CITIES, TOWNS AND VILLAGES
mercial Club, 1906-8, by Burnham and Bennett; and the creation of a Committee on a City Plan by the Board of Estimate and Apportionment of New York City in 191 4, with the problem of districting the city as an important feature; and the making of a large number of general plans and reports for the smaller cities.
The background of these definite projects was the rapid growth of cities, a nation-wide civic awakening, the improvement of the form and character of city government, the establishment of public service commissions, the organization of local improvement societies, civic bodies, women's clubs, chambers of commerce and boards of trade.
A great influence was also exercised by the rapid and substantial progress of town planning in Europe. Soon after the Franco-Prussian war, the German cities, beginning with those in Prussia, went to work systematically to improve their municipalities. Much planning was done, and publications of value were issued. Other European countries, especially France and Belgium and Austria, achieved success in the replanning of towns and cities for modern life. Especial mention should be made of the passage of the English Housing and Town Planning Act in 1909, which provided a suggestive method of procedure for Canada and the United States.
A clearing-house for city planning ideas and an effective means of stimulating and directing the movement was secured by the organization of the National Conference on City Planning in 1 909, which has continued its work to date, holding an annual conference, publishing its proceedings and a quarterly entitled "The City Plan" and carrying on correspondence.
The ideas of most significance in the modern city planning movement are: the increasing dependence of the individual upon the prosperity of the city as a whole; the
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