If the city intended to build the street within, perhaps, five years, the board could be authorized, with the consent of some proper city authority, to agree with the land owner that the city would build it within that time. This agreement would usually make it certain that the location of the building with relation to the future street, so soon to be built, was the most profitable one, especially if the building was to be expensive.

A provision, under the police power, making a few of the essential features of the city plan binding upon the land planned is essential to the success of city planning in this country. The provision here suggested would seem to accomplish everything which is secured by the provisions, for the same purpose, of foreign laws, by methods already familiar in this country, and therefore more likely to win the approval not only of city planners, but of our courts.

The Control of City Development. The purpose of city planning is the attainment of unity in city construction. To that end the power to establish and protect a city plan is necessary but not sufficient. In addition some measure of power to determine the order and time of development of outlying land is necessary. In this country, and in most parts of the British Empire, the land owner may convert his agricultural land into prospective building lots wherever and whenever he pleases. The result is often a premature subdivision of land, with a resulting economic waste, and always an undirected city growth.

German Methods of Control.-The development of outlying land is controlled, to a considerable extent, in some of the German states by imposing upon it zoning regulations allowing only low, detached residences, covering a small percentage of the lot, in other states by forbidding all subdivision of land and construction of permanent improvements until the city decides that the land should be developed, and establishes a plan and building or zone regulations, thus fixing the direction and character of city growth.

In England, the English speaking colonies, and this country, vacant building land abutting on more or less improved streets, with many if not all the city utilities, is to be found here and there throughout the city, the amount of it increasing

greatly as the outlying portions of the city are reached, and the city gradually and irregularly fades out into the open country, or, sometimes, jumps considerable areas in its progress. In continental European cities the development is more uniform, with fewer vacant lots, especially as the city's outer edge is approached, where abruptly the city ends and the open country begins.

In Germany this tendency toward uniform development is strengthened by the German method of "city extension," enforced by prohibition of improvements in advance of it; 18 new streets there being planned and constructed only in a narrow strip of land immediately beyond the solidly built existing city, as immediate necessity for building land from time to time arises, building lots being forbidden elsewhere. The strips of land thus improved do not necessarily, or usually, extend around the city, but only in the directions where growth is considered most advantageous. It should be noted that the city plan for the purposes of "city extension," since it covers only areas necessary for immediate use, is usually supplemented by another plan indicating the city's proposed lines of growth for many years to come.

Our "laissez faire" method of city construction, the German orthodox planner objects to, first, because it unnecessarily swells the expenses of administration, such as police, postal delivery, etc., and of furnishing the utilities, such as gas, water and transportation; secondly, because it increases the cost of land development and ultimately land prices and rents by adding to them interest and maintenance charges for unused and partly used improvements; thirdly, because it hastens unduly the turning of agricultural land into building lots which remain unused for long periods, thus again augmenting land prices and rents. Land speculation, however, still continued in Germany in 1914, before the War, and many German economists thought that the limitation of building to a narrow strip of land created monopoly values.

It has been pointed out that the vacant lot furnishes light and air to structures on neighboring land, and tends to lessen

There are other causes for the solidly built German city; see p. 366.

congestion. A more uniform development, however, may be secured by limitations on the height and area of structures, by zones, if desired, and thus light and air and relief from congestion obtained.

A Suggested Canadian Method of Controlling City Development.-The German method of controlling city construction just referred to, would be impossible in this country not only because it would be held to be a taking of property rights without compensation, but because it would be considered unjust. In Canada a method of obtaining in a measure at least the advantages of the German system without its disadvantages, has been independently worked out.19 In some of the Canadian cities land booms, now partially at least collapsed, have unduly stimulated the cutting up of agricultural land within city limits into building lots. Some of these cities are making rules 20 allowing these owners to classify this land as

19

"See on this subject an article by Thomas Adams in the National Municipal Review for March, 1919, entitled "Town Planning in Relation to Land Taxation."

"Typical of these regulations is the following:

CITY OF EDMONTON

Resolutions passed by the City Council at a special meeting, September 29, 1919, dealing with the problem of assessment and taxation on outlying subvisions in the City of Edmonton.

I. That no portion of the City be excluded from the present limits of the City, except certain portions which may be excluded by the City for topographical or engineering reasons.

