Alfred Bettman (1873 – 1945) was one of the key founders of modern
urban planning
Urban planning, also known as town planning, city planning, regional planning, or rural planning, is a technical and political process that is focused on the development and design of land use and the built environment, including air, water, ...
.
Zoning
Zoning is a method of urban planning in which a municipality or other tier of government divides land into areas called zones, each of which has a set of regulations for new development that differs from other zones. Zones may be defined for a si ...
, as it is known today, can be attributed to his successful arguments before the
U.S. Supreme Court
The Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) is the highest court in the federal judiciary of the United States. It has ultimate appellate jurisdiction over all U.S. federal court cases, and over state court cases that involve a point o ...
, which resulted in the 1926 decision in favor of the Village of
Euclid, Ohio versus Ambler Realty Company.
The concept of the "Comprehensive Plan," as used in most cities across the U.S., was in no small part due to the work of Bettman and
Ladislas Segoe
Ladislas Segoe (1894–1983) was a pioneer in urban planning. An immigrant from Austria-Hungary to the United States, he worked with Alfred Bettman on the City Plan for Cincinnati.
External links
Ladislas Segoe and the Emergence of the Professiona ...
on the "Cincinnati Plan." (See
City Plan for Cincinnati The City Plan for Cincinnati is a set of plans to guide the development of Cincinnati. Cincinnati was first surveyed and laid out by Israel Ludlow in 1794. The earliest modern plan was the 1907 Park Plan created by George Kessler. Every 20 or 30 yea ...
) Bettman also created the "Capital Improvements Budget."
Bettman's planning work was interrupted in 1917 when
President Wilson
Thomas Woodrow Wilson (December 28, 1856February 3, 1924) was an American politician and academic who served as the 28th president of the United States from 1913 to 1921. A member of the History of the Democratic Party (United States), Demo ...
appointed him as a special assistant to Attorney General
Thomas Watt Gregory
Thomas Watt Gregory (November 6, 1861February 26, 1933) was an American politician and lawyer. He was a progressive and attorney who served as US Attorney General from 1914 to 1919 under US President Woodrow Wilson.
Early life
Gregory was born ...
. Assigned to the War Emergency Division, he was in charge of
Espionage Act
The Espionage Act of 1917 is a United States federal law enacted on June 15, 1917, shortly after the United States entered World War I. It has been amended numerous times over the years. It was originally found in Title 50 of the U.S. Code (War ...
cases with John Lord O'Brian. At the end of the war, President Wilson granted clemency to over 100 prisoners on Bettman's recommendation.
References
Land Use Planning Law in Tennessee: Alfred Bettman*
ttp://cincinnati.bizjournals.com/cincinnati/stories/1997/08/18/editorial4.html Lessons from a pioneer in planning, Steven WrightAlfred Bettman, Laurence GerckensThe American planner: biographies and recollections By Donald A. Krueckeberg
External links
Finding Aid for Alfred Bettman papers
Archives and Rare Books Library, University of Cincinnati, Cincinnati, Ohio
American urban planners
1873 births
1945 deaths
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