v An American planner, sociologist, author, and educator o He was born in Truxton, New York. During this time in America, a new world began to emerge , an ordered urban-industrial structure, which attempted to regularize a previously chaotic world. In New York City, changes in the built environment reflected the ever increasing presence of the poor and working classes. There was rapid industrialisation which changed the urban fabric and brought with it a set of problems that was very new to America. vo He began his education as a student of Stanford University for two years then finished his degree at Cornell University in 1899. oS He was a staff member of the New York Regional Plan and the City Recreation Committee where he formulated his early ideas about the neighborhood unit and community life. v In 1909 he became associated with the Russell Sage Foundation as associate director of recreation until 1937. v/ He produced several books, many pamphlets and articles though is best remembered for his “The Neighborhood Unit,” Monograph One.V6li7/, Regional Survey of New York and Its Environs, Neighborhood and Community Planning. New York: New York Regional Plan, 1929 and Housing for the Machine Age New YorkPerry's work is a result of his ability to synthesize » knowledge from a number of fields. EARLY SOCIOLOGICAL His influences are > THEORIES ) thus important. Seen x work was heavily Jinfluenced WoRK AT by Cooley, INDUSTRIAL AGE RUSSEL SAGE McKenzie and IN AMERICA FOUNDATION other theorists in During the time that Clarence Perry was a social worker who was el Pee Perry was growing up, hired by the Russell Sage Foundation soon vol there was an age of after its inception in 1907. His early work for Cae an industrialisation — which the Sage Foundation was in the community ey Sawa changed the urban fabric eee Sientor and brought with it a set The community centers that Perry advocated hoodasa_ of problems that was very were to be places where neighborhood primary group’ new to America. residents could play games, sing and dance a social , ; and meet to talk about common problems. It ; eae ema was this early work in the community center &rouping _ larger cities, keeping in view the congestion and inse- curity to pedestrians that cars brought forth with their introdution was the need of the hour movement that led to Perry’s particular focus than the family. on the elementary school as the center of the neighborhood unit because the center could make use of existing facilities.EBENEZER HOWARD'S. GARDEN CITY Ebenezer Howard's Garden City movement in the United Kingdom had a great influence on UNWIN’S Perry's work. THEORY Howard’s vision — a network of self-contained Unwin discussed cities of 30,000 people, with each city surround- ways of increasing ed by natural and agricultural land, containing a the amenity level of BESIGNTCOMPETITIONS full mix of land uses including industry, and residential ~ owned and developed collectively by the developments A significant contribution to municipality without increasing Perry’ Boerne of cy their cost, chiefly by aiieer od REAL ESTATE INDUSTRY economizing on the ons DEVELOPMENTS size and layout of The first City Club competi- tion called for new ideas for developingresidential neighborhood on a hypothetical % mile section of the Jeffersonian grid on the outskirts of Chicago. The second focused on the design of a community center for such a neighborhood. streets and blocks. Perry was influenced by innovations in the real Unwin’s influence is estate development industry in the decades prior seen in the to development of the Neighborhood Unit. superblock layout of Development at the time was driven by the desire _Stein. to secure the maximum value out of high-end residential development. This led to investment in “**"~ architectural quality, provisioning of neighborhood. ~° oe amenities, and the comprehensive planning of 2 development.Perry described the neighborhood unit as that populated area which would require and support an elementary school with an enrolment of between 1,000 and 1,200 pupils, This would mean a population of between 5,000 and 6,000 people. Developed as a low density dwelling district with a population of 10 families per acre) the neighborhood unit would occupy about 160 acres and have a shape which would render it unnecessary for any child to walk a distance of more than one-quarter mile to school. About 10 percent of the area would be allocated to recreation, and through traffic arteries would be Confined to the surrounding streets) internal streets being limited to service access for residents of the neighborhood. The unit would be served by shopping facilities, churches, and a library, and. a community center, the latter being located in conjunction with the school . Superblocks with wide arterials before modification ‘Major arterials replaced by one! way street pairs AREA Oren peveLoPUENT A svorome ost0.cT ther Se A vunen site Stout oust (Nove BEOALE TO Reaves one eMouTaRY Senoaus bxaer SNApe. for esuerial purest LE rrha Ses ee iae SS Eeeosrar rao cena Z ST srorme ossrmerSin “P> dgmeear rane x Jol Sinctiong nar KS Cee Soon Keres ei ae (5) Ne Seo va (EES cece MM NC = ctr St = ae si 2 Tex #a\ 7 OFAREA TO NO Beenexron oN We at ARTERIAL STREET suudtbw [ ee ‘car free strects with dedicated transit lines Narrow local streets with bike lanes & sidewalksPerry outlined SIX BASIC PRINCIPLES €. of good neighborhood design. As may be understood, these core principles were organized around several institutional, social and physical design ideals. * Major arterials and through traffic routes should not pass through residential neighborhoods. Instead these streets should provide boundaries of the neighborhood; Elementary school is the centre of, the unit and within a one half mile radius ofall residents in the neighbourhood, local shopping * Interior street patterns should be Neighborhood focal point the elementary" Centres located near the schoel designed and constructed through school centrally located on a common or green use of cul-de-sacs, curved layout and light duty surfacing so as to encourage a quiet, safe and low volume traffic movement and preservation of the Ao ff: residential atmosphere; Interior street patterns ae - be egteeeceety ee use ofc * The population of the neighborhood should be that which is required to support its elementary school; * The neighborhood focal point should be the elementary school centrally located on a common or green, along with other institutions that have service areas coincident with the neighborhood boundaries; * The radius of the neighborhood should be a maximum of one quarter milethus precluding a walk of more than that distance for any elementary school child; and * Shopping districts should be sited at the edge of neighborhoods preferably at major street intersections.