A "Home-Made" City Planning Exhibit and Its Results

mycity.is CREDITS This article on the “‘Home-Made’ City Planning Exhibit and its results is reproduced in its entirety courtesy of the Caltech Archives for the Pasadena Passages Project (pasadenapassages.org).with generous support of Qrys Cunningham. The 1916 articles about the “My City” Exhibit that follows were researched by John Steven Fode.

More Articles The preceding pages were from Dean Damon’s article in the Throop College Bulletin (less than three years later it changed its name to the

California Institute of Technology). Other journals reprinted the article as well. The following are other articles describing the “My City” process of 1916.

“How to Get Started in City Planning: The Pasadena Way” In 1909, the first National Conference on City Planning was held. In a later publication of the proceedings, it was noted that“the conception of planning as a separate profession was not apparent in the 1909 meeting…it was clear that the delegates were not thinking about forming an organization that would treat city planning as a new profession.”

By 1916, however, that had changed. Opening that year’s conference, Dean George A. Damon presented a paper called “How to Get Started in City Planning the Pasadena Way” He set the tone for the conference theme of helping cities understand the value of planning by introducing the “My City” approach and discussing the value of public participation.

This is the same structure being described in the potential of a revitalized “My City” process, which creates bottomup momentum, recommends and advises beside the work of the Planning Commission, but the ultimate direction is decided by the city’s existing official planning process.

This article marks the first known notice about the City Beautiful Association’s exhibition and participatory process.

This article was published in the Pasadena Star Newspaper on January 8th, 1916. By the time the exhibit opened in February of 1916, it had been named “My City” and it remained open until at least June of 1916, though there are indications that it may have remained up at the Board of Trade longer than June.

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Pasadena Star-News: March 3, 1916

Pasadena Star-News: March 3, 1916

Pasadena Star-News: March 3, 1916

Pasadena Star-News: March 3, 1916

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Pasadena Star-News: March 7, 1916

Pasadena Star-News: March 9, 1916

Pasadena Star-News: March 9, 1916

Pasadena Star-News: March 13, 1916

Pasadena Star-News: March 14, 1916

Pasadena Star-News: March 14, 1916

Pasadena Star-News: March 14, 1916

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