Fraternity-Testvériség, 1965 (43. évfolyam, 1-12. szám)
1965-01-01 / 1. szám
FRATERNITY 3 portation as possible underground. We should reserve the ground level for people who walk and children who play, and give them more greenery and fresh air.” While American architecture has been outstanding in building handsome office towers, corporation palaces and cultural centers, architects are just beginning to turn their attention to the design of residential projects and the spaces between buildings. Left to the financial interest of those who build these developments, good housing design and attractive landscaping are often looked upon as luxurious and unprofitable “frills”. Important contributions to the planned growth of Megalopolis can no longer be achieved under current administrative and local government concepts, the report points out, but require a regional approach and regional support. As Luther Gulick, Chairman of the Institute of Public Administration, has said, “. . . we know that there can be no effective attack on the rising problem of the metropolis without a comprehensive and cooperative attack.” — The present administrative boundaries are dissolving and new political frameworks must emerge which reflect political and economic realities. This is evident when we consider that Megalopolis is divided into ten states and 117 counties, and that those in turn are divided into countless smaller jurisdictions. The New York Metropolitan Region, alone, includes sections of three states, 22 counties and some 1,400 local governments. Like any concerted effort for the general welfare, orderly planning and building will require new policies of credit and taxation, the organization of a balanced metropolitan transportation network — plus essential controls over land use and housing distribution. It also will need aesthetic controls over unrestricted advertising and standards for compatible structures. Such new approaches will upset customary ways of thinking and acting, and will not meet with the approval of everybody. But the American tradition of providing for the general welfare has always included critical self-examination and a willingess to meet new challenges boldly. If this tradition should now be replaced with complacency and resignation, the great Megalopolitan experiment will fail, with profound consequences. Throughout history, the city has been the dominant center of wealth, authority, responsibility and cultural attainment. And when great cities went down — Babylon, Carthage, Athens, Rome — the cultures they created went down with them. But, concludes the Fund report, “if communities and individuals keep faith with this tradition in the same spirit as in the past, they will build not only the largest and most prosperous but also the most liveable and brightest city region ever to inspire the world.” T