‘Any given neighborhood, the argument went, contains a set of elements — homes, schools, etc. , each of which have their own logic. Each element of the neighborhood must work in concert with others for'the neighborhood as a whole to be a success. Developed individually on an ad hoc basis individual elements might) work) Well! for themselves but conflict with others ;a shopping area might generate lots of automobile traffic that would be dangerous for young children walking to school . Therefore it was important to plan neighborhoods in a comprehensive fashion, taking into consideration how each element would fit into the whole unit. Itis important to note that Perry intended the Neighborhood Unit to be a universal concept, applicable to all urban areas, old and new, dense and sprawling, wealthy and poor, with a particular focus ‘on the New York region. From detailed analysis| Perry concluded that shopping, for instance, within a neighborhood might include groceries, drug stores, garages, restaurants, a bakery, hotel, dry goods store, clothier, laundromat, dry cleaner, and businesses selling coal, flowers, jewelry, hardware, etc., and not department stores, banks, furriers, and stores specializing in musical instruments, sporting goods. He determined the size of facilities required for a Neighborhood! Unit|by synthesizing this kind of information with data from municipal planning surveys. 9 Perry developed Neighborhood Unit diagrams for several contexts — for an industrial neighborhood, a unit of apartments, and for a dense site in the east of ManhattanSaGeenspace Sra: it Neighborhood Unit that has been built up and evolved over the last hundred years, a concept that began with traditions in the Garden City movement and early American subdivision practices, gained voice }, through the Radburn model and the \ work of Perry at the Russell Sage Founda- tion, was reinterpreted in the New Town movement after World War Il in Britain and in the sixties in America and again through the Congress for the New Urbanism. SMe te I TrninStadon ‘ARadburn cul-de-sac 2000 feee RADBURN , NEW JERSEY Radburn, The Town of Motor Age was planned by architects Clarence Stein and Henry Wright in 1929. Perry's principles have been the building blocks of many neighborhoods such as Rad- It is America's first garden community, serving as a burn, New Jersey; Greenbelt, Maryland; world wid example of the harmonious blending of Greenhills, Ohio etc. private space and open area. The translation of the concept ‘Neighbourhood Unit’ is best seen in Radburn provided a prototype for the new towns to Radburn. meet the requirements for contemporary good living.ELEMENTS OF THE RADBURN, MODEL - Super Block. Specialized Highway system. Complete separation of Street network of vehicular and pedestrian Radburn & its nested hierarchy traffic -Park as backbone of the neighborhood. FAMILY NEIGHBOURHOOD Radburn consists of -149 acres of interior parks, - 2 swimming pools, -1 tot bathing pool, -4 tennis courts, -2 playgrounds, -An archery plaza and a school, -2 outdoor basketball courts and many walks. There is also a community center, which houses administrative offices, library, gymnasium, clubroom and maintenance. LEARNING FROM THE RADBURN MODEL. -Compared to contemporary developments the Radburn plan is more safer, orderly, convenient, spacious and peaceful. -Many developers have ? used one or more aspects of the Radburn plan and its implementation in their ‘own suburbs. -From a sociological point ff of view, Radburn not only =| = exemplifies an = ideally planned place to = live, but it establishes a i real mode or plan of living. RIGHT: General layout of a Radburn house BELOW: Basie section diagram through a site portion PesetatecaPerry's widely adopted innovation that development ought to occur in comprehensively planned units was not restricted to the development of a residential neighborhood. Variations in the fifties would apply this innovation to the development of shopping centers, office complexes, industrial parks, and complete towns. -The communicative power of the Neighborhood Unit concept was to capture a great deal of information and to share information across professional communities. -It framed meaning in a paradigmatic fashion, but operated in a more complex, multiform, and fluid environment. -Perry’s concept provided the tangible model for shifting the scale of development from the single lot to the larger district, for comprehensive planning in distinct units, for including infrastructure concurrent with development, and for the establishment of controls and minimum development standards. -The concept continued unabated if dominished throughout the later part of the twentieth century until the Congress for the New Urbanism renewed interest in the concept, spurring its renaissance as a model for compact, walkable neighborhoods. The traditional neighborhood includes ahigh level of connectivity allowing actual walk distances to nearly meet the 1/4 mile radius. ‘The conventional suburban model of development provides very litle connectivity from the residences to the places of business ‘making it very auto-dependent.-'RPA monograph’ volume 7. excerpts (for the Regional Plan Association of New York and Its Environs) -Excerpts from ‘Towards New Towns for America’ by Clarence A. Perry -Constructing Professional Knowledge: The Neighbourhood Concept in Community Builder’s Handbook by Jason S Brody -Institute of Town Planners, India Journal,September 2011 issue -http://greenwayneighborhoods.net/ -http://www.radburn.org/ -http://wwwastate.nj.us/ -Radburn and the American Planning Movement by Eugiene Ladner Birch -http://planyourcity.net/ -https://www.planning.org -http://persquaremile.com/ -http://www.ette.net/ -http://evstudio.com/ -http://www.cohlarch.ca/ -http://bettercities.net/ -http://en.wikipedia.org/