The Birth of Organized City Planning in the United States, 1909–1910

Problem: Why, how, and under what circumstances American planning first became an organized movement is mostly unknown to planners, as is the significance of such a development. Purpose: I seek to explain why and how the first national planning organization began in 1909–1910 and to interpret this development in the context of American national and urban history and the history of the planning movement in the United States. Methods: I extensively researched the origins of comprehensive city planning in the United States at the Frances Loeb Library of the Harvard Design School, other libraries of Harvard University, and in the manuscript collections of the Library of Congress. Results and conclusions: I find that organized city planning in the United States was born out of a dramatic, historically significant struggle between two key figures in the early history of the city planning movement: Benjamin C. Marsh and Frederick Law Olmsted, Jr. Each represented different strands of Progressive Era reform. Olmstedʹs triumph over Marsh is a key to understanding the form and purpose of planning organization and the planning field in the United States in their formative years. Takeaway for practice: Planning as a public endeavor is a contested process. Debates over the fundamental direction it should take have been present from the outset. How such debates are resolved can have far-reaching consequences for those involved at the time and for later participants influenced by the outcome. For this reason, practitioners should be familiar with the history of their own field and aware that their own decisions may have significant consequences for those who follow.