Leisure Studies

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The historical roots of urban open space planning

Paul F. Wilkinson

To cite this article: Paul F. Wilkinson (1988) The historical roots of urban open space planning,
Leisure Studies, 7:2, 125-143, DOI: 10.1080/02614368800390121

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Published online: 18 Sep 2006.

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 The historical roots of urban open space
planning
PAUL F. WILKINSON
Facultyof EnvironmentalStudies,York University,Leonard G. LumbersBuilding,4700 KeeleStreet,
North York, Ontario, Canada, M3J iP3
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Most writing on urban open space planning provides little insight into the field's historical
roots, despite a rich literature emanating from the history of the cities and the design
professions. Many urban open space planners do not understand the origins of certain
concepts and forms which dominate their profession; in consequence, they often fail to
appreciate how urban environments have been shaped by these concepts and forms, how
they interact with current urban dynamics, and how they can be successfully adapted as
factors of positive change in future planning efforts. This paper provides an overview of the
historical roots of urban open space planning in the hope that the alternatives presented by
planners would be more imaginative and more vibrant if planners had a better appreciation
of these origins.

Introduction
In the beginning there was the land. In time some of this land was transformed into parks.
(Doell and Twardzik 1973, p. 28)
Open space.., is an outdoor a r e a . . , which is open to the freely-chosen and spontaneous
activity, movement, or visual exploration of a significant number of city people. (Lynch
1963, p. 3)
In addition to serving the important functions of conserving biophysical resources
and meeting human needs, urban open space is an important force in shaping urban
form (Wilkinson, 1983; Wright et al., 1976). Indeed, Lynch (1960) has said that
urban open space can be 'the structural framework to which various forms and
activities can relate to produce edges, foci, nodes, districts and ultimately regions of
different size, scale and character' (p. 18). Yet, most writing on urban open space
planning provides little insight into the field's historical roots, despite a rich
literature emanating from the history of cities and the design professions. At best,
the planning literature - particularly the North American literature - seems to
assume that the history of urban open space planning began with Frederick Law
Olmsted, Sr and New York's Central Park in the 1850s.
The importance of Olmsted as a seminal figure in open space planning should not
be underestimated; however, examination of both the literature and urban plan-
ning documents indicates that many urban open space planners do not understand
the origins of certain concepts and forms (for example, vistas, the promenade
street, the square, the formal garden) which dominate their profession. N o r do they

Leisure Studies 7 (1988) 125-143 0261-4367/88 $03.00 + .12 9 1988 E. & F.N. Spon Ltd.
 126 P.F. Wilkinson
seem to realise that many of these concepts and issues had already affected North
American cities prior to Olmsted, and that Olmsted himself studied their historical
antecedents during his travels through Europe and then adapted many of these to
the North American situation. In consequence, planners often fail to appreciate
how urban environments have been shaped by these concepts and forms, how they
interact with current urban dynamics, and how they can be successfully adapted as
factors of positive change in future planning efforts.
The result is that present-day urban planners frequently use open space concepts
from other settings, and from the past, as single urban design elements which do not
fit into the existing fabric of the city, or which are merely nonfunctional embellish-
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ments. For example, the street-level spaces that surround many modern high-rise
commercial complexes are usually sterile, flat, concrete expanses, punctuated by
flagpoles, over-sized abstract sculptures, and the occasional park bench. The names
of these spaces often seem to have been chosen to evoke memories of the past (for
example, Toronto's Toronto-Dominion Square, Commerce Court, Royal Bank
Plaza), yet they have none of the organic and vibrant qualities of their supposed
antecedents. Similarly, the market places that are characteristic of many inner-city
urban renewal projects (for example, San Francisco, Oakland, Vancouver) have
little in common with the daily or weekly food, antique, and clothing markets that
still characterize so many small and large European cities; rather, they are usually
tourist-oriented bazaars consisting of high-priced boutiques and restaurants. A
final example is that of decorative 'promenades' running down the centre of
multi-lane major arterial roads (for example, Toronto's University Avenue) on
which virtually no one ever actually promenades because of traffic volume, noise,
automobile pollution, and shortages of such amenities as benches, drinking foun-
tains, and shade.
This paper, therefore, has been written in the hope that, perhaps, the alternatives
presented by planners would be more imaginative and more vibrant if planners had
a better appreciation of the historical origins of urban open space. The paper will
provide an overview of the historical roots of urban open space planning within a
context of Western culture 1, with an emphasis on particular historical antecedents
which were neither planned nor designed- in the true sense of the words - as public
open spaces, for example the agora of ancient Greece, the town squares of
mediaeval Europe, the private gardens of royal estates, and the squares of planned
towns. Their existence was related to either unplanned organic growth of the urban
centre or the decision of an autocratic (usually aristocratic) government, frequently
in relation to concerns for defence. Only with the Industrial Revolution did the
deliberate planning and design of public open spaces and parks originate and it was
not until the late 19th century and the social reform movement that the notion of
urban planning - and recreation planning as one of its sub-disciplines - truly
heralded the modern notion of urban open space planning.

Parks in ancient times

Mesopotamia and Egypt

The concept of a park can be traced to ancient Mesopotamia where the Sumerian
King Gudea (c. 2340 BC) initiated the first planned park-like landscapes (Gothein,
 The historical roots of urban open space planning 127
1928; Doell and Fitzgerald, 1954). These open spaces were designed with inter-
spersed woodlands, vineyards, and ponds; a weU-designed trail system; and
emphasis on maintaining natural aesthetics. Access to such parks - the purpose of
which was strictly aesthetic enjoyment - was restricted to the ruling land-holding
aristocrats. In the succeeding centuries, these royal parks became more elaborate,
but despite a greater emphasis on formal landscape development and management,
their primary purpose was still aesthetic, as perhaps best exemplified by the
Hanging Gardens of Babylon.
The precariousness of life based on the hydraulic civilization of the Tigris-
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Euphrates Valley led to a philosophy of inevitability, which focussed on the natural

