46 Planning land
wedges(Geddes 1915, Jim and Chen2003)projecting into the metropolitan area,
which result from government planning and policy.
In contrast, the planner, Robert Moses, was the driving force behind a New
York regional plan focused on a parkway system of roads and parks (Hall2002).
Still different, and simplifying a bit, Atlanta (USA) is extensively spread out on
theland, perhaps largely a result of inexpensive oil and little regional plan-
ning (Bullardet al.2000). Chicago’s region results, in part, from the combined
forces of agribusiness spread, little-planned suburban sprawl, much-planned city
sections, and socioeconomic policies (Cronon 1991 ,Hall2002). Unplanned immi-
grant squatter settlements are prominent in the Tegucigalpa (Honduras) and Rio
de Janeiro regions (Perlman 1976 , Main and Williams1994). Small farm fields
and villages cover the London, Hannover (Germany), and Nantes (France) regions,
mainly unplanned by government, but maintained by policies.
Transit-oriented development(TOD) focuses urbanization growth around stations
on commuter-rail lines, an important urban-region planning approach (Cervero
1998, Gomez-Ibanez1999,Ozawa2004,Dittmar and Ohland2004,Handy2005).
Compact mixed-use development, including shopping, multi-unit housing, and
small-lot single-family homes, is connected by convenient walkways within an
800 m (half-mile) radius of the station (e.g., San Diego, Los Angeles, Sydney). Pro-
viding walkable employment opportunities would further enhance a low-vehicle-
use community. Transit-oriented development communities contrast with high-
vehicle-use sprawl areas and ‘‘edge cities” (Garreau 1991 ). Although transit-
oriented development emphasizes development and transportation, it could be
noticeably improved by a focus on greenspaces in the community. This design
capitalizes on the human need for nature (Wilson1984,Kaplanet al.1998, Don-
ahue1999,Hobbsand Miller2002,Kellert2005), and avoids the perception of
suburban living hemmed in by buildings and concrete.
Frederick Law Olmsted’s celebrated late-nineteenth-century Emerald Necklace
planning for Boston was largely along the city’s edge, rather than over its region
(Zaitzevsky 1982, Warner2001). Shortly thereafter Charles Eliot developed plans
foraBoston greenbelt with walking trail well out from the city, a good exam-
ple of regional planning. The greenbelt was not established, one of countless
regional plans that were not implemented. Today a circular walking trail passes
through a handful of large greenspace patches. Regional greenway systems or
networks are being pieced together around San Francisco, Chicago, Minneapo-
lis/St. Paul (USA), and many other cities by coalitions of interests (Ahern2002,
Jongman and Pungetti2004,Erickson2006).
Urban region solutions may emerge from diverse fields (Orr 2002), as the
accomplishments of landscape architect Olmsted emphasize. Thinking big, prac-
tically, and ‘‘outside the box,” he successfully integrated recreation, flood con-
trol, transportation, vegetation, sewage treatment, and aesthetics. Fortuitously,