The assignment is done by a student of BMSSA on a Case Study on Clarence Stein for the contribution he made towards Urban planning.

1. 24 March 2020
URBAN PLANNING ASSIGNMENT 2
CLARENCE STEIN
YAMINI
1BQ16AT117

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INTRODUCTION
CLARENCE STEIN
(188–1975). American architect and planner.
He founded the Regional Planning Association to promote solutions to
urban overcrowding and applied Ebenezer Howard's Garden City ideas to
two important developments: Sunnyside Gardens, Queens, NYC (from
1924), and Radburn, NJ (from 1926), both with Henry Wright (1878–
1936).
The separation of pedestrians from vehicular traffic and the large
communal gardens of Radburn were influential, and Stein later promoted
these in his Towards New Towns for America (1951).
He advised on the creation of Chatham Village, Pittsburgh, PA (from
1930), and Baldwin Hills Village, Los Angeles, CA (from 1941).
He was associated with Mumford and others in his work.
Architectural preservation is an
important form of environmental
sustainability, combining ecological
and cultural benefits. It reduces
wasteful consumption and
strengthens our ties with great
design from the past.
Stein's biography spans a
fascinating period in urban history,
as planners of the early 20th
century faced the opportunities and
problems associated with modern
industrialization.
After studying architecture at
Columbia University and the École
des Beaux-Arts, he worked
for Bertram Goodhue for eight
years before starting a firm
with Henry Wright in 1919. They
later founded the Regional
Planning Association of America
(RPAA), working closely with Lewis
Mumford, Benton
MacKaye, Catherine Bauer Wurster,
and Alexander Bing in support of
affordable housing, wilderness
preservation, and management of
urban sprawl.

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SUSTAINABLE
HOUSING AND
THE LEGACY
OF CLARENCE
STEIN
The RPAA sponsored a visit
by Patrick Geddes in 1923, and
Stein and Wright visited Ebenezer
Howard and Raymond Unwin in
England the following year. Their
influential body of work
includes Sunnyside Gardens in
Queens, Hillside Homes in the
Bronx, Walt Whitman
Houses in Brooklyn, Chatham
Village in Pittsburgh, Baldwin
Hills Village in Los
Angeles, Radburn in New
Jersey, and Kitimat in British
Columbia. These communities
feature gardens, shared
courtyards, and parks closely
integrated with housing. Stein
and Wright used cul-de-
sacs, superblocks,
and greenbelts to separate
neighborhoods as much as
possible from highways and
reduce traffic congestion. Such
arrangements drew criticism in
later years from Jane Jacobs and
other advocates of vibrant street
life. The Great Depression and
World War II prevented Stein and
the RPAA from securing the
financial and political backing to
realize their vision for true garden
cities (with local employment,
public transportation links, and
limitations on sprawl). However,
their attempts have inspired
generations of planners and their
built projects are now being
preserved as historic landmarks.

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Sunnyside Gardens in Queens, just after completion in 1924, showing private gardens, shared central green space, playgrounds,
tennis courts, and a railway to Manhattan in the distance (upper right).
In Toward New Towns for America (1951), Stein explains his work
through a series of reflective case studies.
He recalls efforts to keep new towns affordable and encourage
"good living" by way of healthy and attractive environments.
Apartments around a courtyard in Radburn

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He criticizes real estate development that favors profit over quality living
conditions, citing related health problems, congested streets,
environmental damage, and inefficient use of resources.
He's especially critical of impersonal housing and dangerous roadways.
Channeling Howard, he calls for comprehensively planned, small-scale,
pedestrian-oriented communities ensconced in green space.
Also like Howard, he encourages planners to live in the communities
they've helped establish, or at least visit often, staying aware of changing
needs and making adjustments with the help of local residents.
He dedicated to provide quality housing for low-income citizens, is an
inspiring counterpoint to prevailing trends in real estate development.
Riding by a park in Radburn. Stein was an early supporter of bicycle
paths separated from busy streets.
Pedestrian bridge over Fairlawn Avenue in Radburn

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A plan for blocks with shared interior courtyards at Sunnyside Gardens.
Plan of Radburn's Burnham Place cul-de-sac.

