+1 862 207 3288 In professional practice, a planner, developer or designer may be asked to research and report on an example (or precedent or “comparable”) to a
client or community group. That kind of task is the basis of this assignment, tailored to our historical analysis for useful themes and contextual
elements allowing comparison and contrast among various cases.
Objectives
o This is a research project into the recent history of urban planning and development. You’ll search a range of online and print sources
for useful, accurate, legitimate material for your case. (Wikipedia is not a legitimate source, because anyone may edit it and render it
inaccurate. However, the sources listed and linked in the footnotes section may be legitimate. Follow those links as well as others
you find in your search.)
o For this assignment you’ll analyze not only plans but planning as well. In other words, you will research and consider (1) relevant
graphic representations like plans, maps, and photos; (2) the physical layout proposed for the particular site & place described in
those graphic documents; (3) the involvement and roles undertaken by key individuals and/or organizations in the city-building
process; and (4) the larger forces at the time acting on planning & development in general and your plan case specifically.
o Your focus is the original plan and its implementation (or problems and challenges therewith) at/around the time of original planning.
Your analysis is NOT to be a general community history of the town or place as it has evolved over time.
o In addition to your new research, you should draw on class readings and lectures we’ve already done for broader discussion of
context topics.
o You’ll search and report on the planner(s) and/or developer(s) involved. This may include some combination of professional
consultant(s) and client(s), in the government or private sector.
Presentation Content
o Describe and analyze aspects of your case’s context:
Planning: Which activities are on display?
Form: What physical aspects shape your case, and how? (to the checklist, you might add land-use)
Economics: What are the relevant factors? (to the checklist, you might add market demand; pricing; product type)
Society: What social groups are involved, and how?
Culture: What shared values, ideals, and customs are involved? (to the checklist, you might add tastes, preferences)
Technology (optional): Are there innovations in transportation, communication, construction, engineering, etcetera that
figure significantly in your case?
Politics, which includes Who plans, and for Whom? (to the checklist, you might add jurisdictions, territory)
Precedent-seeking: What are one or two earlier plans or projects that may have influenced your case, and in what ways?
(precedents from our class or not, your choice)
Precedent-setting: Is there a later plan or project you can argue was strongly impacted by your case? How so?
o For all these, also refer to descriptions in the Context Checklist we’ve been using all semester.
o Find and incorporate relevant graphics illustrating aspects of your case (4-8 images)
Plans, maps, renderings, photographs; for each, write a concise but helpful caption.
o Cite all your sources, including those for images. Your final slide will be a reference list / bibliography. Other content slides may need
footnotes, depending on your content.
Presentation Format
o You will create your presentation in PowerPoint. This very helpful software is almost universal in its use by professionals in our fields.
You should have some familiarity with it already; if you don’t, now’s the time. Even basic experience should be sufficient for you to do
a good job on this assignment. If you have any concerns regarding this format, contact me immediately.
o Your PowerPoint document should range from 10-15 slides. You may find it simplest to do a single slide on each of the contextual
factors listed above, but this formatting is not required. Instead, you may decide to arrange or compose your content in another way.
Regardless, inclusion of all elements noted in content above is required.
o Due to time constraints, we won’t have the opportunity for individual real-time talks. Still—and this can parallel professional practice—
your document should be user-friendly, formatted and ready for re/viewing by an interested reader/ audience.
o I will post sample slides to illustrate some recommendations for formatting of text and illustrations. I’ll also go over some basics in
class, mainly on how to find and incorporate useful images.
o You will turn in your presentations in two ways: a printed version and an uploaded version.
Evaluation Criteria
o Your presentation will be evaluated for completeness of information; clear and logical organization of material; successful
incorporation of relevant illustrations; writing clarity; and use of multiple relevant and legitimate sources of information as well as
complete citations.
Plan Choices
o Choose one from the list below for your description and analysis. I recommend searching the USC library database, Google, Google
Scholar, and Google Images** to get some quick, basic information to help with your decision. This will also familiarize you with
sources and materials you’ll use in your extended research.
San Francisco (CA, 1905, Daniel Burnham, Association for the Adornment of San Francisco)
Forest Hills Gardens (NY, 1910s, FL Olmsted, Jr, Grosvenor Atterbury, Sage Foundation)
Torrance (CA, 1910s, FL Olmsted, Jr, Irving Gill, Jared Torrance)
Major Traffic Street Plan for Los Angeles (CA, 1920s, FL Olmsted, Jr, et al., LA City & County Traffic Commission)
Wyvernwood (CA, 1930s, Witmer & Watson, Hammond Sadler, Hostetter estate)
Greenbelt Town (choose either Greenbelt, MD; Greendale, WI; or Green Hills, OH; 1930s, Rexford Tugwell, US
Resettlement Administration) **
Park Forest (IL, 1940s, American Community Builders, Elbert Peets)
Levittown (choose either NY, PA, or NJ; 1940s-’50s, Abraham & William Levitt) **
Lakewood (CA, 1950s, Mark Taper, Louis Boyer & Ben Weingart)
Concept Los Angeles/ General Plan (CA, 1970s, LA City Planning Department)
Seaside (FL, 1980s, Duany & Plater-Zyberk, Robert Davis)
o Dates noted are approximate, and reflect the fact that planning and development work doesn’t happen instantly. Names listed are of
relevant major players, which may include landowners, planners, architects & others. Your research may identify others who are
important to include.
o ** Be careful when searching Google Images. Due to the different kinds of text that may be associated with an image online, your
search results may include images of your case as well as images of other plans/projects. The best way to check is to not just grab
the image, but open the webpage where the image is located, and read the text associated with it. (For example, a search for
“Burnham Plan San Francisco” also turns up images of the Chicago plan. Again, be careful.)
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