cycle of flooding and its effect on agriculture. This philosophy was expressed on the
one hand by the contemplation of a serene future life and on the other hand by
enjoyment of the passing moment: one never knew when the floods would fail to
come; if they failed to materialize, it was the will of the gods, who in turn provided
the prospect of an after-world. Such a philosophy led to designed gardens patterned
on the agricultural landscape laid out geometrically within protecting walls;
irrigation channels and trees were the predominant design elements. Later, with the
domestication of the horse under the Assyrians, came the hunting-park, the first
landscape expansion into the environment (Jellicoe and Jellicoe, 1975). The
importance of water as a symbol of hydraulic civilizations reached its peak in
Egypt; in at least one example, a pool in an Egyptian nobleman's park (c. 1500 BC)
measured 1500 by 300 metres - large enough for boating (Morrison and Huff,
1937).
The Greek agora
In the Western sense, the heritage of civic open space can be traced to the Greek
agora, which, while epitomized in Athens, was to be found in most Greek cities
some 2500 years ago (Bacon, 1967; French, 1973; Morris, 1972). The agora was a
multi-functional place, providing opportunities for athletics, spectator sports,
social interactions, politics, education, and shopping. It is, therefore, the ancestor in
principle of the city park, the plaza, the market place, the campus, and the shopping
centre of today. It must be recognized, however, that the agora was neither planned
nor designed; its physical characteristics and size were entirely a result of surround-
ing forces. In French's (1973) words, 'Even in its own time, the agora's strength lay
in its ideals, not its design, and the less finite that design the more flexible and
multifaceted its functions' (p. 9). It is better, therefore, to refer to the 'agora
concept' than to its physical being; in other words, to its function rather than to its
form 2.
In addition to the agora, ancient Greece contained other resources of recreation
for urban dwellers, including, gymnasia, hippodromes, and academies. These
provided opportunities for both aesthetic enjoyment and physical conditioning,
along with a growing love for competition and spectator sports which, in turn, led
to the original Olympic Games and the development of architectural styles and
themes for major sporting events still evident today.
Ancient Rome
The Romans, sharing many of the sports and recreational values of the Greeks,
 128 P.F. Wilkinson
probably had more influence than any other single culture on the early history of
open space planning for two major reasons. First, they 'borrowed' many ideas and
carried them throughout the known Western world (Jubenville, 1976). Second,
they influenced modern city planning with their use of deliberately planned gardens
and other open spaces which were first developed in villas - the precursers of
modern suburbs - near the edges of towns and later transferred to cities (Jellicoe
and Jellicoe, 1975), as can be seen in the courtyard gardens of towns such as
Pompeii.
Gardens were an important element of Roman architecture. The importance and
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magnitude of the country villa grew phenomenally with the emergence of a wealthy
and travelled landowner class and with knowledge of the gardens of Hellenistic
Alexandria and southwest Asia. Pliny the Younger (23-79 AD) has left detailed
descriptions of villas that convey the sense of architectural formality; the special
value of shady promenades and of views of sea or countryside; cool porticoes with
romantic wall-paintings that integrated house and garden; sculpture, clipped
hedges, box parterres, topiary, water, and grottoes. Tivoli, a favourite estate of
Augustus just outside Rome, was perhaps the best example of such estates. Later,
the hunting parks of the nobility became more elaborate, intensively-developed,
and intensively-managed, even including such exotic animals as elephants, lions,
and giraffes; their purpose, however, was for hunting, not viewing as in modern
ZOOS.
The first Roman public parks were created when later emperors converted
private estates into a series of parks along the river Tiber. Recreation had other
major impacts on the nature and structure of Rome, in the form of public holidays
(which numbered 159 annually during the time of Claudius and rose to about 200
in the 3rd century AD) and games staged at public expense, involving elaborate
organization and building facilities. The largest recreation centre, the Circus
Maximus, eventually attained dimensions of 600 by 200 metres and provided at
least 255,000 and possibly 385,000 seats. The most famous recreation facility was
the relatively small Colisseum, with its 45,000 seats and 5000 standing places. A
wide range of entertainments was presented in the circuses: lions and Christians
chariot and horse races; gladiators; animals; and mock sea battles. Over time, even
rudimentary ball fields and play areas began to appear as part of adjacent open
spaces (Jubenville, 1976).
Another major form of recreation centred on Rome's many open-air theatres, the
three largest ones being capable of accommodating 50,000 spectators. There were
also many baths, including those of Caracalla, which covered 11 ha, and Diocle-
tian, 13 ha. In addition to every possible type of bath, these establishments included
shops, stadia, rest rooms, libraries, museums, and numerous other facilities (Mor-
ris, 1972) - the equivalent of the modern community centre, at least for the upper
classes.
It should be pointed out that - Lord Byron notwithstanding - the present-day
park-like qualities of the monuments of that era derive from the ruins and not the
Roman originals; the Roman Forum and the Palatine Hill, for example, were
originally a crowded mass of legal, administrative, religious and commercial
buildings. The notion of the multi-functional, planned city centre was, however,
carried throughout the Western world.
 The historical roots of urban open space planning 129
T h e Christian era to Pre-Renaissance

