JAMES W. ROUSE & COMPANY, INCORPORATED

INTRA-OFFICE MEMORANDUM

November 4, 1963

TO: Work Group Members

FROM: James W. Rouse

We are delighted to know that you will be with us in Baltimore on November 14-16at our first planning session. I am looking forward to meeting you and to the oppor-tunity to draw on your special wisdom and experience as we commence the planning

of our new community in Howard County.

It would be difficult to overstate the importance of the venture on which we are nowembarked. Seventy million people will be added to our metropolitan areas in thenext 20 years. This growth will have an enormous impact upon American civiliza-

tion. It will transform the cities of our country, as we know them today, and itwill consume millions of acres of farms and forests lying outside the presentlyurbanized metropolitan regions. Not only the physical form of our cities, but thequality of life within them will be determined largely by the imagination, thought-fulness, and skill with which we handle this growth.

There is a growing awareness of the fact that existing tools for planning and zoningare inadequate to channel this growth in a manner that will preserve open spacesand the resources of nature and create beautiful, healthy, well balanced new com-munities. It seems apparent that some new development mechanisms must evolve inorder that planning and development can proceed on a large enough scale and overa large enough area to achieve the standards that are essential to a good environ-ment in our metropolitan areas. The only "mechanism" that has held out any hopeso far has been the existence in a single large tract of enough acreage to permit

large scale development, This is the story of the Irvine Ranch, El Dorado Hills,Reston, and a few others.

Here in Howard County, however, we have blazed an important trail by proving

that a private developer can assemble (in this case in less than nine months) small

land holdings into a total tract large enough to permit comprehensive communityplanning and development. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first time this

route has been attempted on such a scale in the development of the American city.

If it is as successful as we hope it will be, it can give tremendous encouragement to

other developers to pursue this same technique in other metropolitan communities.

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Indispensable to our undertaking this venture has been strong financial support by alarge, fine and imaginative financial institution which has made $19,000,000 avail-able to our Company to complete this purchase program. The success of this venturewill not only strengthen the conviction of this particular institution, but it can alsohave the effect of encouraging other large investors to make funds available to de-velopers for new communities in other sections of the country.

Thus, you see that our success in unfolding this new community can have animportant chain reaction among developers and financial institutions throughout thecountry.

For many years, we have noted the wide gap between the people who are planning,designing, and developing our cities and the people with the knowledge aboutproblems and solutions, hopes and opportunities among people in our urban society.Everywhere, plans proceed out of the ideas and images in the minds of the plannersand developerSo Almost nowhere does planning begin with the needs and yearningsof the people.

It is our purpose to plan out from the real needs of people, as best we can discoverthem, toward the physical form of the community and the institutions which areestablished in it. This course is largely uncharted, because there is very little pre-cedent for what we are attempting, We have no illusions about the difficulties ofrelating such knowledge as does exist about how people live and grow, succeed orfail to the planning and development process. We do not expect to plan the"perfect" community. We simply believe that by starting from people and workingout we may get some new shafts of light that can influence the physical plan and de-velopment decisions. !t is for that purpose that we have solicited your help, and itis to that task that we will bend our efforts with you over the months ahead.

The developer's first responsibility properly ought to be to state his objectives forthe community he is about to plan. Some of you have already said to us that untilthis is done it is not possible to bring your special experience and wisdom to bearon our problem. We understand this and accept the responsibility for defining ourobjectives. However, before doing so, we want to discuss fully with each of youwhat our objectives best might be. We are not trying to shift our responsibility toyou. We will not seek agreement among you. But we know we will be enriched byyour observations and the discussion which will ensue among us. Therefore, themain purpose of our first planning session will be a full discussion of "Our ObjectivesWhat They Ought To Be. "

In this connection, I must confess to some non-agreement within our own staff onthe matter of objectives., We have decided not to attempt to resolve our differences,but to share them with you. To that end, 1 have asked Mort Hoppenfeld to set outwhat he thinks our objectives ought to be in a memorandum, copy of which isattached „

You will also find enclosed a talk which 1 gave last month at a conference at theUniversity of California on metropolitan growth. The preparation of this talk gave

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me the opportunity to pull together some ideas I have nourished for a long, longtime. This paper will also communicate some of the convictions and the biases withwhich I approach the development of a new community.

Also enclosed is a paper by Mart Hoppenfeld, which he has prepared in close associa-tion with Don Michael on "Working frocedures For FVogram Planning, " together withsome background material on the site and the region.

On Friday evening, Mrs. Rouse and I look forward to having you all as our guestsfor dinner, free of any obligations to think or plan, and with no larger purpose thanto have a pleasant evening together.

We are looking forward with great eagerness and enthusiasm to the task ahead, andwe are deeply grateful to you for sharing its burdens with us.

Many thanks and best regards.

