The University of Liverpool, by Gordon Stephenson, Lever Professor of Civic Design in the University of Liverpool
When the Department of Civic Design was founded at Liverpool in 1909 it was unique, and there were no precedents to follow in laying down the form and contents of the courses.
In those days some University departments were established as if by accident, the Department of Civic Design among them. There had been a School of Architecture in the University for some years, which was to become the first in the country whose final examination was recognized by the Royal Institute of British Architects as a qualification of membership. This young School of Architecture, thriving under the vigorous guidance of Charles Reilly, was an important factor in the foundation of a department of “Town Planning and Civic Art”. Another was the fact that Mr. W. H. Lever (later the first Lord Leverhulme) had long been interested in architecture and town planning, and was building his great factory and the model village of Port Sunlight not far from Liverpool.
When, for political reasons, Mr. Lever’s commercial reputation was impugned, he instigated and won a famous action for libel, and presented nearly all the large amount that was awarded him for damages to the University, with the request that this be devoted to teaching and research in tropical medicine and town planning. As a manufacturer with extensive interests in Africa the first part of the money was obviously to be invested With foresight; as an amateur of the arts, architecture and civic design, it now seems natural that he should have wished to encourage the latter with the second part. But the beginnings of the modern town planning movement were only just apparent, and to many persons at the time it must have looked like an attempt to satisfy a whim. Fortunately, the University Authorities, no doubt encouraged by Professor Reilly, accepted his ideas and put them into effect. Later, the Department was the first to be fully recognised by the Town Planning Institute. The University then had the distinction of containing the first school of architecture and the first department of town planning to be recognised by the professional institutes.
The Department of Civic Design became an extension of the School of Architecture. It offered post-graduate courses for architects and evening courses for undergraduates in architecture and students of architecture, engineering, or surveying who were working in local government offices. This set a pattern for other Universities and Institutions to follow. Though of recent years new schools have been established which have no direct links with architecture, it is still the practice that the Heads are Architect-Planners.
In Liverpool the connection with the School of Architecture is stronger than ever despite the fundamental changes, which have recently been made in the courses in Civic Design. That this should be so is natural. There is of course an historical reason and, in addition, the main flow of students will be from other departments in the Faculty of Arts and, in particular, from the School of Architecture. But, perhaps of even greater importance is the fact that the University has always regarded planning as a means to an end, as a process rather than an end in itself, with a clear cut objective - a more seemly and better designed human environment. The title of the Department was well chosen.A Sense of Direction
The first Act of Parliament to acknowledge the need for planning was passed in 1909. The conception of planning expressed in the Act was narrow: it was thought that an extension of bye-law control would ensure a more orderly and spacious development of new housing suburbs. Only a few local authorities were willing to adopt the powers offered to them, and it was not until the Act of 1932 that the need for country as well as town planning was recognised. The first really comprehensive Town and Country Planning Act became law in 1947.
The second Professor of Civic Design, now Sir Patrick Abercrombie, played a big part in the development of a wider concept of planning. Forty-two years ago he became the first Editor of the Town Planning Review and for twenty- seven years he worked in Liverpool as teacher, writer, and consultant. His articles and reports are numerous and some of them were outstanding contributions containing much original work and the testing of new techniques. His post-graduate students were relatively few, but the majority are now in positions of responsibility and all will remember with affection the lively mind and charming manner of their teacher. It may truly be said that Abercrombie firmly established the Department of Civic Design, gave it a philosophy and direction, and paved the way towards the new post-graduate degree and diploma courses which are now in operation.The New Courses
The University has recently decided that the old evening courses should be dropped and that, in future, the courses should be only at the post-graduate level. The profession has come of age and the planning function is now important in the work of government and local government. Because of this the need for well-equipped university graduates is much greater than ever. In their work, Abercrombie and others have shown that the planning team must include men with different kinds of minds, training, and experience. In the new courses, this is taken into account. When, in 1932, Dr. Thomas Adams wrote a report for Harvard University outlining the requirements of a city planning course, he suggested that there were three classes of students who should be admitted: those who will be concerned with (1) the science of enquiry, (2) the art of creative design, and (3) the system of administration. This was very much in line with earlier thoughts of Patrick Geddes and it provides a sound starting point. Moreover it has been clearly demonstrated in recent years that the best plans are made by a combination of minds and skills. The new planning Ministry and some of the new planning authorities recognise this. Their organisations take into account the three related functional activities.
