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MEMORANDUM April 9, 1963
FROM: Archibald C. Rogers
TO: Coordinating Committee
SUBJECT: Principles of the Downtown Planning Concept
The outline below is in response to your request for a summary of the
principles on which the Committee has been proceeding in developing
the plan, with particular emphasis on those principles that may be judged
as capable of creating a quality of design especially appropriate to the
personality of Greensboro:
1. Decisions assumed:
a. That major rebuilding of downtown is the objective of the
community.
b. That this permits a structural reorganization of downtown,
but that such a reorganization is only to be proposed where
proven benefits will result.
c. That the existing centers of gravity are to be maintained-
namely:
1) Banking and office at Market and Elm.
2) Retail at Sycamore and Elm.
3) Government at Guilford County Courthouse.
d. That the "Carolinian" design premise is accepted:
1) A "tight" core with boundaries permitting easy pedestrian
access to all areas - a radius not exceeding 800 -
1000 feet.
2) A vertical core - looking to future expansion upward
rather than outward.
(Note: The number of blocks covered by the typical
core is approximately the same in cities of all sizes
since the pedestrian radius does not change - the
difference between the core of a city of 200,000 and
a city of 1,000,000 is in the intensity of the core use-
i.e., the number and height of high-rise buildings).
GREENSBORO PUBLIC LIBRAE
/
M-^^A ■ p^^owVi^^
.
MEMORANDUM April 9, 1963
FROM: Archibald C. Rogers
TO: Coordinating Committee
SUBJECT: Principles of the Downtown Planning Concept
The outline below is in response to your request for a summary of the
principles on which the Committee has been proceeding in developing
the plan, with particular emphasis on those principles that may be judged
as capable of creating a quality of design especially appropriate to the
personality of Greensboro:
1. Decisions assumed:
a. That major rebuilding of downtown is the objective of the
community.
b. That this permits a structural reorganization of downtown,
but that such a reorganization is only to be proposed where
proven benefits will result.
c. That the existing centers of gravity are to be maintained-
namely:
1) Banking and office at Market and Elm.
2) Retail at Sycamore and Elm.
3) Government at Guilford County Courthouse.
d. That the "Carolinian" design premise is accepted:
1) A "tight" core with boundaries permitting easy pedestrian
access to all areas - a radius not exceeding 800 -
1000 feet.
2) A vertical core - looking to future expansion upward
rather than outward.
(Note: The number of blocks covered by the typical
core is approximately the same in cities of all sizes
since the pedestrian radius does not change - the
difference between the core of a city of 200,000 and
a city of 1,000,000 is in the intensity of the core use-
i.e., the number and height of high-rise buildings).
GREENSBORO PUBLIC LIBRAE