Urban design
With the beginning of the Middle Ages, parks and sports facilities declined in
importance as basic human survival became more precarious. It is important to
realise, however, that many of the physical remains of a hard life in cities of the
Middle Ages have become essential elements of today's urban open space systems in
many European cities.
Defence became the primary criterion for the location of a castle or town;
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however, such defences as hills, bends' in rivers, islands, moats, and elaborate wall
systems made these strongholds impractical and inhibitive to trade, in later, safer
times, because they restricted the growth of the towns. As trade and commerce
grew, the physical form of the city expanded and changed. Those towns which
survived were located at natural seaports, on navigable rivers, on inland trade
routes, or on arable plains. The accident of nature, such as a steep rise in the
landscape, which had been the primary criterion for settlement, often remained an
unnecessary curiosity in the centre of an expanding city. Eventually, many cities
were forced by commercial necessity to expand beyond their original natural
defences. Examples include: Paris, an island in a river; Luxembourg-ville, a bend in
a steep gorge, giving three naturally protected sides; Copenhagen, an island in the
sea; Venice, a man-made series of islands; and Edinburgh, a remnant volcanic core.
The passage of time having rendered them 'historic', many old fortresses were
restored and became commercially-productive as tourist attractions. The structures
became museums, and the surrounding slopes, moats, and rev&ments became
parks (French, 1973).
There are basically three types of situation which result from changes over time in
the form of such defence-oriented cities. The first is the case of a steeply-inclined
natural rise surmounted by a fortress, with a commercially-adaptable surrounding
area or port. Today, the slopes of the hills often act as a transition between the two
elements as a steeply-contoured, limited-use city park. Examples include parks in
Nuremberg, Salzburg, Lisbon, Edinburgh, and Carcassonne.
The second type is the use of water as a means of defence, leading to the location
of fortresses on islands (Paris, Mont St Michel), on promontories (Orvieto), or at
river bends (Luxembourg-ville). The result has been linear parks along river banks
(the Seine, in Paris), ravine belt-parks (Luxembourg-ville), or, in some cases, towns
without a great deal of open space because of the restrictions imposed by the small
size of an island (Mont St Michel).
In the third situation, natural defences were not significant, thereby causing the
defendersto build walls in combination with earthworks, wards, and moats. The
remains of such walls may lend themselves to development as parks; for example,
Lucca, one of the few cities in Europe with its ancient walls intact, has a ring park
along the walls and rev&ments. In contrast, the walls of Vienna were dismantled,
creating a green ring-park around the centre core of the city. In other cities, the
walls were replaced by ring-roads, rather than green-spaces (for example Paris and
Moscow). Moats which have been filled-in or have just dried up have also provided
open space in a number of cities; one example is the Alexandrov Gardens along the
west wall of the Moscow Kremlin. Other examples are the small moat parks which
 130 P.F. Wilkinson
are the remnants of Copenhagen's late-mediaeval defensive system which protected
the castle and harbour by means of a complex arrangement of earthworks and
moats. While such parks are necessarily small, they do afford much-needed open
space in the most intensively-developed parts of the inner city.

Green spaces
Another remnant of this era are the English commons; these were often large areas
of natural land left undeveloped because of poor drainage conditions. As cities grew
such areas were encircled, leaving them as common grazing grounds at first, and
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later as parks.
Garden art in the Middle Ages was confined either to the cloister garden, whose
antecedents in the West can be traced through the cloisters in northeast Spain to the
Muslims, and thence to the Persian paradise garden; or the small enclosed domestic
or castle garden rich with raised beds, fountains, pergolas, and such delights, which
may also have come from the East (Jellicoe and Jellicoe, 1975):
After the Dark Ages, the evolution of homes and gardens began virtually afresh.
With increasing domestic political stability and the increasing importance of
agriculture to support growing towns, came the rise of the manor house, its roots
perhaps best exemplified in Elizabethan England. The first maior influence on the
English manor house was the Italian Renaissance, as exemplified by formal
hedge-clipping and maze gardens. During the Tudor period, however, there
developed in England a style that was both indigenous and intuitive, blending a
rural, agriculturally-based life-style with elements of formal gardens. The English
School of landscape architecture during the Romantic period was to develop out of
this style.
The market place and the church square
There were two other features of the mediaeval town which were to have a great
impact on later urban open space planning: the market place (often containing a
market mall) and the church square (Morris, 1972). There were two basic types of
market place, in both planned and unplanned (or organic-growth) towns. In one
the market occupied a square, normally located at or near the centre; and in the
other the market was located at a widening of the main street. In unplanned towns,
there were two additional types of market place location: at lateral expansions of
the main street; and at squares at the town gate (Zucker, 1959). The market street
was not often incorporated into planned towns. Its most deliberate use was
probably in the Zahringer new towns of Switzerland and southern Germany, where
it usually ran the length of the town between the gates; Berne and Rottweil are
prime examples. In unplanned towns, no two layouts were alike, each market
square or market street having its own distinct spatial character; interesting
examples include Florence, Perugia, Todi, and Venice (Bacon, 1967, pp. 80-91).
Instances of the town church facing into the market square are rare. The square in
front of the town church - the mediaeval parvis - served other purposes; it was an
area in which the faithful gathered before and after the service, where occasional
outdoor sermons were heard, through which religious processions passed, and
where, from the 12th century on, mystery plays were often performed. Here, people
from out-of-town left their horses, and soon stalls of various kinds were set up,
 The historical roots of urban open space planning 131
often dealing with goods of a religious nature. Nonetheless, the parvis was never
intended to compete with the market square (Zucker, 1959).
Both of these types of square grew in size and in importance throughout the
Middle Ages and had a great impact on both the social and the physical structures
of cities. They were the first true 'public' open spaces in European towns.

The Renaissance and its legacy3

The main components of Renaissance planning

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There are three main components of Renaissance urban planning, each of which
has had significant effects on modern urban open space planning: the primary
straight street, gridiron-based districts, and enclosed spaces (Morris, 1972).

The primary straight street. The primary straight street was a Renaissance innova-
tion. It provided the approach to buildings and frequently had direct connections
with regional routes, but its main function was to facilitate movement, increasingly
by carriage, between parts of the city. Such new straight streets in London were
largely unrelated, not being planned as part of a larger street system; the best
example is Regent Street, cut between Soho and Mayfair in the early 19th century,
to link the St James's area with Regent's Park. The Champs ElysSes (Paris) and the
Unter den Linden (Berlin) are the best examples of the primary straight street as a
generative element, determining the growth of existing cities. The only major city
which acquired a primary straight street pattern as a result of comprehensive
restructuring during the Renaissance proper was Rome, but the primary straight
street was to have a great impact on later urban plans. A number of later urban
plans were either based on primary straight streets or incorporated them as major
elements, for example, Versailles, Karlsruhe, St Petersburg, Washington, Brasilia.
Such streets have become major urban symbols, providing vistas, views, prom-
enades, and public open spaces which have much to do with creating the unique
characters of these great cities.
In addition to effecting changes in its function, the Renaissance also introduced
the concept of the street as an architectural whole. One important ele~aent in
meeting this design criterion is the concept of perspective. Perspective effects were
emphasised by the location of terminal features, both architectural and sculptural,
in the form of statues, fountains, and obelisks. The legacy of these innovations is
evident in practically every Western city and town, ranging from the Arc de
Triomphe in the Place de l'Etoile (Place Charles de Gaulle) at the western end of the
Champs Elys~es to the small town with its flag pole or war memorial at one end of
its main street. The combined effect of the primary straight street and of terminal
features gave great impetus to a major form of urban recreation: the promenade

The Gridiron. Conforming to the Renaissance ideal of aesthetic uniformity- even if

the resulting townscape all too frequently became mere monotony - the gridiron
had three main uses in Renaissance Europe: as the basis of residential districts
added to existing urban areas; for the entire layout of a limited number of new
towns; and, in combination with the primary street system, for the layout of new
 132 P.F. W i l k i n s o n
urban areas. The more sensitive urbanists broke the resultant monotony either by
embracing natural landscape features or by planning relief in the form of squares.
London's Mayfair, the area between Oxford Street and the New Road
(Marylebone Road), and later Bloomsbury developments, contain examples of
landscaped squares which mitigate the effects of otherwise more-or-less straight-
forward gridiron-planning.

