Abstract
We are not likely to do much about the quality of the urban environment until we begin to sharpen the meaning of the concept and get a substantial area of agreement on what we are after. Second, urban planning is potentially a useful tool in achieving environmental improvement, but its major thrust to date has been to protect individual property values more than the total environment. Third, it is proposed that we use the concept of regional assets to highlight the focal points for urban planning concerns, particularly to achieve fitness among the major urban activities and encourage a healthy relationship between the natural and man-made features of the environment. More questions will be raised than will be answered, but it is hoped, this paper will at least sharpen some of the issues involved in environment quality in an urban setting.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Preview
Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.
References
Richard F. Babcock, The Zoning Game: Municipal Practices and Policies ( Madison: University of Wisconsin Press, 1966 ), p. 3.
Robert Haig, “Toward an Understanding of the Metropolis: The Assignment of Activities to Areas in Urban Regions” (Parts 1–2), Quarterly Journal of Economics, 40 (February and May, 1926), 179, 402, 433–434.
Emperical Evidence which places into question the importance of neighborhood effects is presented by Crecine, Davis, and Jackson in their article “Urban Property Market: Some Emperical Results and Their Implications for Municipal Zoning,” Journal of Law and Economics, 10 (1967), 79–96. The evidence either way is pretty thin, however.
Hans Blumenfeld “Criteria for Judging the quality of the Urban Environment,” in The Quality of Urban Life Henry J. Schmandt and Warner Bloomberg, Jr., eds. (Beverly Hills, Calif.: Sage Publication, 1969), p. 141.
Wilbur R. Thompson, “Internal and External Factors in the Development of Urban Economies,” in Issues in Urban Economics, Harvey S. Perloff and Lowdon Wingo, Jr., eds. ( Baltimore: Johns Hopkins Press, 1968 ), p. 53.
For a discussion of factors involved in air carrying capacity (also discussed as dilution capacity, dispersion rate, or mixing height), see Albert F. Bush and H. B. Nottage, “Carbon Dioxide as an Indicator of Air Pollution,” Journal of the Sanitary Engineering Division, Proceedings of the American Society of Civil Engineers (December 1967), 211–253
G. C. Holzworth, “Large Scale Weather Influences on Community Air Pollution Potential in the United States,” Journal of the Air Pollution Control Association, 19: 4 (April 1969), 248–254
J. C. Mosher, W. G. MacBeth, M. J. Leonard, T. P. Mullins, and M. F. Brunelle, “The Distribution of Contaminants in the Los Angeles Basin Resulting from Atmospheric Reactions and Transport,” Journal of the Air Pollution Control Association, 20: 1 (January 1970), 35–42.
On this point, see Robert V. Ayres and Allen V. Kneese, “Pollution and Environmental Quality,” in The Quality of the Urban Environment, op. cit., pp. 35–71.
John Friedmann, “The Future of Comprehensive Urban Planning: A Critique,” Public Administration Review, 31: 3 (June 1971).
Harvey S. Perloff and Charles L. Leven, “Toward an Inegrated System of Regional Accounts,” in Elements of Regional Accounts, Werner Z. Hirsch, ed. ( Baltimore: Johns Hopkins Press, 1964 ), pp. 175–2014.
Charles L. Leven, John B. Legler, and Perry Shapiro, An Analytical Framework for Regional Development ( Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press, 1970 ).
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 1985 Plenum Press, New York
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Burns, L.S., Friedmann, J. (1985). Urban Planning and the Quality of the Urban Environment. In: Burns, L.S., Friedmann, J. (eds) The Art of Planning. Environment, Development and Public Policy. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4613-2505-5_6
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4613-2505-5_6
Publisher Name: Springer, Boston, MA
Print ISBN: 978-1-4612-9515-0
Online ISBN: 978-1-4613-2505-5
eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive