Regional Planning Division Holds Symposium on City Decentralization

Defense against atomic attack by decentralization of buildings will be discussed in symposiums at 10 a.m. and 2 p.m. today at the Institute for Geographical Exploration.

In the early session, planning programs involved in a new town will be considered by Professor William G. Holford of the University of London, former chief planner for the British Ministry of Town and Country Planning, and David S. Geor, consultant planner of Bloomfield Hills, Michigan. Geor was a chef designer of the plan for Oak Ridge, Tennessee.

The afternoon meeting will discuss decentralization into new towns, both as a defensve and as a peacetime measure. G. Holmes Perkins '26, chairman of the Department of Regional Planning, will speak on the influence of new, decentralized town plans upon peacetine problems of congestion, blight, housing shortages, and industrial location.

Albert Mayer, a New York architect, will discuss defense aspects of new towns and current proposals for decentralization of Washington, D.C.

The speakers will discuss the present programs of disaster relief, and outline alternatives designed to prevent disaster in time of war and assure sound growth of out metropolitan areas.