Enclosed spaces. Renaissance enclosed spaces - squares, piazzas, or places - can be

grouped under three broad categories on the basis of their traffic functions. First,
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were traffic spaces which formed part of the main urban route system and were
used by both pedestrians and horse-drawn vehicles. Before 19th century increases
in urban traffic, there were few examples of formally designed spaces at the
intersection of main streets in the core of cities. Most were located on the urban
perimeter, for example, the Piazza del Popolo in Rome; the three squares on the
west side of Berlin (Potsdamer, Leipziger, and Pariser Platz). The Place de l'Etoile
around the Arc de Triomphe, not completed until the middle of the 19th century,
was the epitome of the traffic space.
Second were the residential spaces intended for local access traffic only; these had
a predominantly pedestrian and recreational purpose, with wheeled traffic being
limited to serving the individual dwellings. In France, such spaces were frequently
used as the setting for a royal statue; the most notable is Paris' Place des Vosges,
where the residential space originated 4. Probably the most famous example of this
kind of space was London's Covent Garden (1630), the first of London's great
squares. London's expansion to the west was largely based on a combination of
residential squares and gridiron streets; nevertheless, only a small minority of
homes had such an advantageous situation. By the time that the squares of
Bloomsbury and Belgravia and the larger-scaled development of Regent's Park
were underway in the early 19th century, the Industrial Revolution had already
created great tracts of effectively uncontrolled, high-density housing in various
parts of London and other primary manufacturing centres; these lacked almost all
of the basic necessities of life. These residential spaces, then, must be seen as a
characteristic of controlled 17th and 18th century urban growth, rather than the
uncontrolled urban expansion of the Industrial Revolution. Most British cities and
towns have at least one pleasantly unpretentious square of this type, those at Bath
and Edinburgh being especially distinguished by unusual qualities of spatial
organization and architectural attention to detail (Morris, 1972).
A third type of enclosed space was either completely closed to wheeled traffic or
designed so that pedestrians were not unduly affected by traffic (for example,
wheeled traffic was not continuous across the space or was restricted to one side). In
most cases, these spaces were forecourts or public assembly areas in front of major
civic, religious, or royal buildings. The most noteworthy of such spaces are Italian. In
Rome, for example, there are the Piazza de San Pietro, with the east front of the
church dominating the colonnade-enclosed space; and Michelangelo's Capitoline
Piazza, the forecourt of the Palazzo Senatorio with three sides consisting of
identical buildings and the fourth side consisting of a monumental flight of steps up
the hillside. Venice, a unique water-oriented city with only pedestrian land traffic,
has several such spaces; the most important is the Piazza San Marco in which the
 The historical roots of urban open space planning 133
enclosing buildings had civic, commercial, and religious functions.

The Italian heritage

A design style eminently reflective of the times began to develop first in Northern
Italy with the sudden rise of a wealthy merchant class and of a renewed fervor for
classic themes of ancient Rome and Greece as sources of inspiration for European
painting, sculpture, architecture, landscape architecture, and urban form. A phil-
osophy of human domination over nature was manifested in the design of gardens,
in which natural elements - water, gravel, trees, shrubs, and stone - were arranged
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in unnatural, geometric ways. Precise mathematical interpretation of order and

balance dominated environmental design; its ultimate forms were the gardens of St
Peter's in Rome and later the royal palace and gardens of Versailles.
Eventually, this ordered precision without concern for human scale or human
spirit diminished the force of the Renaissance, and gave rise to the organic vibrancy
of the Baroque (French, 1973). In the second half of the 16th century, doubt had
been thrown on the very foundations of the existing order and beliefs as a result of
astronomical discoveries, combined with the questioning of religious dogma. The
result was
9 a transition f r o m . . , the classical finite to the Baroque infinite. The expression of the
finite is factual, that of infinity can only be imaginative. The mind and not the eye takes
charge, and it was on the creation of imaginative space and movement that Baroque art
depended9 It was technically based on illusion and the newly founded art of the theatre 9
[A]n awareness that man was now only a part of a swirling compex that embraced rocks and
water as well as the heavens, established the idea that an object was not an object in itself but
related to others in an infinite chain. All these objects, and not man alone, now inspired his
design (Jellicoe and Jellicoe, 1975, p. 165).
The style of this transition period - termed Mannerism - often incorporated such
romantic artificialities as rocky cliffs, grottoes, sculptured giants, and secret
fountains in a ground design that continued the basic geometry of the Renaissance.
'With the Baroque, the garden finally became theatrical, designed for unfolding
drama in which people were players rather than philosophers' (Ibid.). The prime
examples of Baroque design of space are to be found in the countryside beyond the
constraints imposed by urban planning; the culmination of this style was the Villa
Gameraia at Settignano (c. 1610). The freedom of choice of site in the countryside
gave inspiration to originality of design. The site usually determined the maior axis
of the composition, with such elements as hills and watercourses being blended into
the overall design. Many of the ideas of future town planning arose from this
experimental use of land. For example, the Villa Dona dalle Rose at Valzanzibio in
Venetia is a model for a small town, with co-ordinated open and closed spaces; its
main axis is determined by the shape of the hills rather than the location of the
house.

