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Daniel Burnham. Ebenezer Howard. Fredrick Olmstead.
You might not know the names, but to Kevin McCambley, in his first year of the Community and Regional Planning program, they are a lot like the founding fathers.
“I’ve been working on a 10-page paper about urban planning for Introduction to Community and Regional Planning, about how the first cities started, why they are like they are, and what the different types are like,” Kevin said. “Cities in America began in the early 1900’s. Daniel Burnham developed a plan for Chicago that involved green space, boulevards, large streets, and a civic center — a lot of cities took that idea and worked with it. Philadelphia was a different type of design; a grid structure with four squares.”
Enter Ebenezer Howard, who wanted to develop a “garden city,” a decentralized city broken up into smaller, self-sufficient towns.
“One or two were implemented through the ‘City Beautiful’ movement. It’s an idea that really didn’t take off to full effect because of the large scale implications and the money involved,” Kevin said. “At that time, everyone wanted centralization.”
Today we see more of a combination of “centralized business in the city that is spreading out to suburban regions,” Kevin added.
“I think urban renewal in general is very interesting — how people tried to make cities and how they turned out today,” he said. “I like the idea of green space, but on a large scale I don’t think it’s going to happen in today’s cities.”
Kevin’s History of Community and Regional Planning class continues to mesh nicely with the introductory course. Burnham and Howard get their due recognition along with the likes of Frederick Olmstead (Sr. and Jr.) and Frank Lloyd Wright.
“Planning as a profession really started in 1909 and there were several different views as how to approach it. Fredrick Olmstead Sr. supported the City Beautiful concept, big plans that proposed to do it all,” he said. “Olmstead Jr. had a different view. He felt a better method was having a bunch of planners work incrementally to get little jobs done.”
Meanwhile, Frank Lloyd Wright conceived of a community with one-acre lots for each house and big roads to connect them. It didn’t quite pan out, however.
“It took away social interaction and social values,” Kevin said. “You’d go into your garage and go inside. You’d never see your neighbors.”
In Modern European History the focus is less on social interaction and more on global affairs, through the course does personalize such earth-changing events as the American Revolution with readings from historical documents by individuals who experienced the events firsthand.
“We recently had our mid-term and I think I did pretty well,” Kevin said. “The exam focused on the American Revolution, the French Revolution, the Napoleonic era, and the Industrial Revolution.”
In the Natural and the Built Environment, the class has gotten out of the classroom for some firsthand experience with the subject matter.
“We took a field trip to the Cobbs Creek Community Environmental Education Center in west Philadelphia to study creek, stream, and vegetation restoration,” he said. “Instead of talking about it, we were able to see things firsthand. They were working on the restoration of a stream, which we were able to walk along and explore and learn about exactly what they were doing.”
Kevin saw up close the effects of water runoff to the stream and the surrounding property.
“I had never thought about it before — where the water comes from and where it goes to. There has been a lot of flooding this year; an increased amount of impermeable surfaces has only added to it,” he said. “Stream and creek restoration is expensive, but in the long run you are saving money by preventing flood damage to area homes and the impact it has on people’s lives.”
As a planner, water resources management is an integral part of an overall concept.
“You cannot develop a plan and not take into account water runoff,” Kevin said. “You have to know where it is going to go and how it will affect the surrounding area.”
Microeconomics has been focusing on similar “externalities,” he added.
“We’ve been studying supply and demand. Part of that is dealing with externalities,” he said. “For example, a paper company needs a certain chemical to make its product but that chemical will prove harmful to a local stream and in turn the surrounding community. You need to determine the best way to decrease those externalities.”
Speaking of external possibilities, Kevin is also planning to take part in the Ambler campus Extern Program, which is offered through Career Services. The Extern Program, similar in nature to an internship, offers students a combination of work experience and college credits. The program is comprised of a 2- to 3-credit course in which students work at an actual business related to their major for two weeks during the winter break.
“I like the idea of the hands-on experience involved. I want to see what a planner does on a typical day,” he said. “I think it will help me better understand what I’m getting into.”
After spending a year in Temple’s Architecture program, Kevin is convinced he made the right switch for his future.
“I know this is what I want to do with my life. I love going to class each day,” he said. “If anyone doesn’t like their major — sometimes it’s difficult to pick what you are going to do with the rest of your life the first time around — they shouldn’t be afraid to change it. I thought it was going to be too much work to make the switch, but it really wasn’t and it’s allowed me to get into a wide open career field.”
Life, of late, for Kevin has been pretty much “school and work and homework” — wash, rinse, and repeat. That may be changing, however.
“Right now I’m completely focused on school, but I do a lot of skiing in the winter,” he said. “Maybe I should form a ski club on campus. That doesn’t sound like a bad idea.”
This is the second part of an “A Year in the Life” series featuring Kevin McCambley. Kevin, who lives in Horsham, began his first year in the Community and Regional Planning program at Temple University Ambler in 2005.
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