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THE IMPROVEMENT OF TOWNS: BY RAY-
MOND UNWIN
.ISTOTLE defined a city as "a place where men live a
common life for a noble end." To study the life and
growth of the great cities of the past, is to realize how
much the aesthetic or architectural greatness of a city
depends on the common life and the noble end; and how
truly the city becomes an exnression of these.
   Fine city building is indeed an art; one of the greatest of the arts;
for it is not the work of an individual, but an art practised by the citi-
zens as a body. In the making of a fine poem there must be some-
thing fine to say, and it must be finely said; before the artist can pro-
duce a great picture he must have something great to reveal, and
must have the skill to reveal it in a great manner. Equally is it true
that for fine city building there must be something great in the ideals
and aims to express, and a common life strong enough to give it a
great expression. Individuals may provide the technical skill, but
the citizens as a body must provide alike the inspiring ideal, and the
enthusiasm and power of execution. In all consideration of the
improvement and beautifying of towns this thought must be borne in
mind. Unpractical as it may sound to some, it will be found to
afford not only the truest safeguard against the extravagant schemes
of individual fancy, or the aimless attempts to achieve grandeur
which spring from false civic pride, but also the surest guide as to
what we should do to beautify our towns.
   If civic art is the expression of the life and ideals of the citizens,
we may define the duty of the civic artist as "the well doing of what
needs doing"-surely a very clear and practical guide. Does the
town need a market? Build that market hall a fine commodious one,
that the goods may be well seen and the marketing may be done with
comfort and dignity; supply the actual need generously and well.
So shall we add more beauty to our town than by erecting a cheap
shed for the market, and adding a fountain to our square. By all
means let us have the fountain and many another beautiful luxury in
due time, but not while so many of our people lack homes, or, hav-
ing homes, lack all decent surroundings to them. The muse of Civic
Art does not to-day ask us to propound great schemes for making our
towns grand and beautiful, and when any such schemes are sug-
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