The French heritage

Although reliant on the form of the physical environment, Italian Baroque design
was still violently individual. In contrast, there was a tendency in France towards
the total organization of space which made the individual building or open space
 134 P.F. Wilkinson
subservient to the whole. This concept of ordered-assembly transformed Paris and
inspired town planning until the 20th century. While the present-day pattern of
Paris within the limits of the 1845 fortifications is largely the result of 19th century
restructuring, Renaissance urban development in Paris was highlighted by the
creation of isolated parts of the city. The most important examples of this work are
the five royal 'statue' squares: Henri IV outside the Place Dauphine; Louis XIII
within the contemporary Place Royale (later renamed Place des Vosges); Louis XIV
in both the Place des Victoires and the Place Vend6me; and Louis XV in the Place
Louis XV (Place de la Concorde) (Morris, 1972). These residential squares were
highlighted by uniform facades of multi-storey houses surrounding an ordered
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central space. There was, however, little relation between these carefully designed
squares and the uncoordinated surrounding urban structure; they were designed to
be spatial 'islands' in otherwise uncontrolled growth contexts.
In contrast was Cardinal Richelieu's decision in 1620 to create perhaps the first
domestic landscape design to encompass a whole new town, which he named after
himself. Having converted a small mediaeval chateau into a vast new palace, he
created a new town to accommodate his enormous staff and all his guests and their
servants. While the palace has long since disappeared, the town of Richelieu
remains today much as it was then, a clear illustration of Renaissance planning
principles: a small rectangular town, some 600 metres in length and 400 metres in
width, with a north-south main street having a place about 100 metres square at
either end, and a wall and moat surrounding the town serving an aesthetic rather
than military function.
There was, however, no daring innovation in space design until Andr~ Le N6tre
(1613-1700) created the chateau of Vaux-le-Vicomte for Nicholas Fouquet, Louis
XIV's finance minister. It was here that Le N6tre began to revolutionize French
garden design, abolishing the idea of compartments and substituting that of space
organized as a whole. Jellicoe and Jellicoe (1975, p. 179) describe his principles of
composition in detail; important features include a focus on topography, clipped
hedges, water reflection, avenues leading outwards, scale expanding as it receded
from the house, the use of sculpture and gardens to provide rhythm and to
punctuate space, illusionist devices, surprise and contrast, and larger-than-life steps
and stairways. Le N6tre's most important contribution to design was the concept
that landscape should be greater, more heroic, than the buildings that it encom-
passes.
The concept of comprehensive landscape planning, apparent at Richelieu, was
fully realised in the gardens, palace, and town of Versailles, which came to
symbolize the power of a united nation. It is not known for certain who was
responsible for the structure of the town, but it is likely that Le N6tre was
significantly involved at some early stage (Morris, 1972). It is unfortunate that a
late change in the shape of the palace proved harmful to the concept of chateau,
town, and gardens as a single unit of landscape architecture.
The English heritage
Renaissance English urbanism. Ideas from Italy percolated to all parts of Europe
and were not superceded by those of France much before the end of the 17th
century. With few exceptions, designers and interpreters in the rest of Europe did
 The historical roots of urban open space planning 135
not experience the philosophic torments that had created the Renaissance and the
Baroque in Italy. The arts of this period, therefore, are 'a compromise between the
Italian and the indigenous, and have more charm than quality and more inventive-
ness than scholarship' (Jellicoe and Jellicoe 1975, p. 193). In terms of quantity, the
most prolific landscape design was in insular England, where the generally stable
political climate favoured new development.
Inigo Jones (1573-1652), the first English architect to understand thoroughly
the principles of Renaissance design, was the originator of Renaissance urbanism in
England. As Surveyor to the King for both James I and Charles I, Jones prepared
plans for Covent Garden with its piazza (modelled after the Place Royale in Paris)
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surrounded by fashionable residences and for the tree-lined walks of Lincolns Inn
Fields. Jones was also involved in the design of Great Queen Street, which is
generally regarded as the first regular street in London, and was to serve as the
pattern for the integrated architectural design approach of the succeeding two
centuries.
One of the major impacts of the Plague of 1665 and the Great Fire of 1666 was
the impetus given to the nobility and other wealthy families to leave the City of
London and to move to new houses in the country immediately to the west. The
result was the London square, with its character of unity surrounded by dignified
houses with a common facade. There were three clear principles behind the
development of the squares: an aristocratic lead, that is, the presence of the
landowner's house in his square; a complete unit of development, comprising
square, secondary streets, markets, and perhaps church; and the speculative
builder, operating as a middleman and building the houses (Summerson, 1970).
The squares and their surrounding streets were given extremely simple lay-outs,
invariably based on a gridiron pattern. Among the most important of these squares
were Bloomsbury Square, St. James's Square, Soho Square, Red Lion Square, and
the Mayfair squares. Generally, these squares were private property and were not
opened for public use until the late-19th century.
In contrast to their present character with trees, gardens, statues, and fountains,
the squares of 17th and 18th century London were not landscaped, but were open
in character, usually consisting of a grassed area crossed by walking paths. Most of
the squares suffered redesign in the nostalgic period of the late 18th century and
early 19th century. Today, some of them (for example, Russell Square) reflect a new
contemporary design scheme, while others (for example, Leicester Square, Victoria
Square) retain the design of the nostalgic era. Undoubtedly, Grosvenor, Leicester,
and Bloomsbury Squares of 18th century London influenced the development of
the systematic green squares of Savannah and Philadelphia, thereby becoming the
forerunners of the American Park Movement.

The great estates. Slightly farther out from the city were the great estates - private
gardens developed by powerful aristocrats, with large houses, great hunting parks,
and wooded retreats - the original purpose for which was escape from the noise and
filth of the growing cities. Indeed, the early meaning of 'park' was 'a large
ornamental piece of ground, usually comprising woodland and pasture, attached to
or surrounding a country house or mansion, and used for recreation, and often for
keeping deer, cattle, or sheep' (Murray, 1909, p. 481). These anti-urban royal
 136 P.F. Wilkinson
reserves would become the great public parks of the 19th century. Urban expansion
eventually brought them into the urban picture and the advent of broadly-based
democratic institutions (and high inheritance taxes) made them, at last, available to
public use.
The design concept itself proved to be the most significant characteristic of the
great estate. The traditional English love for the natural landscape had forestalled a
general acceptance of the Italian Renaissance garden, resulting in attempts during
the early 18th century to experiment with 'naturalising'. Influenced by religion,
oriental philosophy, music, poetry, and Romantic landscape painting, this frenetic
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period of exploration could be called the 'foolish age of landscape design'.

