CLARENCE STEIN

Born-June 19, 1882 Rochester, New York

Died-February 7, 1975 (aged 92)
Occupation-Urban planner, architect, writer
ABOUT HIS PRACTICE
• Moving back to New York in 1919, he opened his own practice. In 1921, he
began a long and fruitful collaboration with architect Henry Wright (1878-
1936).
• This charismatic partnership would produce some of the most innovative
urban planning in the history of the United States.

ABOUT HIS INNOVATIONS

• (1882-1975), one of the twentieth century’s most profound visionaries, led
ground breaking innovations in urban planning.
• Though trained as an architect, he was also a persuasive writer. Born, raised and
educated in New York, Stein was primarily considered an East Coast figure,
though he did have strong and early ties to Southern California.
• After studying architecture at Columbia University and the École des Beaux-
Arts in Paris, Stein returned to the United States in 1911, joining the firm of
Bertram Good hue in New York. 
ACCOMPLISHMENTS
• Concept- Neighborhood unit, Radburn Theory
• Beginning in 1923 Stein and Henry Wright collaborated on the plan for
Sunnyside Gardens, a neighborhood of the New York
• The 77-acre (310,000 m2) low-rise pedestrian-oriented development was
constructed between 1924 to 1929.
• It was funded by fellow RPAA officer Alexander Bing and took the garden city
ideas of Sir Ebenezer Howard as a model. This neighborhood has retained its
special character and has been listed on the National Register of Historical Places
• Clarence Stein's work expanded the idea of a Garden City. He believed in
molding urban construction into nature. He brought these two aspects together to
make a modern yet comfortable environment.
THE NEIGHBORHOOD UNIT
“Neighborhood is a planning unit for town”
THE NEIGHBORHOOD UNIT- CLARENCE
STEIN’S CONCEPTION
• In the figure , show's grouping of three neighbourhood units is served by a high
school and one or two commercial centres.
• Walking distance radius is one mile.
• In the figure A, elementary school is the centre of the unit and within a one half
mile radius of all residents in the neighbourhood, local shopping centres located
near the school.
• Residential streets are suggested as CUL-DE-SACS to eliminate through traffic
and park space flows into the neighbourhood as applied in the Radburn plan.
THE NEIGHBORHOOD UNIT- CLARENCE
STEIN’S CONCEPTION

FUNCTIONAL URBAN SPACES

• The activities of the town takes place in public spaces. In the city there are wide
range of public spaces which are differentiated by the pattern of their functions
and circulation system.
• In Neighbourhood unit concept, which is being used as the planning unit for the
town or city consists
of following urban spaces for,
PUBLIC ASSEMBILIES
1. Streets and squares
2. Parks and Maidan
3. Precinct
4. Recreation green
5. Civic and Religious Building
6. Sports
7. Shopping Complexes
8. Community centres for
public assembly

URBAN SPACES IN A NEIGHBORHOOD UNIT

Urban space :-
• The space is geometrically bounded by a variety of elevations of the buildings.
• It is only the clear legitibility of geometric characteristics and aesthetic quality
which allows us to preserve the external space as the urban space.
FORMATION OF SCHOOLS
• Clarence Stein placed the elementaryschool at the center of the
neighborhoodunit and within ¼ mile radius of all
residents.
• A small shopping center for daily needs is located near the school.Most
residential streets are suggested as cul-de-sac or ‘dead-end’ roads to
eliminate through traffic, and park space flows through the neighborhood
in a manner reminiscent of the Radburn Plan.
• He further expanded the definition of neighborhood center by connecting
the neighborhoods together to create towns.
• The diagram shows the grouping of three neighborhood units served by a
high school and one or two major commercial centers ,the radius for walking
distance to these facilities being one mile.
The definition of the five-minute walking radius neighborhood is part of the
American Institute of Architects Architectural Graphics Standards which is an
industry standard for dimensional criteria for buildings and site planning.
-Compact in size -Parking strategies
-mix of uses -Transit oppertunities
-Network of streets -compatibility
-public open space
-building typologies
Radburn City,New Jersey

 “The town of the motor age."

 The cul-de-sac (dead-end) residential streets are service
roads rather than traffic ways.
 The house being reversed so that the living rooms face
on the rear gardens with pedestrian paths leading to the
continuous park space.
 ‘A separated dual system of circulation’.
RADBURN