribution”. Notwithstanding these criticisms, many of the articles include bibliographic references for further exploration, the illustrations are well chosen and numerous, and the articles of a high over-all literary quality. The “Encyclopedia of Urban Planning” provides a wealth of basic information of varying depth whose form reflects the still tentative structure of the art and science of urban planning. P. JACOBS (Montreal, Que., Canada)
SUBURBANIZATION
Suburban Growth. Geographical Processes at the Edge of the Western City. James H. Johnson (Editor). John Wiley and Sons, Ltd., London, 1974, 272 pp., 40 figures, 23 tables, $5.50. The suburban fringe is surely more burdened with geographical, ecological, economic, and social problems than the city “intra muros”, hence the existance of a great deal of literature about these problems. A distinctive feature of the book “Suburban Growth” is not the exhaustive complexity of its subject, but the specific selection of problems and the concise treatment of them. Such an approach justifies the introductional statement of the editor, i.e. the belief that the book will provide some insight into the form of the city of tomorrow. The editor and the ten authors of particular chapters of the book have selected
Book Reviews
URBAN PLANNING
Encyclopedia of Urban Planning. A. Whittick (Editor). McGraw-Hill Inc., New York, N.Y., 1974,1218 pp., $29.50. An encyclopedia is “a work containing exhaustive information on some one art or branch of knowledge, arranged systematically”.* The “Encyclopedia of Urban Planning” might, therefore, be evaluated with respect to these criteria; specifically, whether or not the field of urban planning is developed as an art or branch of knowledge, the extent to which the information provided is exhaustive, and the clarity, order, and structure of the information provided. Prior to such an analysis, however, the basic format of the encyclopedia, its goals, and contributors, will provide some context for the discussion that follows. The encyclopedia contains: (1) An annotated bibliography of the 96 contributing authors chosen from a variety of countries and disciplines. (2) A short 4 page preface by the editor, Arnold Whittick, an architectural historian and author. (3) The encyclopedia proper, some 1135 pages of information arranged alphabetically. (4) A 30 page index of the material. In the preface, the editor states that the encyclopedia is designed to respond to a growing need for information on urban planning: “The broadening basis of the profession of urban planner involves a knowledge of many different subjects, and therefore the need for basic information in a form convenient for quick reference is becoming increasingly insistent.”
The encyclopedia is undoubtedly the first of its kind in the modern era, is international in scope and covers planning history, theory, and practice in “48 of the principal countries of the world where systems of planning legislation and administration are maintained”. The list of contributing authors reflects the ambitious scope of the Encyclopedia, and in fact, includes many of the internationally known authors, historians, practitioners, and theorists involved with urban planning - a significant number of authors are involved with national planning policy and practice, while others are more closely identified with specific areas of specialized planning techniques. Following the brief presentation of each of the authors’ credentials, there is a list of those encyclopedic entries for which he/she is responsible. For the most part, each author has contributed a few * Oxford International Dictionary of the English Language, Unabridged, 1958.
116
short essays on planning personalities or on selected planning topics, or has contributed to a longer essay on one of the 48 nations reviewed. Even as prolific a writer as Lewis Mumford is responsible for only seven of the numerous entries in the Encyclopedia, although he as well as two other contributing authors, Albert Mayer and Sir Frederic J. Osborn, are themselves entries within the body of the Encyclopedia. The one exception to the role of dispersed authorship lies with the editor himself, who accepted responsibility for sixty entries including two of the three biographical sketches mentioned above. As suggested earlier, the “Encyclopedia of Urban Planning” might be evaluated with respect to a standard definition of encyclopedia in general, and for the purposes of this brief review the general hypothesis that urban planning is a coherent branch of knowledge can be accepted at face value. Similarly, the need for “basic information in a form convenient for quick reference” is a reasonable hypothesis for the field of urban planning as any dynamic growing branch of knowledge. The immense energy expended with respect to these two premises is evident not only in terms of quantity, but in the quality of many of the articles contributed. Thus, brief evaluative comments will be restricted to the exhaustive nature of the information provided and its structural clarity. The scope of entries in the “Encyclopedia of Urban Planning” includes: (a) An overview of urban planning in 48 countries organized with respect to six major content divisions ranging from the contextual, legislation and administration, to the substantive, past and present practice. (b) A comparative analysis on planning legislation, one of the few attempts to knit the contents of the Encyclopedia. (c) Disciplinary aspects and techniques related to the urban planning process. (d) Biographic sketches of important and significant innovators or effective advocates of important innovations in the urban planning field generally; the criterion of selection is “confined to those whose contributions to planning can be evaluated in historical perspective”. Clearly, an exhaustive list of national planning profiles, comparative essays across these profiles, fully elaborated discussions of disciplinary and interdisciplinary contributions to urban planning, and a complete set of actors instrumental in developing the field of urban planning is not only impractical but, judging by the sheer quantity of text in the “Encyclopedia of Urban Planning”, undesirable. The art of any encyclopedia is not what to include, but what to artfully exclude. Inclusion and exclusion in turn rely upon a clear definition of the problem domain, or branch of knowledge in question. Where the Encyclopedia fails is in the communication and elaboration of a clear structure of inter-related information, information that articulates the hard skeleton of a coherent body of ideas. This failure is due, in part, to a clear lack of concensus as to the structure, components, and dynamics of the field of urban planning, a field as varied as the cultural milieu in which it is
117
postulated and practiced, a field that has, to date, resisted both the opportunities and constraints of an integrative scientific taxonomy. In the absence of such a structure, the listing of entries in the Encyclopedia by alphabetic order is a necessary but not sufficient substitute. Two elements are lacking, an integrated guide to the use of the Encyclopedia, and an explicit set of criteria that would define the inclusion or exclusion of entries. In the first case, a short series of concise themes might be presented in the preface outlining the linkages amongst a series of entries such as those outlined above in (a) through (d) referenced with respect to an alpha-numeric code that would facilitate thematic search. In the second case, a more definitive hierarchy of importance would avoid the entry of such items as “overspill” as non-essential; provide a clear definition of purpose that would establish context for items such as “ecology”, interpreted in a highly specific manner; and add a sharper focus and consistency on the level of information content, avoiding the inconsistent use of mathematics, used in the essay on “transport”, and ignored in the discussion of “population growth and distribution”. Notwithstanding these criticisms, many of the articles include bibliographic references for further exploration, the illustrations are well chosen and numerous, and the articles of a high over-all literary quality. The “Encyclopedia of Urban Planning” provides a wealth of basic information of varying depth whose form reflects the still tentative structure of the art and science of urban planning. P. JACOBS (Montreal, Que., Canada)
SUBURBANIZATION
Suburban Growth. Geographical Processes at the Edge of the Western City. James H. Johnson (Editor). John Wiley and Sons, Ltd., London, 1974, 272 pp., 40 figures, 23 tables, $5.50. The suburban fringe is surely more burdened with geographical, ecological, economic, and social problems than the city “intra muros”, hence the existance of a great deal of literature about these problems. A distinctive feature of the book “Suburban Growth” is not the exhaustive complexity of its subject, but the specific selection of problems and the concise treatment of them. Such an approach justifies the introductional statement of the editor, i.e. the belief that the book will provide some insight into the form of the city of tomorrow. The editor and the ten authors of particular chapters of the book have selected