Designers indulged in all sorts of theatrics: artificial volcanoes, wild animal
preserves, the staging of idyllic scenes from the Orient and Greek mythology, and
the construction of Roman 'ruins' and dripping grottoes. Examples of such designs
include William Kent's Chiswick House, Middlesex (1731), Charles Bridgeman
and William Kent's Stowe, Buckinghamshire (1738), Henry Hoare's Stourhead
(1740-60), and Charles Hamilton's Painshill, Surrey (1738-71).
Eventually, the master of the style arrived in the person of Lancelot Brown.
Called 'Capability' by his detractors, Brown swept the English estates clear of their
Italian and later romantic design schemes. The issue was one of content versus
form. Brown was preoccupied with form: employing an heroic and impersonal
scale, he would adapt a standard system of design to each site, requiring only water
that could be made to appear to be an endless river, and rolling land. Sitting in an
idyllic sun-and-cloud landscape of infinite size filled With a vast number of planted
trees, the mansion was placed so that nothing utilitarian could be seen from it.
Perhaps the best known of Brown's work was the transformation of Blenheim
Palace, Oxfordshire, from a noble classical landscape to a romantic one, so
consistant with the changing romantic taste for the sublime in nature (Cosgrove,
1984).
Most of England's old established parks are former estates from this era.
Examples in London include Richmond, St. James's, Kensington-Hyde, Green,
Greenwich, and Bushey Parks, all of which were royal hunting grounds turned into
garden estates. For this reason, they are 'mostly unrelated forests of escape- a place
to hide from the ills of the city life for those who, because of reasons of livelihood,
are forced to live there' (French, 1973, p. 21). It should be noted, however, that
while the public had enjoyed access to the Royal Parks for some time (for example,
Hyde Park was opened to the public by Charles I in about 1635 (Chadwick,
1966) ), most of these private parks were opened to the public on a scheduled basis
(for example, every Sunday, or two or three days per month), and were closed to the
public at other times. Admission fees were charged (Theobald, 1984).
Regent's Park is an example of a great estate which is becoming a public park.
Designed by John Nash for the Prince Regent (later George IV) as an estate (for
which the planned palace was never built), the park was framed by handsome
terrace houses of classic design, with magnificent views across the park. While not
yet a public park, this was a new concept in estate design, one which can be seen in
many present-day developments (for example, the apartment buildings surround-
ing New York's Central Park (French, 1973) ). Nash's plan stands as a milestone in
the effort to produce an environment built on the economics of small-house (as
 The historical roots of urban open space planning 137
opposed to great estate) ownership, while allowing at the same time a relationship
with nature previously associated with the country houses of the aristocracy
(Bacon, 1967).
Brown brought a maturity to the style which was soon to have an influence
throughout the continent, as well as North America. For example, at the specific
request of Napoleon III, who had long admired English landscape design (particu-
larly London's Hyde Park), Baron Haussmann planned Paris' Bois de Boulogne,
Bois de Vincennes, and Buttes-Chaumont in the style of the jardin anglais s. Today,
the English Natural Style - with its emphasis on form over function - remains the
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dominant design element in most of the traditional urban parks of Europe and
North America. This dominance remains primarily because of the adaptability of
the style to large areas and its lingering influence on estate design at the time of the
Industrial Revolution in the 19th century.

The mid 19th century. At the turn of the 19th century, English towns were
relatively healthy; in fact, the death rate had been dropping for some time. There
were gardens and some large quasi-public open spaces, such as market places,
fairgrounds, enclosure lands, and commons. Indeed, the commons - the origin of
many large urban parks formally founded in the late 19th century (Morrison and
Huff, 1937) - were often quite large. Examples include the Port Meadow (140 ha)
in Oxford, the Town Moor (400 ha) in Newcastle, and the Common (95 ha) in
Southampton. Most of these spaces, however, Were not available for public use; the
'open' country was within walking distance of the built-up town areas. With the
development of industry, great numbers of workers migrated from the countryside;
population density increased; the lower class became an increasing proportion of
the rapidly-expanding urban population; industrial conditions deteriorated in
terms of human health, as did living conditions; and the death rate began to
increase sharply 6.
A direct result of these deteriorating conditions was the Health in Towns
Movement, so closely associated with the work of Sir Edwin Chadwick, who in the
Report from the Select Committee on Public Walks, stated that
It cannot be necessary to point how requisite some Public Walks or Open Space in the
neighbourhood of large Towns must be t o . . . the Working Classes... [I]t must be evident
that it is of the first importance to their health on their day of rest to enjoy the fresh air, and
to be able (exempt from the dust and dirt of the public thoroughfares) to walk out in decent
comfort with their families... (cited in Patmore, 1972, p. 18)
It was perhaps typical of the Victorian era to treat symptoms rather than causes and
to rely heavily on private philanthropy for such relief. Nevertheless, many urban
parks were created where the perceived need for such space was the greatest. The
first park to result directly from this demand was Derby Arboretum, laid out in
1839 by John C. Loudon, at the bequest of industrialist Joseph Stroud; it was the
first park to be specifically designed for and owned by the public (Theobald, 1984).
On a larger scale was the effort of Liverpool, which created the great ring of Stanley,
Newsham, Sheil, and Sefton Parks in the period of 1864-74.
Conversely, the commons were often victims of the building boom caused by the
Industrial Revolution. For example, in 1799, Birmingham's last acres of heath were
 138 P.F. Wilkinson
enclosed (Hoskins and Stamp, 1963). In the 1820s, a battle began to enclose
London's Hampstead Heath for building, a bitter legal fray which lasted over 40
years. It resulted in the earliest amenity preservation society, the Commons, Open
Spaces and Footpaths Preservation Society (1856), which finally purchased the
rights to the Heath in 1868. Similar conservation efforts took place in other cities,
with the preserved extensive commons often limiting urban growth and the spread
of slums (for example Nottingham).
French (1973) proposes an interesting theory about the effect of the ills of urban
life of the Industrial Revolution on the nature of English urban parks systems. He
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suggests that the profusion of parks and green spaces in English cities is not so much
good urban organization and balance as retreat from civic ills; this highlights the
proposition that no attempt to improve a city's park system - in either quantity or
quality - can of itself alone hope to overcome or even balance a city's negative
character.
The recognition of the ills of the industrial city was slow to come, but gradually
many of the royal estates were opened for public use as a result of social pressure. In
1843, Joseph Paxton (1803-65) was commissioned by the Birkenhead Improve-
ment Commissioners to lay out Birkenhead Park as a combined project of suburb
and open space, the first park to be created by an Act of Parliament and with public
funds, and to be owned by the public (Chadwick, 1966). Because there was no
mansion and, therefore, no focal point, the perspectives were random and the drive
peripheral. Although the landscape was basically traditional, the waterscapes
suggest new influences from Japan. This park began the move to create public parks
in industrial towns. It was also the beginning of a transition from walks and vistas
designed solely for 'promenading' to the inclusion of areas reserved for the playing
of games.
Hampstead Heath, overlooking London, is a prime example of a Victorian park;
it is apparently indigenous and wild, affording the common citizen a brief contact
with nature that may be either active or contemplative, or both. This return to
nature as a retreat from Victorian sophistication was initiated by the growing
middle classes and expressed itself in the search for the English rural scene. In terms
of town planning, the effect of this change first appeared in the Bedford Park Estate,
Chiswick, laid out in the 1870s as a village community. Focussed on a core
consisting of a railroad station, inn, and church faced by a large green, this small
community was the predecessor of the garden city - a concept later popularized by
Ebenezer Howard.
Despite a changing attitude towards the design of parks, the active use of 'public'
parks was still severely restricted by municipal by-laws (for example, restrictions on
times of use and activities) and certain design elements (for example, fences, gates)
which were unsympathetic to the needs and desires of potential users. The presence
in many present-day parks of 'Do not walk on the grass' signs attests to the
longevity of such attitudes.

