A Program for New Towns

Regional planning, involving programs of new town development, offers solutions to some of the problems attendant upon the growth of megalopolis and may provide a key to the solution of others. The concentrated development of the major urban regions of the United States has resulted in severe dislocations, due in large measure to a lack of regional planning. The experience of both western and eastern Europe indicates that part of the answer may lie in the establishment of new towns to serve one or more of these purposes: To provide better organized, more effectively controlled suburban development; to accommodate over-spill or aid slum clearance; to serve as growth centers for national or regional plan purposes. The new towns concept has enjoyed a limited history in the United States, although it has met with some success where employed. The principles of the Radburn Idea, first promulgated in the 1920’s are equally valid today.