Believe it or not, planning commissions historically have been concerned with design & aesthetic issues. As noted planning historian Laurence Gerckens has observed, one of the principal reasons for the emergence of planning commissions early in the 20th century was to help realize "an inspiring good order in the public environment." As Gerckens' succinctly puts it, "the modern American planning commission is the guardian of the public physical environment."
-- from Community Aesthetics & Planning in the Nov/Dec. 1992 issue of the Planning Commissioners Journal

return to Public Buildings: American Images