Sincerely,

W. Rouse

:btEnclosures

(• (COMMUNITY RSSJ. .:JL'K AL ._, iJSVELOPMEI^T, INC.

iNTRA-CFFsa: MEMORANDUM

November 4, 1963

TO: Work Group\

FROM: Morton Hoppenfeld

Re: General Objectives forCommunity Development(preliminary)

As the developers of this community, we see ourselves in the role of principaldecision maker. We will have to decide what to do and what not to do withour time, money, and energy, since ail are limited. There is a wide range ofreasons for building a community; but unless they are clearly expresss in termsof what we hope to accomplish., our efforts may be wasted. To stimulate discussionon objectives I am listing below a suggested set of objectives toward which thesocio-physical environment might be designed. At this point we recognize thelist to be incomplete - some of the objectives may indeed be in conflict withothers. In the course of our early program planning work, we will revise, aug-ment, and complete this list of working objectives.

The list of objectives has been selected on the basis of our concept of what char-acteristics in the individual or in social groups can be affected by actions takenin the development of this community.

The primary concern is the individual, his growth and development: for each, theopportunity to develop his abilities to the maximum and to put those abilities intopositive use. The community should bo designed to promote health, security,dignity, independence, opportunity, choice, growth, mobility, comfort, stim-ulation, and pleasure.

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Memo to: WorkGroup November 4, 1963

We hold that there may be higher levels of aspirations for individuals in societythan those stated above. Such qualities as honesty, neighborliness, love andgenuine concern for others are clearly Tantamount to our concept of "the goodlife" we wish to promote. I suggest hare that the community objectives followingand those stated above are, in cur society, critical to the achievement of higheraspirations but not sufficient. ' It is further posed that another set of "inputs" isrequired but that they are beyor.d the scope of community development as we candirectly affect* it. We seek to differentiate among them and identify those desir-able objectives which we can anticipate reaching at least in part.

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Social Objectives

1. Community

a. The community should bs so populated that it produces thecross-fertilization of idecs, values, and interests assumedbasic to our democratic, pluralistic society.

b. • There should develop a strong sense of local pride andidentity within the community.

c. There should be a similar recognition of the individual andcommunity relationship to the larger metropolis, the nation,the world.

d. Individual participation should be encouraged at various levelsof community activity.

e. The community should be staged and developed in a way whichwould create an early sense of completeness, and this senseshould pervade over the development period, i.e., "the com-munity is growing end changing but was complete from start,as a child is complete but different from an adult."

~ f . Communication among all sectors and individuals within thecommunity should be maximized.

e. Maximum participation in the arts should be encouraged.

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Memo to: Work Group November 4f 1963

2. Housing

Desirable housing should be provided within the community for indi-viduals and families of all incomes and life styles implied in No. 1above.

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a. There should be opportunity for every individual to com-plete his life cycle within the community and have accessto appropriate housing at each stage.

b. A reasonable choice of dwelling type and location shouldbe maintained within the community. (This implies appro-priate rates of vacancy for all dwelling types and pricebrackets.)

c. "Housing" should be designed to provide for all family needsand aspirations. (This includes those aspects of "housing"environment outside as well as inside the dwelling unit.)

3. Economic Objectives

a. The total development shall produce appropriate profits forthe developer and all private entrepreneurs.

b. The economic base of the community should have a long rangestability.

c. Basic and local industry should be diversified. An optimumratio should be established between industry with high produc-tivity per land area (for taxes and return on investment) andthose industries with large and diverse employment profiles.

d. A sufficient range and number of jobs should be establishedwithin the community to sustain the desired population mixand a good level of economic welfare. To make jobs meaning-ful and, through them, to enhance self-respect. To open upnew work opportunities for those traditionally dispossessed orun- or under-employed.

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Memo to: Work Group November 4, 1963

3. Economic Objectives (cent.)

e. The total community fincncia! system should have long rangestability in order to maintain the level of public programsand facilities initially planned and to properly maintainthem over time.

i4. Political Objectives

a. Political institutions should be established to insure the bestforms of local government anc! democratic processes.

5. Education Objectives

a. Education facilities and programs should be developed toeducate the population in all areas of knowledge and thought.

b. The education system should extend beyond the traditional con-cept of formal classroom work and should extend beyond thetraditional age brackets of 6 to 18 (plus college).

6. Health and Welfare Objectives

a. Health and welfare facilities and programs should emphasizepreventive concepts and maintenance of physical and mentalhealth.

b. The best possible diagnostic and treatment facilities should beavailable to all.

7. Recreation Objectives

a. All of the possible future needs for individual, group, andcommunity recreation should be provided for as appropriateto the community.

b. Opportunity at community level should be emphasized for abroad spectrum of individual interests for personal development.

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Memo to: WorkGroup November 4, 1963

8. Other Objectives

a. The total physical environment should evoke varying but realesthetic responses in all members of the community.

b. The community should be a safe place for children and adults.

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