NEIGHBORHOOD

CONCEPTS

ABHIRAM
BATHINA
ORIGINAL CONCEPTS
 NEIGHBORHOOD CONCEPT BY
STEIN AND WRIGHT

(RADBURN NEIGHBORHOOD MODEL)

The design of the model comprises of four
hierarchical levels- Enclave, Block, Superblock,
Neighborhood.
ENCLAVE

•The fundamental component was

an enclave of twenty or so houses.

•These houses were arrayed in a U-

formation about a short vehicular
street called a lane, really a cul-de-
sac court with access to individual
garages.

•While the back of each house faced

this court the front of the house had
a garden.
BLOCK

•Three or more of these enclaves were lined

together to form a block. Enclaves within the
block were separated from one another by a
pedestrian pathway that ran between the front
gardens of all the houses.

•The blocks, usually four in number, were

arranged around the sides of a central parkway
in such a manner so as to enclose the open
green space.

SUPERBLOCK

•The clustered 5 blocks together with the

central parkway comprised what Stein and
Wright termed a super block
NEIGHBOURHOOD

•Four to six super blocks

commonly formed a
neighborhood that was bounded
by major roads or natural
features.

•At one end of the parkway there

could be a small school with
community rooms. Roads in the
neighborhood were to be
hierarchical-major thorough
traffic roads to border each
neighborhood, distributor roads
to surround each super block, and
cul-de-sac to provide access to
individual property lots.
•Stein emphasized that the prime goal was
to design a town for the automobile age. In
fact the title on the drawing of the town
plan was ‘A town for the motor age’.
OVERLAPPING
NEIGHBOURHOODS

• Although Stein and Wright

considered neighborhoods as
each being relatively self-
contained they arranged
them in an overlapping
manner to support joint use
of facilities such as hospitals,
high schools, and theatres.

• They visualized the

neighborhood as forming the
building block of the city.
A prototype for the new towns
Proposal within one square mile
25,000 residents

•Residential areas
•Cul-de-sacs
•149 acres of interior parks,
•Walkways.
•2 swimming pools,
•4 tennis courts,
•2 playgrounds,
•Archery plaza and a school,
•2 outdoor basketball courts
•A community center, which houses
administrative offices, library,
gymnasium, clubroom and service and
maintenance areas.
CLARENCE. A. PERRY'S CONCEPTUALISATION OF THE
'NEIGHBOURHOOD UNIT'.
•Perry’s concept of the neighborhood was as a relatively self-contained
building block of the city, hence the addition of the word unit to his concept.

•He identified four urban locations where the idea could be applied-
1. new sites in the suburbs
2. vacant sites in the central area
3. predominantly apartment districts
4. central areas that had suffered deterioration and required rebuilding.
COMPARISION BETWEEN THE TWO CONCEPTS:
The relationship between social interaction and physical environment-

Questionable in the case of the Radburn model;

•focused entirely on the physical aspects and the social benefits were after-thoughts.
•Stein's emphasis on designing a Town for the Motor Age shows his entirely functional intension.

Perry gave more emphasis on the social nature of the neighborhood;

•provided local institution sites at the neighborhood center to provide conditions for people to
meet
•. He intended to devise a 'scheme of arrangement for a family life community'.
Both the models used arterial streets to form neighborhood boundary but Stein and Wright
preferred to use natural forms wherever possible.

maximum walking distance that each had proposed- 0.8km in case of Radburn
neighborhood and 0.4km in case of neighborhood unit model.

Perry envisaged the neighborhood as a separate unit, whereas, Stein and Wright conceived
the Radburn neighborhood by overlapping and grouping into districts to support large-scale
facilities.

SIMILARITIES :

