TOWN PLANNING

Dominion, Volume 12, Issue 136, 4 March 1919, Page 8

TOWN PLANNING

DOMINION CONFERENCE

ITS EDUCATIVE AIMS

EXHIBITION OF PICTURES AND PLANS

The Town Planning Conference, to be held in Wellington during the month of May, will be something more than a conference of delegates of local bodies, discussing a subject which has but little appeal to people not personally interested in local government. One of its main objects will be to interest and at "the same time to educate the public of all New Zealand in the problems of tho planning of cities and towns as they hnvo developed in other parts of the world, and as'they are developing in Nw Zealand. The conference" will be limited to members of both Houses of Parliament, selected officers of Government Departments, delegates from local bodies invited to send them, and representatives from educational authorities', professional societies such as the Institute of Architects and the Society of Civil Engineers, town planning societies, trades and, labour councils, won'en's social societies, and others. In all there will be some hundreds of delegates.

the organisation of the conference is boinc entrusted to Mr. S. Hurst Senger, a Christchurch, architect, who has for a number of years interested himself in the subject, and collected information over n very wide field in years of travel. He is the honorary organising director of the conference.

A draft of a p'rosramme for the conference has been prepared. Questions for discussion will be presented to tho conference in the form of paper's written in the first instance by gentlemen who havo some special knowledge of the subject on which they write. The papers will embrace, just as the subject embraces, mntters much beyond the mere laying out of streets. At present the intention is that there shall be papers on "Town Planning Legislation," "The Health and Well-being of the People in Respect to Situation, Climate, Soils, their Homes and Environments," "The Garden City in Relation to tho Reconstruction and Repatriation Problems," "Garden Suburbs: The Subdivision of Land for Residential Areas, and the Arrangement of Sites for Homes and Communal* Buildings (Kitchens, creches, places of recreation, and instruction." "Tho City Beautiful: Planning and Replnnning for Convenience and Beauty —Trees, Fountains, and Monuments," "Roads," with relation to many considerations, "The Housing Problem," including the construction of workers' dwellings, homes, and the furnishing of them, "Parks, Playgrounds, and Open Spaces," and ' "Tho "University . Colleges and Schools: Their responsibility in relation to the inculcation of Town-Planning Principles." All of these papers will bo discussed. It is within tho knowledge of everybody who has had anything to do with big conferences that often discussion of important matters is killed- by persons who are not at nil well informed on tho subject holding the floor in tho early stages of the debate, causing the debate to be closed before the subject has been exhausted, simply becauso the company has been wearied. To obviato failures of this kind it is intended that the discussion shall bo led in every case by a number of selected speakers, who will havo the opportunity of studying in advance the papers on which they aro to 6peak, After' these speakers havo addressed the conference, the papers will be open to general discussion. The Town Hall will bo the place of meeting, and at nil meetings the public will be admitted to the galleries.

Perhaps tho greatest educational feature of the conference will be the exhibition which is to be held in conjunction with it. Of necessity the exhibition will bo of'pictures and plans only, but it should bo extremely interesting. One section of the exhibition will contain photographs or , photogra'hic reproductions of pictures.of ancient cities, showing examples of ancient art in architecture, and of Renaissance and medieval cities. Improvement schemes have been necessary in many of these ancient and historic cities, and there will be pictures showing what has been 1 dono in the re-planning of these old cities. There will be pictures also of modern European, American, and Canadian cities. Some of these photographs will be exhibited a3 lantern views. Another section of the exhibition will bo devoted to civic utilities' and adornments. This section will cover a very wide field, from the planning of roads to. the planning and environment of schools and colleges. , Another section will bo purely historical, and may bo of exceptional interest and valuo. It will deal with plans and views in the earliest days' of the settlements which have becomo the chief towns of New Zealand, shown alongside later plans which will show the development and .growth of the cities. Samples will be on view also of the improvement schemes which aro being undertaken or which' aTe in contemplation in those cities at present. Under the heading of "Housing*' there will Ik pictures of garden suburbs, garden cities, houses for workers, homestead and farm buildings, and domestic furniture and appliances. For this last section drawings must first be submitted, and tho firm or -associated persons, whose design is accepted will be allowed to show the rooms furnished in the hall of tho exhibition.

There will be no lack of material for tho exhibition. Mr. Hurst Seager has himself hundreds of views obtained in the course of a two years' trip, when ho made this subject of town planning his study. Paintings of which the subjects are related to any of the'branches of the exhibition are asked for by tho organiser of tho conference. If any private owners of such pictures are prepared to lend them for the exhibition the Tourist Department will undertake to forward them free of charge. To secure the interest in tho exhibition of tho professional men interested in town planning, competitions are being arranged for plans for a garden city for 4000 people, a garden suburb for 400 people, foT plans for workers' homes, and for photographic studies of types of city beauty. One of the competitions will be for the design of a poster for the exhibition. The aim of this competition is to make the posters decorative instead of hideous. By 'means of this exhibition, which will be open for the whole tiino that tho conference is in session in Wellington, it is to be hoped that there may he a great quickening"of interest among tho public in the study of tho probloms of town planning. For tho presont tho arrangement is that tho exhibition trill be shown only in Wellington, but it is quite probable that there will bo requests for other centres to have the exhibition taken to them after the show in Wellington. If it proves to be the success that the promoters hope it may bo it is possible that the exhibition will be taken to other centres after it has been shown in Wellington.