The early American experience

The history of urban open space in the US can be traced back to the designation of
the Boston Commons in 1634 and to the Great Ponds Act of 1641 which gave this
 The historical roots of urban open space planning 139
area protection from further encroachment (Olmsted and Kimball, 1928, Volume
II). Under this same act, 36,000 ha of natural bodies of water were set aside by the
Massachusetts Bay Colony for fishing and waterfowl hunting (Brockman, 1959;
Evison, 1930; Jubenville, 1976). Despite this interest in setting aside open space,
the Puritans who first settled the American colonies disapproved of sports, games,
and many forms of amusement (Neumeyer and Neumeyer, 1958). In contrast to
their sanctions against these forms of recreation, they devoted much time to
husking bees, tavern sports, hunting, fishing, and country fairs (Gold, 1973).
The first example of long-range planning of urban open space occurred in
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Philadelphia. Designed by Pennsylvania Colony founder, William Penn, and his

Surveyor-General, Thomas Holme, the new town was described in an advertising
brochure in 1683 as follows;
In the centre of the city is a square of ten acres; at each angle are to be houses for Public
Affairs, as a Meeting, Assembly or State House, Market-House, and several other buildings
for Public Concerns. There are also in each quarter of the city eight acres, to be for the like
uses, as the Moorefields [sic] in London . .. (Morris, 1972, p. 223)
The reference to Moorfields is of great importance, as this open space was available
to all, rather than only to those people actually living on the square; it had been
donated to the City of London in 1605 for 'the use and enjoyment of citizens'
(Theobald, 1984, p. 191).
Despite the fact that the master plan provided for civic buildings around a centre
square, it was not until well into the 19th century that the city had expanded so far.
A new city hall was completed on the square in 1890, heralding the shift of
commercial interest away from the Delaware riverfront and focussing it on the
centre square (Morris, 1972).
The notion of the square as the focal point for urban development reached its
zenith in James Oglethorpe's plans for the town of Savannah, Georgia, founded in
1733 (Anderson, 1978). Rather than the infinitely extensible grid pattern adopted
later by many American towns, Savannah was laid out on the basis of infinite
cellular units. Each unit, called a ward, contained 40 house plots and had an
identical layout; four groups each of ten house plots and four plots reserved for
public buildings enclosed a public square. The route structure which organized the
cells into an urban entity clearly differentiated between types of traffic, with
through-traffic being limited to the streets between the wards (Morris, 1972). In the
latter half of the 19th century, population growth necessitated a design restructur-
ing of the city, involving emphasis on a central street linking a new city hall on the
waterfront with a large new park at the southern end.
This is one of the clearest examples of city growth by design, and of a restructuring
following a period of growth by accretion, a design extension consisting integrally of land
planning and architecture . . .
The visual effect of looking down lines of squares is exciting and constantly different,
each square having its own special character and those in the central axis being strongly
marked by monuments . .. Because there are squares in all directions, a sense of being
within a complete organism is created, a kind of simultaneity that is most satisfying. When
one is within any of these squares one feels entirely removed from the rushing traffic of the
surrounding streets, which crosses, but does not parallel the lines of sight. (Bacon, 1967,
p. 207).
 140 P.F. Wilkinson
It is difficult to trace the source of Oglethorpe's inspiration for such an elegant
plan, but the parallels with the squares of London are obvious. Morris (1972)
suggests that there is a great deal of similarity between Savannah and the grid
pattern suggested by Richard Newcourt (but not adopted) for the reconstruction of
London after the Great Fire of 1666. Bannister (1961) argues that Renaissance
ideal city planning was the most probable source of the Savannah plan, in particular
a design of 1598 by Robert Barret. Bacon (1967) takes a similar approach and cites
a plan by Pietro di Giacomo Cataneo included in his L'Architettura, published in
Venice in 1567. In contrast, Cheney (1933) describes a Spanish edict of 1753
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requiring the Spanish colonies in America to furnish a central plaza within each
community, to be oriented towards the prevailing winds and the seas; such colonies
were established in Florida and Georgia during the 16th century and may have
influenced Oglethorpe. Whatever its origins, it is unfortunate that this design did
not have a greater impact on American urban development.
Perhaps the most obvious example of the influence of European open space
design lies in Pierre L'Enfant's (1754-1825) plan for the federal capital of Washing-
ton, DC. L'Enfant was born in Paris and spent his childhood in and around the
palace and park of Versailles. Influenced by the monumental grandeur of Versailles
and by a desire to create a focal point by joining the city and Potomac River, thus
placing the new city in common with other great water-oriented cities (for example,
Venice, Florence, St Petersburg), he sought to create a grand vista based on a
right-angled triangle with the President's House (not called 'The White House' until
after it had been re-painted following partial burning as a result of a raid by the
British during the War of 1812), the Capitol, and a square (in which the Washing-
ton Memorial is now located). Linking these nodes are the wide green lawns of the
Mall, the lawns in front of the President's House, and the broad expanse of
Pennsylvania Avenue.
L'Enfant's plan called for 15 squares (each to be developed by one of the then 15
states), a grand cascade, a public walk, grand avenue, and a President's park. Many
of these features, however, were forgotten and it was not until 1900 that the plan
was rescued and given new life (Doell and Twardzik, 1973). While the harmony of
the original grand design has been altered by later planners (notably the MacMillan
Commission of 1902), the genius of L'Enfant remains evident in this, the first
fully-planned national capital. One need only examine other modern-day new
capitals to see its effects, for example, Brasillia and Canberra (Epstein, 1973;
