CITY BEAUTIFUL

MOVEMENT

Aiswarya | Dhairya | Tejal

Context

• The City Beautiful movement is

American urban-planning movement
flourished between the 1890s and
the 1920s.

Source: https://www.britannica.com/topic/City-Beautiful-movement
Origin

• The City Beautiful movement

emerged at a time in U.S. history
when the country’s urban
population first began to
outnumber its rural population.

• There was influx of immigrants at the

end of the 19th century. Most city
dwellers perceived that cities were
ugly, congested, dirty, and unsafe.

• The chaotic approach to sanitation,

pollution, and traffic found in most
cities affected rich and poor alike,
which is how the City Beautiful
movement gained both financial and
social support.

Source: https://www.britannica.com/topic/City-Beautiful-movement
Timeline

• 1893- The movement first gained

ground with the World’s Columbian
Exposition in Chicago. Daniel
Burnham headed the construction of
the fair’s temporary city, known as
the “White City,”

Source: https://www.britannica.com/topic/City-Beautiful-movement
Timeline

• 1893- The movement first gained

ground with the World’s Columbian
Exposition in Chicago. Daniel
Burnham headed the construction of
the fair’s temporary city, known as
the “White City,”
• 1902- Washington, D.C., became the
first city to carry out a City Beautiful
design as the McMillan Plan

Source: https://www.britannica.com/topic/City-Beautiful-movement
Timeline

• 1893- The movement first gained

ground with the World’s Columbian
Exposition in Chicago. Daniel
Burnham headed the construction of
the fair’s temporary city, known as
the “White City,”
• 1902- Washington, D.C., became the
first city to carry out a City Beautiful
design as the McMillan Plan
• Other cities that benefited from the
movement were Cleveland (1903),
San Francisco (1905), and St. Paul,
Minnesota (1906).

Source: https://www.britannica.com/topic/City-Beautiful-movement
Timeline

• 1893- The movement first gained

ground with the World’s Columbian
Exposition in Chicago. Daniel
Burnham headed the construction of
the fair’s temporary city, known as
the “White City,”
• 1902- Washington, D.C., became the
first city to carry out a City Beautiful
design, the McMillan Plan
• Other cities that benefited from the
movement were Cleveland (1903),
San Francisco (1905), and St. Paul,
Minnesota (1906).
• 1909- The pinnacle of the
movement came in when the Plan
of Chicago was designed by
Burnham and fellow architect and
urban planner Edward H. Bennett.

Source: https://www.britannica.com/topic/City-Beautiful-movement
Timeline

• 1893- The movement first gained

ground with the World’s Columbian
Exposition in Chicago. Daniel
Burnham headed the construction of
the fair’s temporary city, known as
the “White City,”
• 1902- Washington, D.C., became the
first city to carry out a City Beautiful
design, the McMillan Plan
• Other cities that benefited from the
movement were Cleveland (1903),
San Francisco (1905), and St. Paul,
Minnesota (1906).
• 1909- The pinnacle of the movement
came in with Burnham and fellow
architect and urban planner Edward
H. Bennett’s design for Chicago,
published as the Plan of Chicago and
also known as the Burnham Plan.
• The movement, as a whole, began
to wane by World War I and was
then succeeded by a modernist
approach to architecture known as
the International style.

Source: https://www.britannica.com/topic/City-Beautiful-movement
Key principles

• The primary goals of the City

Beautiful movement were to
enhance urban areas and make
them more sanitary.
• Design principles- Symmetry,
Balance, And Splendor

Source: https://www.britannica.com/topic/City-Beautiful-movement
Relevance of the theoretical premise

• To not only enhance the city’s

appearance but also help the flow
of vehicle and pedestrian traffic,
the City Beautiful concept
focused on incorporating a civic
centre, plazas, parks, and grand
boulevards.

Source: https://www.britannica.com/topic/City-Beautiful-movement
Case study- Central Park
• New York city’s oasis- Central Park
created in 1858 to address the
recreational needs of the rapidly
growing City.

