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Pioneering Practice and the Disrupted Metropolis: George B. Ford and the Emergence of City Planning in the Early Twentieth Century

Slavitt, Lesley D.; (2020) Pioneering Practice and the Disrupted Metropolis: George B. Ford and the Emergence of City Planning in the Early Twentieth Century. Doctoral thesis (Ph.D), UCL (University College London).

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Abstract

This work assesses the evolution and formative influences on the development of city planning in the early decades of the twentieth century. The research uses the career of pioneering American practitioner George B. Ford as a lens through which to explore the professionalization of planning from 1909 to 1931. In particular, this study investigates the transnational role of the Great War in the field’s development and the role of civic service and nongovernmental organizations in support of planning’s formation. The narrative also addresses the evolution of planning within the context of unregulated and chaotic urban change more broadly, including the devastation from natural disaster, and interprets the relationship between the urban core and the metropolitan region. As the identification of the “expertise” of the planner evolved, the disciplinary neutrality of the practitioner helped to establish the planner’s unique identity. Ford was distinctive for his involvement in some of the field’s most relevant early milestones, including his transnational engagement in France and work on the post-war city plan for Reims, which was one of the largest and most historic cities devastated as a result of the war and the first such plan approved under French law. In addition, Ford was involved in the pre-war era of plan design in America, New York’s 1916 Zoning Resolution, the pioneering official adoption of a comprehensive plan at Cincinnati (1925) and the Regional Plan of New York and Its Environs.

Type: Thesis (Doctoral)
Qualification: Ph.D
Title: Pioneering Practice and the Disrupted Metropolis: George B. Ford and the Emergence of City Planning in the Early Twentieth Century
Event: UCL (University College London)
Language: English
Additional information: Copyright © The Author 2020. Original content in this thesis is licensed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) Licence (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). Any third-party copyright material present remains the property of its respective owner(s) and is licensed under its existing terms. Access may initially be restricted at the author’s request.
UCL classification: UCL
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL BEAMS
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL BEAMS > Faculty of the Built Environment
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL BEAMS > Faculty of the Built Environment > The Bartlett School of Planning
URI: https://discovery-pp.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/10114758
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