| 1825 |
|
Erie Canal completed.
This artificial waterway connected the northeastern states with the newly
settled areas of what was then the West, facilitating the economic development
of both regions. |
| 1878 |
|
John
Wesley Powell's Report on the Lands of the Arid Region of the United
States is published. Includes a proposed regional plan that would both
foster settlement of the arid west and conserve scarce water resources. |
| 1909 |
|
Daniel
Burnham's Plan of Chicago, sponsored by the Commerical Club of Chicago,
is the first metropolitan plan in the United States. (Key figures: Frederick
A. Delano, Charles Wacker, Charles Dyer Norton.) |
| 1915 |
|
Patrick
Geddes, "Father of Regional Planning" and mentor of Lewis
Mumford, publishes Cities in Evolution. |
| 1919 |
|
Three early unifunctional regional
authorities—the Metropolitan Sewerage Commission, the Metropolitan
Water Board and the Metropolitan Park Commission—combined to form the
Boston Metropolitan District Commission. |
| 1922 |
|
Los Angeles County Regional Planning
Commission created. First of its kind in the United States. (Hugh Pomeroy,
head of staff.) |
| 1922 |
|
Inauguration of Regional Plan of
New York under Thomas Adams. |
| 1924 |
|
The Fairway Farms experiment, funded by the
Spellman Foundation, begins with the purchase of nine farms in Montana.
Its purpose is to demonstrate, with the aid of scientific planning, the
viability of the family farm on the high plains. |
| 1925 |
|
Publication of "Regional Plan"
issue of Survey Graphic, influential essays on regional planning
by Lewis
Mumford and other members of the Regional Planning Association of America
(e.g., Catherine
Bauer). |
| 1928 |
|
Benton MacKaye, known as Father of the Appalachian
Trail, publishes The New Exploration: A Philosophy of Regional Planning. |
| 1928 |
|
Robert Murray Haig's monograph "Major
Economic Factors in Metropolitan Growth and Arrangement" is published
in Volume I of The Regional Survey of New York and Its Environs.
Viewed land use as a function of accessibility. |
| 1931 |
|
Building the City, the last and summary
volume of the multi-volume Regional Plan of New York, is published and
gives rise in the pages of The New Republic (June-July 1932) to
a famous argument between Thomas Adams and Lewis Mumford regarding the
value of that plan and the meaning of metropolitan planning. |
| 1933 |
|
The
Tennessee Valley Authority, a public corporation with some of the
freedom of a private corporation, is created to provide for the unified
and multipurpose rehabilitation and redevelopment of the Tennessee Valley.
Senator George Norris of Nebraska fathered the idea and David Lilienthal, "Father
of Public Power," serves as its long-term director. |
| 1934 |
|
Taylor Grazing Act is passed, its
purpose to regulate the use of the range in the West for conservation purposes. |
| 1935 |
|
Publication date of Regional
Factors in National Planning by the National Resources Committee, a
landmark in regional planning literature. |
| 1935 |
|
Congress authorizes construction
of the Grande Coulee Dam on the Columbia River in Central Washington State.
Finished in 1941, it is the largest concrete structure in the U.S. and
the heart of the Columbia Basin Project, a regional plan comparable in
its scope to TVA. The project's purposes are irrigation, electric power
generation, and flood control in the Pacific Northwest. |
| 1936 |
|
Hoover Dam on the Colorado River
completed. Creates and sustains population growth and industrial development
in Nevada, California, and Arizona. |
| 1947 |
|
Secretary George C. Marshall uses
his Harvard College commencement address to propose the Marshall Plan for
the reconstruction of postwar Europe. |
| 1954 |
|
Housing
Act of 1954. Stressed slum prevention and urban renewal rather than
slum clearance and urban redevelopment as in the 1949 act. Also stimulated
general planning for cities under 25,000 population by providing funds under
Section 701 of the act. "701 funding" later extended by legislative
amendments to foster statewide, interstate, and substate regional planning. |
| 1954 |
|
The Council of Government movement
(COGS) begins in the Detroit area with the formation of a Supervisors' Inter-County
Committee composed of the representatives of each county in southeastern
Michigan for the purpose of confronting areawide problems. It soon spreads
nationwide. |
| 1959 |
|
Congress establishes the Advisory
Commission on Intergovernmental Relations (ACIR), with members from various
branches of government. Serves primarily as a research agency and think
tank in area of intergovernmental relations. |
| 1959 |
|
The St. Lawrence Seaway is completed.
This joint U.S.-Canada project created, in effect, a fourth North American
seacoast, opening the American heartland to sea-going vessels. |
| 1961 |
|
A Delaware River Basin Commission
representing the states of New York, New Jersey and Pennsylvania is created
to foster joint management of the river's water resources. |
| 1962 |
|
The urban growth simulation model
emerges in the Penn-Jersey Transportation Study. |
| 1964 |
|
A Model of Metropolis by Ira Lowry,
one of the earliest and the most influential of urban development models,
is published by Rand Corporation. |
| 1965 |
|
Congress passes the Water Resources
Management Act authorizing Federal-Multistate river basin commissions. |
| 1965 |
|
The Public Work and Economic Development
Act passes Congress. This act establishes the Economic Development Administration
to extend coordinated, multifaceted aid to lagging regions and foster their
redevelopment |
| 1965 |
|
The Appalachian Regional Planning
Act establishes a region comprising all of West Virginia and parts of 12
other states, plus a planning commission with the power to frame plans and
allocate resources. |
| 1968 |
|
To implement Intergovernmental Relations
Act of 1968, the Office of Management and Budget issues Circular A-95 requiring
state and substate regional clearinghouses to review and comment on federally
assisted projects to facilitate coordination among three levels of government. |
| 1969 |
|
Apollo 11 lands on the moon on July 20. |
| 1970 |
|
Federal Environmental Protection
Agency established to administer main provisions of the Clean Air Act (1970). |
| 1970 |
|
The Miami Valley (Ohio) Regional
Planning Commission Housing Plan is adopted, the first such plan in the
nation to allocate low- and moderate-income housing on a "fair share"
basis. |
| 1972 |
|
The
Coastal Zone Management Act creates a voluntary National Coastal
Management Program in which participating states undertake to develop
coastal management programs meeting minimal federal standards. |
| 1972 |
|
The Earth Resources Technology Satellite ("Landsat")
is launched the first of several satellites for acquiring high resolution
images of the earth's surface, and a major advance in the efforts to identify,
evaluate, develop, and conserve the planet's natural resources. |
| 1983 |
|
In a case focusing on Mt. Laurel,
New Jersey, the New Jersey Supreme Court rules that all 567 municipalities
in the state must build their "fair share" of affordable housing.
A precedent-setting blow against racial segregation. |
| 1994 |
|
North American Free Trade Agreement
(NAFTA) among U.S., Canada and Mexico begins on January 1, its purpose to
foster trade and investment among the three nations by removing or lowering
non-tariff as well as tariff barriers. |
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