Evenson, 1973; Staubli, 1965).
Despite the imagination displayed in the plan for Washington, DC, most
American cities were built on a grid pattern. Rarely, however, was the elegance of
Savannah or Philadelphia copied. Heckscher (1977) suggests that the almost
universal adoption of the grid pattern was consistent with the American personality
which preferred spatial openness, because one could stand at almost any point
within a town and look outward to fields and woods.
There was, however, a lack of functional open space in most American towns of
the 19th century. As these towns grew, and as more people were at greater distances
from the countryside, greater use was made of incidental open spaces designed for
other purposes. One interesting example is that of the cemetery. The first secular
cemetery, created for sanitary reasons in Paris in 1804, was designed in imitation of
 The historical roots of urban open space planning 141
a sculpture garden created in 1795 by Alexandre Lenoir in Paris. The intent of the
sculpture garden, later opened to the public, was to recall the abode, in ancient
days, of the shades of great men. Its atmosphere was designed to evoke reverie and
induce meditation on the past (Holt, 1966). Secular cemeteries soon became, in
practice, public parks for promenading and picnicking. In the US, Mount Auburn
Cemetery in Cambridge, Massachusetts, was an early example (Runyon, 1977). On
a larger scale, Montreal's Mount Royal Cemetery served this recreational function
until the end of the 19th century (Jacobs, 1977).
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Conclusion
It can be seen, therefore, that the elements of urban open space used today by urban
planners have historical antecedents, an examination of which leads to lessons
about their origins, design concepts, and degree of integration with the evolution of
cities. Given the historical roots of urban open space and its impact on shaping the
form of Western cities, it appears to be incumbent upon urban open space planners
to consider seriously, within this historical context, how open space can be used to
create urban environments that are both more multi-functional while being more
inhabitable. Some might argue that this is the task of the private-sector developer,
but Vaughan (1974) concludes that the determination of the quality and quantity of
open space to be supplied in urban areas must be determined by land-use planners,
as the provision of open space has been removed for the most part from the market.
Nor can this responsibility be left solely to the political process, given the short
time-frame - in terms of looking into both the past and the future - within which
the politician usually operates.
One can hope that Riesman's (1950) argument that planners are well-suited to
this task is applicable today;
City planners comprise perhaps the most important professional group to become reason-
ably weary of the cultural definitions that are systematically trotted out to rationalize the
inadequacies of city life today, for the well-to-do as well as the poor. With their imagination,
and bounteous approach they have become to some extent the guardians of our liberal and
progressive political tradition. In their best work, we see expressed in physical form a view of
life which is not narrowly job minded. It is a view of the city as a setting for leisure and
amenity as well as for work. (p. 348)
In this sense, the urban planner becomes one of Riesman's (1950) 'avocational
counselors', charged with 'filtering a variety of tastes, inclinations, social schemes
and leisure into all that is a city from a physical and social point of view' (p. 341-2).
This is not meant to imply that planners should impose their values on the city;
rather, it suggests that it is their duty to present alternatives which others - both the
public and the decision-makers - can consider, approve, modify or reject (Gold,
1973). As argued above, an appreciation of the historical origins of urban open
space might lead planners to be aware of, and to consider, a broader and more
dynamic set of alternatives.

Acknowledgements
The author would like to thank the editor and the anonymous reviewers for their
valuable comments on an earlier draft of this paper.
 142 P.F. Wilkinson
Notes
1 The heritage of the Islamic world will not be dealt with here, despite its great impact on Western
culture in general and open space in particular. The effect of the Moorish sense of design (the pinnacle
of which can be found in the fortress of the Alhambra in Granada) on the European Renaissance and
of Moghul India (as best exemplified by the elegance and refinement of the domed mosque and
geometric gardens of the Taj Mahal and of the pleasure garden of water at Shalamar Bagh in the Vale
of Kashmir, both created by the Shah Jahan) on European landscapes in the Romantic period, merit
specific attention.
2 As a postscript, French (1973) notes that under the Roman occupation the Athenian agora suffered a
fate now old and familiar in the annals of city planning:
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It was cut up, filled in, structured and framed until no flexibility or significantly large space
remained. Its center was littered with statuary, a huge theatre, temples and other such bric-a-brac
which forever plague urban open spaces. Thus from the example of the Athenian agora, western
culture is left two legacies- one positive and one negative - in connection with the development and
maintenance of open space in cities. A lesson to those who would design, maintain, administrate or
enjoy city parks and squares: Remember the agora concept - keep the Romans out! (p. 9)
3 Detailed analysis of the Renaissance is provided in a number of excellent texts, e.g., Argan (1969),
Bacon (1967), Cosgrove (1984), Jellicoe and Jellicoe (1975), Lavedan (1952), Morris (1972),
Mumford (1961), Tunnard (1953), Zucker (1959).
4 Though never a genuine public park, Place des Vosges should be recognised as a truly ingenious
concept, some 200 years prior to Nash's breakthrough at Regent's Park. It is the original model for the
many semi-private or key parks throughout London, Boston, and New York. Like the residential
squares of 18th century London - some of which still exist- only the immediate residents had access
to its locked grounds.

5 For histories of Haussmann's design of Paris, see Choay (1969), Giedion (1949), and Vidler (1978).
6 For example, the death rate per 1000 in Bristol, Birmingham, Leeds, Liverpool, and Manchester
increased from 20.7 in 1831 to 30.8 in 1841 (Patmore, 1972, p. 18).

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