It is only in a University that specialists may properly begin to work together and yet the modern University is a big organisation and like others of similar size, it tends to be an agglomeration of “independent” departments. If one accepts the fact that the planning process involves men of different basic disciplines, and in Liverpool we do accept it, the problem is to bring them together at post-graduate level and in doing so bring various departments together. This is not easily achieved as the courses could become a series given by various specialists to students who, above all in later life must develop a comprehensive view and philosophy. Through the close co-operation of several departments we believe that we have gone some way to overcome this difficulty. The main difference between the new courses and the old is that now the resources of the University as a whole are fully utilised.
Graduates of any Faculty of an approved University, qualified architects, or students with a certificate in Social Science of the University of Liverpool are now admitted. The graduates may take the course leading to the degree of Master of Civic Design and the non-graduates the new Diploma course. There are minor differences in the courses but they are, in essence, similar. Both normally extend over a period of two sessions. The exception to this rule is made in the case of our own graduates in Architecture. This is possible because of the special relation of the Department with the School of Architecture. In their five years’ course, architectural students are able to take subjects in studio work and lecture courses which give them exemption from some of the post-graduate work. These courses are in the field of “Design”, and some of them are identical with those given to post-graduate students in Civic Design.
In the teaching of town and country planning studio work is bound to play an important part. In the studio, problems very similar to those found in actual practice are examined and solutions are sought. In a school they may be arranged in a fairly logical order and, moreover, the various specialists may make their particular contributions in a critical atmosphere as they are developing them with students and teachers who have other points of view. All the students make studies in the Elements of Civic Design, our own architects in their undergraduate years. The main series of studio problems starts with a regional study, in which the geographers play a leading role. Then a development plan is prepared, to be followed by a reconstruction plan for an urban area within the development plan. A design for a residential area is attempted by all students, and by the architects in their fourth undergraduate year. A special study completes the practical work, and in this we expect the student to develop an individual thesis reflecting his own specialist views on planning.
The lecture courses are given by three Faculties of the University and by one special lecturer in Landscape Design. Those concerned, in addition to the Department of Civic Design, are Civil Engineering, Architecture, Geography, Social Science, Economics and Law. The lecture courses are in two main groups. The first is a basic or general group and includes History of Civic Design, Principles of Civic Design, Principles of Landscape Design, Law in relation to Planning and Housing, Principles of Civic Engineering, Land Economics, Principles of Social Survey, Principles of Geographical Survey, Elements of Statistics. So far as is possible there is a relation between these lecture courses and the studio work, and the various lecturers may be asked to act as specialist advisors on studio problems.
Advanced lectures are given in the following subjects: Theory of Civic Design, Land Economics, Social Science, Geography, Statistics, Land Surveying. Students must present themselves for examination in two of these subjects and the intention is that the courses should be on a tutorial basis with the choice of subject depending on the students’ undergraduate discipline. Because of this another subject, not listed above, may be presented if it is approved by the Faculty.
The new course has been in operation for two terms, and it is a little early to draw conclusions. But this much may be said. The students’ interest and enthusiasm has greatly increased and, compared with other years, the work has improved both in intensity and quality. Next session we shall move into a new building which is probably the first to be designed for the teaching of town and country planning. The maximum number of students in residence at any time will be forty. Of these the majority will almost certainly be graduates in architecture, with geographers, perhaps, as the next most important group.
When the new courses are well established it will be possible to undertake joint research with other departments provided some additional funds are made available. A research project in the field of housing is under discussion. Housing is the most difficult and the largest planning problem in every country. We wish to study it from three angles: the social, the economic, and the physical. The Departments of Social Science, Economics, and Civic Design will be concerned.
In conclusion it should be said that the Town Planning Review will continue to be edited in the Department of Civic Design and its publication is one of our most important functions.