Urban Studies and Planning Commons^™

Prophets, Planning, And Politics: Utah's Planning Heritage And Its Significance Today And Tomorrow, Janna K. Bushman

Theses and Dissertations

Utah's planning heritage includes both physical and social elements. In 1833 Joseph Smith, founder of the Mormon Church, designed the Plat for the City of Zion. Associated with his plan were the principles of communitarianism and a demo-theocratic form of government. As the Mormons journeyed across the Midwest to the Great Basin, they applied these planning beliefs in various ways. Throughout Utah today, large city blocks, wide roads, and grid iron layouts remain as testaments to the state's early physical planning tenets. Other factors, though, have led Mormons to abandon the social aspects of the plan and to embrace the …