User:Joshmacfie/Plan of Nashville

The Plan of Nashville was a 2½ year project to develop a community-based vision and design principles for metropolitan Nashville's urban core, the area within the inner interstate highway loop and the neighborhoods adjacent to it. Since 1950, more than 100 individual plans have been proposed for various parts of Nashville.

Details

The Ten Principles

During the visioning process of The Plan of Nashville, consensus emerged regarding ten principles to guide public policy, development practice,urban planning, and design.

• Respect Nashville's natural and built environment.
• Treat the Cumberland River as central to Nashville's identity -- an asset to be treasured and enjoyed.
• Reestablish the streets as the principle public space of community and connectivity.
• Develop a convenient and efficient transportation infrastructure.
• Provide for a comprehensive, interconnected greenway and park system.
• Develop an economically viable downtown district as the heart of the region.
• Raise the quality of the public realm with civic structures and spaces.
• Integrate public art into the design of the city, its buildings, public works and parks.
• Strengthen the unique identity of neighborhoods.
• Infuse visual order into the city by strengthening sight-lines to and from civic landmarks and natural features.

Implementation

Though Burnham died in 1912, Plan of Chicago was promoted by Commercial Club members and the Chicago Plan Commission they persuaded the mayor to appoint. Co-author Edward Bennett, a graduate of the École des Beaux-Arts, advised various public agencies as they constructed the projects recommended by the plan, using a design vocabulary reminiscent of 19th century Paris. Mayor William Hale Thompson, elected in 1915, used Plan of Chicago projects to promote his image as a Chicago booster, and as a rich source of public contracts.

The plan has been criticized for its focus on physical improvements, an attempt to create "Paris on the Prairie." Burnham's handwritten draft of the plan contained extensive discussion of social needs, but the final publication does not. The plan's list of big infrastructure