Sticks and Stones · Question
How does Sticks and Stones develop the theme of Human Scale and Organic Urban Planning?
Answer
Sticks and Stones by Lewis Mumford develops Human Scale and Organic Urban Planning across the chapters the companion marks for this theme.
The book advocates for limited, human-scaled communities—like the Puritan village or the garden city—where planning serves social and civic life, in contrast to the chaotic, congested growth of the modern metropolis driven by land speculation.
The chapter emphasizes the organic, functional layout of New England villages, contrasting it with the speculative gridiron plan of Manhattan and advocating for community-scaled growth.
The chapter describes how village irregularities often derived from practical considerations like wind protection, solar exposure, and views, illustrating an organic, human-scaled approach to planning.
The John Ward house is described as having a quality of growth rather than formal design, with additions responding to family needs, creating a dynamic, human-scaled streetscape reminiscent of medieval European towns.
Evidence in the book
- I: The Medieval Tradition
The chapter emphasizes the organic, functional layout of New England villages, contrasting it with the speculative gridiron plan of Manhattan and advocating for community-scaled growth.
- II
The chapter describes how village irregularities often derived from practical considerations like wind protection, solar exposure, and views, illustrating an organic, human-scaled approach to planning.
- Chapter III: Regional Planning and the Reclamation of the Land
The John Ward house is described as having a quality of growth rather than formal design, with additions responding to family needs, creating a dynamic, human-scaled streetscape reminiscent of medieval European towns.
- Industry and the Machine
The village layout—with a central common, tree-lined roads, and houses at regular intervals—demonstrates organic planning on a human scale, later echoed in garden city concepts.
- The Heritage of the Renaissance
The chapter contrasts the organic, locally adapted vernacular architecture with the imposition of a single canon of taste from the Renaissance.
- Chapter III: Regional Planning and the Reclamation of the Land
The description of white colonial farmhouses as part of the landscape, with proportions and plan close to tradition, reflects an organic, human-scaled architecture that harmonizes with its surroundings.
- The Classical Myth
Critiques L'Enfant's formal plan for Washington as abstract and lacking control over domestic and economic functions, contrasting with organic urban development.
- Industry and the Machine
L'Enfant's formal plan for Washington provided monumental order but failed to control domestic and commercial development, leading to the abstract gridiron plan that prioritized exploitation over human scale.