• Its original purpose was to offer

urban dwellers an experience of the
countryside, a place to escape from
the stresses of urban life and to
commune with nature and fellow
New Yorkers.
Source: https://www.britannica.com/topic/City-Beautiful-movement

Modified Greensward Plan, 1868

 Case study- Central Park

• The Park is a revolutionary social

experiment for Olmsted, who
thought of building a place where
all would meet, inconsiderate of
their class and social standing, a
place away from the ridiculous
rules imposed unto humans by
humans.

Central Park system New York City system

Source: https://www.britannica.com/topic/City-Beautiful-movement
Case study- Central Park

The central park attracted the city growth over time

City growth over time

Source: https://www.britannica.com/topic/City-Beautiful-movement
Case study- Plan of Chicago
Congress Parkway

New Diagonal Avenue

• A regional highway system that
included diagramming of both Arterial street widening

radial and circumferential roads.

• Civic and cultural centers as an Consolidated railroad station
Civic Centre
iconic image to the plan.
• Improvement of railway terminals
for greater efficiency in freight Chicago River Straightening
handling and expansion of CBD
Two Level riverfront drives
• Reclaiming and improving the Roosevelt Road
lakefront because the lakefront by
right belonged to the people
• Systematic arrangements of the Grant Park
streets in order to relieve traffic Michigan Avenue Bridge
congestion and beautify the fast-
growing city
• New outer parks to preserve the Northerly Island Link Bridge

outer zones and to expand the

city’s park and boulevard system. Municipal Piers

Source: https://www.britannica.com/topic/City-Beautiful-movement Plan of Chicago

Due to rapid urbanization, city got congested and
public spaces got neglected.

Source: City Beautiful Movement, 1890-1910 | Sprouts in the Sidewalk (wordpress.com)

Camillo Sitte (1843–1903)

• An architect and city planning theoretician

• Ideology -
Individual experience within space of the city

Integration of public spaces, street and built form

• ‘City Planning According to Artistic Principles’

book was written at the close of the nineteenth century
(1889) and became a classic in city-planning literature.
Key Principles

1. Relationship between Buildings, Monuments, and their plazas

2. The irregularity of old plazas and active edges add aesthetic values

Source: City Planning According to Artistic Principles Book

Key Principles

1. Relationship between Buildings, Monuments, and their plazas

2. The irregularity of old plazas and active edges add aesthetic values

Source: City Planning According to Artistic Principles Book

Key Principles

3. The center of plazas to be kept free to provide flexibility in the types of activities

Source: City Planning According to Artistic Principles Book

Key Principles

4. The size and shape of the plaza should be proportionate which relate to each other and create harmony.

Source: City Planning According to Artistic Principles Book

Key Principles

5. Public squares should be enclosed entities that provides the 6. Plaza grouping gives breathing area for multiple activities and
best vantage point to admire the monument and surrounding yet act as a comprehensive whole.
space.

Piazza del Vescovato

Source: City Planning According to Artistic Principles Book

Votive Church, Vienna

The church was one of the first buildings to be built on the Ringstrabe.

Votive Church, Vienna

Source: City Planning According to Artistic Principles Book

Votive Church, Vienna

Populated the plaza in correspondence with surrounding public buildings

Parliament

City Hall

Votive Church, Vienna

National Theatre

University

Source: City Planning According to Artistic Principles Book

Votive Church, Vienna

Series of plazas that created different vistas

Source: City Planning According to Artistic Principles Book

Votive Church, Vienna

Segregated vehicular traffic improves comfortable experience to visitor as well maintained the aesthetic value of public space.

Source: City Planning According to Artistic Principles Book

Key learnings

Integration of built form and The shape and proportion of Position of urban elements Harmony of spaces
spaces open space with built form
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The theory is seen to be relatable in township

plan scenario.

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Thank You