1920s Zoning propaganda
My notes on Germany 1648 to 1806 , Germany 1800 to 1840s , Waikato the golden age 1840s to 1850s , Waikato 1860s , Gentry & Speculators , The beginning of modern planning: Water, Sewage, Housing, Transport, City Centre, Markets and Zoning, 1890s: Introduction, Dwellings & Lots, Reason for Zoning, Horses, Cyclists & road deaths, York, City beautiful & genesis of motorways, Garden City, Dresden 1903, Chicago 1909, 1910s: Hamilton, Columbus, Rochester and Seattle, Newark, Berkeley, Bridgeport, Walpole, Genesis of housing crisis, Hamilton’s 5 leg intersections, 1919 NZ Planning: Urban country, what planning adds & racism, Garden suburbs, rules & Kurralta Park, Root Cause, Cost of renting & Home ownership, Bristol,
In the late 1900 century German influencers had a distaste for tenements, so in 1891 Frankfurt introduced an enforceable zoning type that could exclude tenement housing, with the intention of provide healthy housing for the ‘economically weak ... [however] the actual situation did not develop according to the theoretical model’ (Ladd, p. 189). At the 1919 NZ planning conference; Germany got a special mention – ‘land-values on the outskirts of the cities of Germany are eight to ten times higher than in similar areas in England’ (1919 NZ Planning Conference p.82) and ‘the aim of town planning was to increase the amenities ... the economic effect of this ... would express itself in the form of increased land values’ (1919 NZ Planning Conference p.91-92).
Sources:
Urban Planning and Civic Order in Germany, 1860-1914, by Brian Ladd - Reason for zoning
1919 NZ Planning Conference – the problem, the real problem, what planning can add, and racism.
In the early twentieth century, Chambers of Commerce were sponsoring early town planners to write town improvement plans. In return the planners would advise them their plans would stabilise property values and increase them ... ‘It is a principle that is particularly well understood in the United States by real estate operators’ (Decatur p.18)
Supporting Quotes –
‘Upon the removal of the market, surrounding properties would so rise in value’. (1913 City planning for Newark NJ. Members of the City Plan Commission, p.142)
‘Increase property values on such streets’ (1916 City plan Bridgeport:. John Nolen, p.116)
‘Increased land-values that town-planning created’ (1919 NZ Planning Conference p.205)
‘Taxable value of land and buildings throughout the city or village may be conserved’ (1920 Decatur, Illinois plan. Myron Howard, p.169)
‘Does zoning pay? Yes ... it makes the return on real estate investment more sure’ (1922 Elkhart, Quoting John Ihlder, Manager Civic Development Department, Chamber of Commerce of the United States. p.20)
‘When building laws prescribe detached or semi-detached houses with roomy garden space on all sides, the price of dwellings must rise, not only because the larger building lot and the detached house are dearer, but because services such as those just mentioned, together with increased expense for inspection, fire and police protection, etc., increase the expenses of the city, and taxes are higher’ (1903 Dresden p.23)
The above image of buildings is actually an example of good planning. The rules for mixed neighbours are centuries old. An example of this can be found in Baillie Street, North Melbourne.
* Mixed use ground floor North Melbourne
Nuisance laws are old: the key is enforcement. For example London and many other cities fined people for smoke nuisance, yet ~4,000 deaths in the 1952 ‘Great smog of London’ (link) were caused by allowing the burning of low-grade coal. This was not a zoning problem but an enforcement problem.
Smoke rules:
The London Public Health Act, 1891; ‘It is unlawful to use any furnace which is not so constructed as to consume its own smoke, or negligently to use such a furnace, imposing a fine of £5 on conviction for a first offence and doubling the fine for each successive conviction’.
‘Munchen and Dresden, have smoke-inspection departments … the gray and gray-black patches on the cards are to be compared with smoke columns issuing from chimneys of factories and dwelling-houses, and when the smoke density is reported as excessive the offender is fined’ (1903 Dresden iii p.18)
1916 “The Smoke Nuisance”, by Frederick L Olmsted and Harlem P Kelsey (Bridgeport p.174)
Zoning is not about healthy housing - When it comes to healthy homes in New Zealand the ‘Public Health Act of 1900 provided for a local health officer and the enforcement of health laws. Several houses in Hamilton were condemned as unfit for habitation. In most cases these places were not owner-occupied. They belonged to citizens who lived in reasonable circumstances’ (Gibbons, p.107).