A SCHOOL FOR PLANNERS
PLANNING in the modem sense of the term—whether .1 it be town-planning, or transport-planning, or economic planning—deMands much more than the setting down on Paper of ideal schemes.. - It requires highly trained men, not only skilled in the details of professional work, but also taught to regard these as elements sub- ordinate to certain clearly defined social ends. Here is a practical need which must be met before any great advance can be made. It was with -this object that the Architectural Association recently founded the School of Planning and Research for National Development. It was opened last January, and its organization is to be developed and extended next autumn. It is intended that the School shall be a centre for research and consultation, its students being men already partially or fully equipped as architects, engineers or surveyors who are bent on fitting themselves for that constructive development work which ought to become a key activity in this country during the next ten years. National planning at present is for the most part in the air. If it is to be brought down to earth, there must be trained men capable of directing the technical work.
An organized system for training the right men is as indispensable for winning the long-range objectives of peace as those of war. That there is no time to be lost becomes evident when we reflect for a moment upon some of the major practical problems of vice- time. Already the local authorities are busy in enormous Slum-clearing and new building operations. This 'year they will have the further duty imposed on them of rebuilding in over- crowded areas to provide accommodation for those who are displaced from the crowded dwellings. ' Here, in this Matter of housing alone, which is ahealy engaging or abont to engage the attention of the authorities, we are confronted With problems which cannot be satisfactorily solved if they are treated as isolated local problems. But With this question, has to' be considered a host of inter-related matters all of Which are pressing. One of the duties of the Commissioners for the depressed areas is to stimulate, first the transference of surplus workers to other districts, and secondly, the establishment of new industries 'in their own districts. This matter has its obvious' bearing Upon housing, and affects the suitable distribution of factories in relation to residential areas.
With these problems is inseparably boinid up that of transport, both local and national. The railways are preparing to speed up their long-distance trains, and they are strengthening their local services by linking them up With systeinatic road-transport services. The improve- ment or extension of the arterial roads is always under consideration, and if this is to be efficiently and economi- cally carried out, it must be in strict relationship to the through:traffic_needs of the great cities served and lb local systems Of subsidiary roads. Nor is the problem of transport confined to roads and railways. The canals are beginning to be . brought back into use. Internal flying, both for passengers and *mails, is at last being organized. Harbours and coastal shipping ought to be &moldered. Here we have a whole series of questions each- of which, in isolation, is seriously before the country as one which must be quickly dealt with, and yet none of them, isolated from the rest, can be dealt with as it should be. Treat these matters separately, and we shall be build- ing up for the future the same sort of muddle which the nineteenth century left as a dismal legacy. Treat them together, each in relation to the whole, and we shall be building up order. - Moreover, the process of clearing away piecemeal the relies of that period of chaos, which goes on continually through the mere wear-and-tear of time and the obliga- tion to modernize, gives opportunities, too often neg- lected, to undo the errors of the past. The powers to town-plan built-up areas arc no longer lacking, though for one opportunity taken when demolition is occurring ten are neglected. The town of Croydon, it may be mentioned, is setting an admirable example which London might imitate in preparing to devote a large apace in the heart of its area to the creation of a "civic Centre." In London during the last dozen years vast blocks of buildings have been pulled down and higher blocks erected on the sites, but seldom have the authorities intervened Id 'insist on plans of reconstruction which would iMprove the adjacent streets:' Here are constantly Occurring problems of planning which Ought to be examined with a view to regiOnal necessities, sometimes national necessities.
- The recognition of these needs is becoming more and more general, and - some powers- have been granted by Parliament which make regional action, if still difficult, at least possible ; and we are coming nearer to -a time when, at the centre, the Ministry of Health will co-operate with the Ministry of Transport. But it is not enough • to be aware of the needs, or to have advisory committees creating admirable general schemes which can only be carried out when large numbers of authorities are agreed and capable of taking joint action. We have been going through a stage in which public opinion was being pre- pared and educated, and that was a necessary preliminary.
But we have reached the point when action on a national scale cannot much longer be deferred if the country is to avoid colossal losses. Larger co-ordinating executive powers will have to be conferred, and these can only be • provided by Parliament • after extensive surveys of housing, industrial and transport needs have been made.
Both in -the preliminary stages of inquiry and in the later stages of administration trained men will be needed who understand 'the practical irroblems of local and national planning: Therefore we cannot attach too much importance to that spade-work which the School of Planning and Research for National Development proposes to undertake. Its task is a two-fold one—that of preparing the necessary body of information, and that of producing the men. It will seek, we are told, to create the type of mind which can see such problems in relation to the whole nation. And it will be observed that if it is to get the men who may be counted upon to produce the best results, it will generally have to start with students who have already been through a complete technical course qualifying them as architects, or engineers, or surveyors. Men who in the . ordinary way would already have entered upon a professional . career will necessarily for a time be diverted from it if they are to pursue to the full the studies which such a School can offer them. It is of vital importance that provision should be made for such work. Men. qualified for the constructive business of planning will soon be necessary if the tasks of Government departments . and local authorities are to be carried out in an enlightened spirit. The visionaries have had their say. The next job will be that of the experts.
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