2. That the City be divided into an inner or residential area, and an outer or agricultural area.

3. That the line separating and defining these two areas be fixed by the City with a view to the development of the City at the present day and the probable development in the near future, this boundary as so defined to be fixed by the Utilities Board and subject to change only upon recommendation of the city and the consent of the Board.

4. No new plans of subdivision to be allowed in the outer or agricultural area, except in cases where land is ripe for development for residential purposes, when it shall be brought into the inner area in the manner above provided before being subdivided, the idea being to encourage cancellation of existing subdivisions in the outer area by allowing reduced assessments, so soon as plans are cancelled.

5. No utilities, except as required for trunk lines or other engineering reasons to be extended into the outer area.

6. The lands in the outer area to be assessed at their real value for agricultural, horticultural or such other purpose for which they may be used provided that lands actually being used for agricultural purposes shall not be assessed at an amount in excess of Two Hundred Dollars ($200) per acre for a period of five years.

agricultural, on condition that they cancel all existing subdivision and agree, as long as this classification is retained, not to make any new subdivision. In return, the city agrees to tax the land at a low rate. It is understood that no city improvements, except such as are appropriate to agricultural land, shall be made in agricultural areas. When the owner wishes to obtain a classification of his land as building land, he must at once pay an increment tax of fifty per cent on its increased value and thereafter is liable for taxes at the regular rate. It is calculated that the city will not lose in taxes more than it saves in interest and administration; and that the present owners of the land and the final owners of it and the homes on it, will be greatly benefited, thus again benefiting the city. Such an arrangement would be entirely possible in this country in any case where it seemed desirable; for, entered into voluntarily by the land owner, it is neither unconstitutional, under our legal system, nor unjust.21

7. That a reduction of not more than forty per cent. be made in the mill rate for lands in the outer area.

8. No compromise for back taxes, but an extension of the time for payment not over ten years.

9. That there be paid to the City in respect of any land located in the suburban area that may hereafter be assessed on the basis of assessment for lands in an unsubdivided state on the first sale thereof after the date of assessment on the said basis, one-half of the increase in value, if any, as shown by the sale price thereof, and the average of the assessments of the said land from the said first assessment to the said sale and on each subsequent sale thereof the same proportion of the increase in value, if any, as shown by the sale price thereof and the average of the assessments since the preceding sale, until the said land shall be brought into the urban area, or shall be assessed on the same basis of assessment as lands in the urban area, whichever shall first happen.

IO. That there be a penalty or a wild lands tax imposed on all agricultural lands in the outer area not put under cultivation.

II. That the Board of Public Utility Commissioners be asked to use their powers to reduce the costs of cancelling plans of subdivisions.

21

More or less similar to the Edmonton, Canada, rules is the system of taxation for many years in vogue in Philadelphia. In that city land is classified as rural, suburban and urban, rural land paying one-half and suburban lands three-quarters the full urban rate. It has not been the practice in Philadelphia to make any improvements in the rural areas. In many cities, as, for instance, Hartford, Connecticut, certain areas are, or at one time were, taxed as agricultural. Laws are not uncommon separating rural land from cities at the request of the owners.

PART III

PLANNING THE PUBLIC FEATURES

CHAPTER I

ACQUIRING THE LAND

The City's Need of Land.-One of the greatest needs of the modern city is land. The city requires land for its many public features, such as streets, parks and playgrounds, docks, reservoirs, sites for public buildings, and many miscellaneous uses. These features are essential to the growth and prosperity of the city, to the happiness and physical and moral health of its inhabitants; and they all require land for their construction. Probably at a moderate estimate 40 per cent of the total area of the city of today should be devoted to public uses. Unfortunately very few cities have anything like this percentage for such uses. It seems impossible for the modern city to obtain a sufficient supply of land to keep up with its ever augmenting need of it; and the more the supply lags behind the demand, the higher the land is in price and the harder it is to catch up.

The City's Difficulties in Obtaining Land.—In its efforts to obtain the land it requires the city encounters many difficulties. Usually it lacks capital for the constantly increasing plant and equipment, including land, necessary today for success in all great business enterprises; generally its methods of obtaining its income are faulty, and less productive and more burdensome than they should be; and almost invariably it does not acquire its land at a reasonable cost.

Effect of Legal Restrictions. It is a well-known fact that public improvements cost more than similar private enter