The Cambridge City administration was strongly urged last night to move swiftly towards adopting an urban renewal program for the Harvard Square area.

"Harvard Square has been described as a mess," George A. McLaughlin, chairman of the new Citizens Advisory Committee, said at the committee's inauguration dinner. "That may indeed be an exaggeration but it [the Square] certainly needs redevelopment...and the imminence of the Kennedy School of Government and the Kennedy Library in Cambridge make that redevelopment urgent."

No Formal Powers

The new committee composed of prominent Cambridge citizens including President Pusey and Howard W. Johnson, president of M.I.T., will now begin studying a long list of possible projects the city might undertake. The committee, however, has no formal powers and can only make recommendations to the city government.

In his opening address, McLaughlin spent more time on the redevelopment of Harvard Square longer than any other issue. "There have been many studies of the Harvard Square area, and we are now moving to the point where studies are of no value--what is needed is action," he declared.

An Old Idea

Renewal of the Square is not a new idea. It has been proposed publicly and privately by a number of city planners, officials, and prominent citizens.

McLaughlin termed Cambridge's town-gown relations excellent and said that the city government has an obligation to help the universities improve their surroundings.

"We do not do Justice to their [the universities] value if we permit conditions to continue in Cambridge under our control which hurt them and hurt Cambridge," he declared.