Charles H. Cheney : A Planning Pioneer of California

Abstract

In the early 1910's, Charles H. Cheney appeared as the first planning pioneer of California, who eventually organized the first state-wide conference on city planning to make the legislature pass the first city planning enabling act. In the early 1920's, however, when the emerging regional planning movement in Los Angeles begun to overshadow his achievements, he became an advocate of architectural controls and moved to Palos Verdes Estates near Los Angeles to participate in its city building process deeply from the outset until his death. He seemed to have become a guardian of beauty in the 1920's while at first he appeared as an opponent against the "City Beautiful". However the careful examination of his works reveals his thought on city planning was consistent all his life.