There is an enormous source for delving into historic truths called the Prelinger Archives (www.archive.org). This is a wonderful resource to use to discover movie clips from various industries going back to 1903! These videos address every imaginable industry and are free to use.
All the books and articles about density and traffic are written by planners and experts that did not live back then, so much of their logic is based upon conjecture. What if we were to go back in time and hear directly from the expert who actually lived back then?
Here are a few of my favorites:
After a four minute introduction this video explains the real reason for dense cities (hint: it was not for affordability): The Dynamic American City (1956).
Another interesting and eye opening video was created in 1957, 62 years ago. It talks about City Planning. We shortened the video to just one minute to make some key points: (click here to view):
- The City Planning process is identical today as it was back then;
- The plans and renderings have remained the same;
- The subdivision layout (10 seconds in) could have been submitted yesterday;
- The homes are not that much different (some new homes actually worse).
A Touch of Magic is a film that was developed by General Motors about the advancements of 1961. We clipped a short section for the home of the future, it’s a fun marketing piece: (click here)
In in 1952 the perfect material was developed for home construction promising a revolution. This shows how a couple back then chose the design of their new suburban home. Have you guessed what this miracle product was? (Click Here to Find Out)
The Prelinger Archive contains a wealth of information from the past that everyone learn from while enjoy searching! For city planning, for the past 70 years stagnation nation is pretty much the way things are – and the way things will remain unless we as an industry change. This is the reason we formed our planning research company, and developed LandMentor – to advance land development and city planning through improving every industry that touches growth.
We hope that these videos will have some impact on your decision making. One thing for sure, if you are reading this newsletter, then you are a decision maker in the process of growth – you can be at the forefront of change.
Will you be proactive for change, or will those in 50 years from now look at today’s planning process and design models to discover nothing changes!
Presenting at the UTAH 2019 APA CONFERENCE
On October 3rd we will be the opening keynote at the Utah State APA Annual Convention and follow up with an educational workshop. If you are near Salt Lake City between October 3rd and 5th, we will have an exhibit at the conference – please attend and visit us!
For more information about the conference, (Click here).
About LandMentor – this is the first high level – easy to use – precision land surveying based solution created to advance the entire land development industry. The following video demonstrates how easy and powerful it is to use. Because one of its best features (plug & play VR headset support) cannot be demonstrated unless on site – we did not include it. For Land Surveyors – it is the first technology to use positional geometry that will eliminate much of the complexity caused by both CAD and GIS limitations!
For a taste of this advanced system visit: http://www.neighborhoodinnovations.com/landMentorBoothVideoA.mp4
