Urban Planning (Western), History of

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Urban planning ranks as a significant social movement from the early twentieth century. Its modern history is an ongoing story of achievement, resilience, failure, and adaptation to place, culture, and circumstance. It is a history of both continuities (quests for health, justice, environmental amenity) and discontinuities (in response to global technological, economic, and political change). The scope of planning has expanded dramatically from nineteenth century origins when it was reinvented in modern form to address the challenges unleashed by industrial urbanization. By the early 1900s, modern planning goals had crystallized around themes of convenience, efficiency, health, beauty, and order. Planning was established as a global movement. By the mid-twentieth century, the guiding ideal was the modernist functional city, distinguished by specialized transportation systems, high-rise buildings, extensive open spaces, planned dormitory communities, and new towns. After World War II, with a shift toward implementation, the scale of activity grew significantly and planning established itself in the policy machinery of the welfare state. In the 1970s, urban planning came under attack on many fronts, fragmenting its traditional land use focus into many specialties. In recent decades, the planning agenda has become more diffuse as cities have become more competitive, socially divided, and unmanageable.