•defining the neighborhood by the means of boundaries

•inclusion of green and open spaces
•road network safe for pedestrians and not allowing through traffic
•the central neighborhood which included the school.
•Also, Perry along with Stein and Wright agreed that the neighborhood was to have a
specific and limited size defined by the population needed to support the elementary
school.
 NEED FOR SUCH CONCEPTS
The neighborhood is the planning unit for a town evolved through the history for the
upgradation of the city environment.
• To reduce the congestion,
• To reduce heavy traffic movement through the city,
• To create a safely healthy physical environment in which children will have no
traffic streets to cross on their way to school, schools which are within walking
distance from home,
• To have a well-equipped playground located near the house where children may
play in safety with their friends for healthy development of their mind and spirit.
• An environment in which women may have an easy walk to a shopping centre
where they may get the daily households goods,
• Employed people may find convenient transportation to and from work.
 The immediate housing environment and the neighborhood represent
an everyday-landscape, which can either support or limit the physical,
mental and social wellbeing of the residents. Neighborhoods have been
defined as a physical entity in planning because a neighborhood, which
is sound in design and service, is believed to nurture healthier and
more socially interactive communities. Such a neighborhood is
projected to suffer less from urban problems of crime, ill health, etc. as
well as other social, physical and political problems. Such impacts are
broadly accepted.
It is often the smallest unit considered
by urban and regional planning,
reflecting the general belief of
planners, and others alike that
neighborhoods are the building blocks
of the city. Planning has traditionally
demanded a decentralized,
participatory planning process to  Manhattan neighborhood map
successfully address local issues.
 ITS APPLICATION IN CONTEMPORARY TIMES/ FUTURE OUTLOOK
• Neighborhood, as a unit of planning, has always
provided means to organize and ensure
application of such decentralized planning
processes to implement local planning programs
and policies at the desirable de-centralized level.
• It brings comprehensive planning to local levels.
• The consequent increased socio-spatial mobility
in the neighborhood has been highly destructive.
Increasing mobility and transportation facilities
have opened up new possibilities, thereby
disregarding the benefits expected of a
neighborhood.
• Remote activities and changed lifestyles of
dwelling occupants thus become the basic factors
that shape the social environment.
• This issue causes segregation of the social
environment from the immediate physical
environment.
• It is not misleading to accuse public and private
housing initiatives driven by neoliberal or random
land use options solely targeting financial viability
and profitability of the current status of housing.
• Most of the current housing approaches concentrate
on the physical attributes of single dwelling units and
exclude the fact that the dwelling units rarely stand
alone in a given physical space.
• The high-rise settlement blocks with inadequately
planned physical environment characterize most of
the contemporary developments. This however does
not diminish the importance of the neighborhood
unit.
 Neighborhood for the Social Well-Being

• Neighborhoods have been defined as a physical entity

in planning because a neighborhood, which is sound in
design and service, is believed to nurture healthier and
more socially interactive communities. Such a
neighborhood is projected to suffer less from urban
problems of crime, ill health, etc. as well as other
social, physical and political problems. Such impacts
are broadly accepted.
• The end objective of most planning programs is to
achieve certain social objectives. The primary
objectives addressed in planning programs are healthy
and secure communities. An effective consideration for Children’s organization  is encouraging slum kids to map out the
the settlements in that case would be to attempt failings of their neighborhoods -- and how they can be fixed -- in
order to inform government officials.
unifying the social and physical environment of
residents.
  
Neighborhood as a Planning Construct

The neighborhood unit, or some equivalent of this unit, is repeatedly referred to in proposals for urban
reorganization. It is often the smallest unit considered by urban and regional planning, reflecting the general
belief of planners, and others alike that neighborhoods are the building blocks of the city. Planning has
traditionally demanded a decentralized, participatory planning process to successfully address local issues.
Neighborhood, as a unit of planning, has always provided means to organize and ensure application of such
decentralized planning processes to implement local planning programs and policies at the desirable de-
centralized level.
Core Concept for Neo-Traditionalism

Influenced by the awakening of neo-

traditionalism as paradigm for urban living,
‘sense of neighborhood’ has become the core
concept through which neighborhood
attachment and communality is being
evaluated.

As it is being realized that the community is getting lost in the modernist era, several
‘community saving and forming’ forces are being put to work. Such pro neighborhood forces
include the design ideology of new urbanism; neighborhood renewal strategies; public
participation in local area planning and management processes; area sensitive socio-
economic inclusion and empowerment strategies; and growing recognition of the role of
local-based social and cultural assets.
 CONCLUSION
Neighbourhoods form the urban tissue of the city both physically and socially.
The concept of the neighborhood is well established as a basic unit of planning
the cities. Further, it is a popular and accepted element of social and physical
organization in the minds of most people. Hence the neighborhood has become
the symbol and the means to preserve the socio-cultural values of an earlier less
harried way of life in our increasingly complex and fast moving urban centers.
This also causes enhancement in the social-cultural bonds that would result as a
direct outcome of improvement in physical conditions of a neighborhood.