The early planning and development of Oklahoma City

An analysis of the planning, development, and implementation of Oklahoma City's Grand Boulevard. In the early days of 1909, a plan emerged to build an expansive parks and boulevard system to encircle Oklahoma City. Such systems had evolved during the parks movement era of the late nineteenth century and had become a common feature of major cities throughout the United States. While Oklahoma City leaders in many ways wished to emulate the park systems of other cities in hopes of bolstering the city's metropolitan reputation, they were also influenced by the emergence of the automotive industry and auto road racing in the United States. The opportunities presented by the automobile led the city to deviate from previous parks and boulevard models in pursuit of something unique for the period - an engineered speedway. Ultimately, a formal plan was prepared which espoused many of the principles of the City Beautiful movement. However, the vision for a speedway would continue to impact the systems design. The parks and boulevard system that resulted has had an enduring influence on the form and growth of Oklahoma City.

Department dc:contributor.department

Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Dept. of Urban Studies and Planning.

Grantor dc:publisher

Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Year dc:date.issued

2009

Author dc:creator

• Humphreys, Blair D. (Blair David)

Advisor dc:contributor.advisor

• Sam Bass Warner.

• Urban Studies and Planning.

Statement dc:rights

• M.I.T. theses are protected by copyright. They may be viewed from this source for any purpose, but reproduction or distribution in any format is prohibited without written permission. See provided URL for inquiries about permission.

Licence dc:rights.uri

• http://dspace.mit.edu/handle/1721.1/7582

Language dc:language.iso

eng

Handle dc:identifier.uri

http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/49699

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:dspace.mit.edu:1721.1/49699