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John Nolen of Cambridge, Massachusetts is often called the "Father of City Planning" because of his influence in establishing the field of professional planning from the allied fields of landscape architecture, architecture and civil engineering.

Trained as a landscape architect, Nolen's ideas on city planning developed in sharp contrast to the ideas of the "City Beautiful Movement." That movement, which reached its zenith of popular interest in 1893 and was associated with the beautification of the physical environment, was criticized for its lack of attention to the social and economic aspects of cities. In 1909, Nolen was the keynote speaker for the first National Conference on City Planning and the Problems of Congestion, held in Washington, D.C. The topics discussed at that conference forged the relationship between urban planning and urban policy by challenging those present to consider not only the beautification of cities but also their physical and social organization.

John Nolen had an enormous influence on civic design. He prepared some 400 city plans between 1905 and 1937, including a plan for the City of Venice in 1926. Most of his Florida projects were completed during the mid-1920s, when the state was experiencing phenomenal growth as part of the Florida Land Boom. In Sarasota alone the population grew from approximately 2,000 to 8,000 between 1920 and 1930. In his Sarasota plan, Nolen acknowledged the pressure this growth was having on the city by stating, "This growth has crowded the hotels, congested the streets, caused a shortage in business, residential and recreational facilities." Nolen's comprehensive plan for Sarasota was completed in 1925.

The plan provided recommendations for main thoroughfares, parks, and parkways, schools, and playgrounds, the civic center, business districts, railroads and industry. One important recommendation of Nolen's involved the acquisition of land to create a downtown waterfront park, which we know today as Bayfront Park. Another section of Nolen’s report provided recommendations for new school sites. Four areas for new schools were proposed, one to the north of downtown, to be called Northside, one to the south of downtown, to be called Southside, one in the community of Indian Beach in an area east of today's Tamiami Trail around 15th Street, and one in an area south of Bahia Vista Street between Osprey and Orange Avenues. In the following year, Southside School and Bay Haven were constructed in two of the areas that Nolen had recommended in his plan. Another recommendation of his was realized by the development of the Bobby Jones Golf Course in 1927.

John Nolen recognized the importance of Five Points in defining the unique attributes of downtown Sarasota when he called it "the heart of downtown." Today, 85 years later, as debate ensues about a proposed development there, it seems that Five Points importance to the image and vitality of the downtown is still appreciated.

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