THE CITY BEAUTIFUL

Dominion, Volume 7, Issue 2204, 17 July 1914, Page 7

THE CITY BEAUTIFUL

' MR. DAVIDGE'S SECOND LECTURE. Mr. W. I R. Davidgo, of the Town Planning Association', delivered his second town-planning lecture in : tho Sydney Street. Schoolroom last night. There was a very good attendance. Mr. Davidge said that the whole question of town planning resolved itself into: (1) the question of tho land; (2) the question of transit; (3) the question of buildiugs. Any plan adopted should meet these three main points.!, ' The nature, .of,the land; had 'to lw considered, the price of the'land, must be taken into account, all tho. lines of transit must be direct,, and. tho buildings must, be worthy of, tlieir purpose and situation. . But, without the co-operation ,of all concerned, 'nothing could be done. : It was never too early, ho proceeded, to plan the town; it might bo too late. Tho possibilities of Wellington were enormous; the beauties of its situation' all his audienco were aware of. "Wellington would have to look- ahead, and provido parks, etc., for the future. It was no use planning a beautiful city unless some definite control 1 over the. architecture of the buildings was exercised. In "Wellington now there was a proposal to raise a. big loan, and ho suggested that th& whole of the possibilities of the city should be considered before any step.,,was taken, Cities' should control hoardings and advertisements oh buildings. There was a tendency in all cities for new buildings to be higher than, tho old ones alongside them, and this point had to be thought of. He showed "an Auckland picture to illustrate his pointy and contrasted a smoke-blurred picture of Auckland with a European plan, in which there was a defined factory area. One of the principal things for a city like "Wellington when considering expansion ■ was to lay 'down the main arteries as early' as possible. Tho question of land values was not necessarily a part of town-planning. It was not imperative that 'the city should own; tho land, but it should make ! the_ plan. Gorman cities were endeavouring tp own as much land as possible, and some were acquiring town belts. • The first thing was to ensure that.the traffic avenues .were direct,and wide enough to take traffic. ■ It was of no use having wide streets merely to be. looked at. ' In somo parts of- Berlin places which faced wide streets had no adequate quantity of room, at the back. Screening a plan of Wellington, Mr. Davidge pointed out that the tram routes from the city to Kal'ori, and from Constable Street to, Kilbirnie, were very round-about, and he said , that the remedy would have to bo a _ •scheme of arterial roads. Everytliing_ must be done : with the, good of the city, of tho future in view.. Another Wellington problem would lie the transport of goods_ from the docks to the Miramar peninsula when the latter area was heavily populated. Thei : businoss'centre of Wellington was shifting from the docks up the. valley, and that was a tiling which was common in all cities. In New York the garden suburb of Forest Hills had sprung up, and it suggested a remedy for all . large cities—a number of sepa : rate communities surrounded by plenty of open spaces, and with quick communication to tho city. .There .were various >idcas, but jio kind of town planning was the least use unless it was particularly adapted to tho particular town. In Germany tho medieval idea of picturesquely-crooked streets had been revived. This idea might bp profitably emplovod here. (Applause.) Mr. Davidgo was heartily thanked for his lecture. To-night, at the Newtown Library (S o'clock) will he the citizens' final opportunity to learn something helpful from tho envoys of Britain's Garden Cities and Town, Planning Association. Tho titlo of Mr. Rpade's free lecture is "Garden Cities v. New Zealand Slums." The lecturer also promises some further disclosures in regard to housing conditions in New Zealand cities.