GRASSY MOUNTAIN DEVELOPMENTLittle Switzerland, North CarolinaArchitect: Sappenfield-Wiegman-Hall, Associates, Asheville, N. C.;Owner: Stephens Development Co., Inc., Little Switzerland, N. C.;General Contractor: Bell Construction Co., Little Switzerland, N. C.;Photographer: Paul Brezny.@CA LCJIL fL@R PLA{NC'FITH CAFIC'LINA AFICHTTECT
NEW TOWNS IN U. S. AND EUROPEFran P. HoskenMrs. Hosken, an architect as well as a writer, has done articles for anumber of American magazines and newspapers. she is the authorof rhe Language of cities, published by The Macmiilan co.Perhaps "New Towns" is not theright definition because many ofthe urban developments we areconcerned with here are not selfsufficient.Some are planned toeventually be on their own interms of giving employment tomost of their inhabitants in theirown industrial parks. But otherswill always largely remain bedroomtowns providing housingand a pleasant family life, educationand recreation in a wellplanned environment; while jobs,at least for the head of the household,are sought in the city. Weare not really concerned withdefinitions but with broad solutionsto the universal problem ofhousing for the growing urbanmillions.This summer on a trip acrossEurope and especially throughthe cities of Northern Europe,Stockholm, Oslo, Copenhager,Helsinki, Amsterdam, Glasgow,and London, to mention the highpoints, I tried to get a general, ifby necessity somewhat superficial,impression of what has beenbuilt in the last 20 years or sincethe end of the war.lf one could summarize-somethingthat is not really practicaldue to the great variety of countriesand political systems involved,also war destruction versusplain obsolescence- thiscould be said: In city after city Iwas amazed and at times overwhelmedwith the quantity andalso quality of the new housingand new communities that havebeen built on their periphery.In the US by comparison we notonly have been standing still, butour whole approach indeedthe physical results show it pitifully-is an inadequate, halfheartedattempt at superficiallypretending to pay lip service toas serious a domestic problemas any growing nation must face.Because in the last 20 years,while the US market economyhas had its way in our cities,many European countries haveseriously and at great sacrificeto themselves (the taxes are veryhigh indeed) successfully tackledthe housing, living, education,and health problems for the majorityof their populations.From Oslo this quotation fromMr. Eric Rolfson, the chief cityplanner of Olso (a city of 500,000in a country of four million): "Afterthe war and there wasconsiderable destruction as weresisted the Germans before wewere overrun and occupiedwe considered many importantalternatives how to spend ourlimited resources. We finally decidedthat housing should begiven the first priority because itwas fundamental to the welfareof our own people."But Norway is not alone in thisphilosophy. Certainly the developmentof all kinds of satellitetowns and housing -or whateveryou wish to call it- aroundStockholm is well known. Thedelightful town and shoppingcenters such as Vallingby andFarsta by now are meaningful tomost planners and architects.Here a quotation by Mr. AlbertAronson, the manager of themunicipal housing companySvensky Bostader, which hasplanned and built and now administersthe Vallingby CommunityCentre: "But when will Vallingbybe quite finished? Never!if the underlying idea proves- right and if Vallingby comes upto our greatest expectations. Noliving town will ever be finished.The richer the life at Vallingby,the greater the need of neverceasingdevelopment, enlargementand expansion."The great variety of all differentkinds and types of housing andthe quantity of differently designedcenters, the many kindsof schools and educational facilities,indeed the many new experimentsin ways of living, isseldom discussed. Especiallyaround Stockholm, I was impressedwith their great richnessand variety; indeed it seems thatevery taste could be satisfiedhere and all at prices thatAPFu L .te69 1n