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CONCEPT
WHAT IS A NEIGHBOURHOOD UNTI PLAN?
The neighborhood unit plan is to create residential neighborhood to
meet the needs of family life in a unit related to the Larger whole but
possessing a district entity characterized by these factors:
 A child need not cross traffic streets on the way to school.
 A centrally located elementary school which will be within easy
walking distance, no more than one and half mile from the farthest
dwelling.
 A housewife can walk to shopping center to obtain daily household
gifts.
 Convenient transportation to and from the workplace.
 Scattered neighborhood parks and playgrounds to comprise about
10% of the whole area.
 A residential environment with harmonious architecture, careful
planting, centrally located community buildings, and special
internal street system with deflection of all through traffic
preferably on thoroughfares which bound and clearly set off
neighborhood.

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CLARENCE STEIN’S PLANNING THEORY
The urban design principles of Stein and Wright included the idea of a superblock of
residential units grouped around a central green, the separation of vehicles and
pedestrians, and a road hierarchy with cul-de-sac for local access roads. A cluster of
superblocks was to form a self-contained neighborhood. A group of neighborhoods
would then comprise the city.
The neighborhood model was in essence a hierarchical one comprising 4 levels:
 Enclave
 Block
 Superblock
 Neighborhood
ENCLAVE
 The fundamental component was the enclave of twenty
or so houses.
 These houses were arrayed in a U-formation about a
short vehicular street called lane, a cul de-sac (dead end)
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.

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SUPERBLOCK
 The clustered 5 blocks together with the central parkway comprised what Stein and Wright termed a superblock.
Twelve miles west of New York City, the rural borough of Fair Lawn, New Jersey,
became the site for the radburn experiment underwritten by Alexander Bing’s City
Housing Corporation in 1928. Landscape architects and planners Clarence Stein and
Henry Wright inserted cul-de-sacs of single-family homes and duplexes into
connecting common spaces, setting a precedent for the new deal’s “green towns,”
including Greenbelt, Maryland, and for 1960’s “new towns” such as Reston, Virginia.
Radburn’s key innovations concentrate around the separation of car and pedestrian
movement. The houses have a “double front” quality-the street side with the garage
entrance, and the pedestrian side’s English Mews character onto which the primary
rooms of each house face. Landscape architect Marjorie Sewell Cautley designed the
parks and open spaces, intentionally selecting plants native to northern New Jersey.
The intersection of commuter rail lines with an arterial highway provided the ideal
location for central shopping district. Radburn-fair lawn station, designed by Stein in
1930, was joined by retail stored, often with offices and apartments above street level.
NEIGHBOURHOOD
 Four to six superblocks commonly formed a
neighborhood that was bounded by major roads or
natural features.
 At the end of the parkway there could be a small
school with community rooms.
 Roads in the neighborhood were to be hierarchical –
major through traffic roads to border each
neighborhood, distributor roads to surround each
superblock, and cul-de-sac to provide access to
individual parking lots.
 Stein emphasized that the prime goal was to goal
was to design a town for the automobile age. In fact,
the title on of drawing of the town plan was A town
for the motor age.
CASE STUDY – RADBURN, NEW JERSEY.

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RADBURN’S PLANNING
FACTORS THAT INFLUENCED FOR THE CREATION OF
RADBURN
 Rapid industrialization after World War 1
 Migration of Rural to Cities
 Dramatic growth of cities
 Housing cities / Suburbs
 The need to provide housing and protect from motorized traffic
Radburn – 1929
Population – 25000
Area – 149 acres
Single houses – 430
Row houses – 90
Semi attached houses – 54
Apartment units – 93

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 The total area of the city is 149 acres with 23 acres as interior parks and four
tennis courts, three baseball field, two softballs fields, two swimming pools, and
an archery plaza.
 The young kids and their parents can make use of two toddler playgroup areas,
two playgrounds, and a toddler bathing pool.
 One of the principle that is applied is maximum radius for walking distance from
home to the community should be 400M maximum.
 Shopping areas are situated at the intersecting traffic streets on the outside
corners rather than the centre unit.
 Cul-de-sac grouping i.e. clusters were done using vehicular and pedestrian
movements.
 Other amenities for recreational activities planned for entire community like tot
lots, preschools, sports, aerobics, amateur dramatics, library, clubroom etc.

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OBECTIVES
 To promote environmental consideration by conserving open space, arrange
buildings and grounds as to give sunlight, air and tolerable outlook to even the
smallest and cheapest house.
 Providing self-contained settlement i.e. provide playgrounds, schools, theatres,
public buildings, stores and religious buildings all together.
 Putting factories and other industrial buildings where they can be used without
wasteful transportation of goods and people.
 Develop collectively services as well as to add comfort of the individual, at lower
cost than is possible under individual operation.
 Arrange for the occupancy of the houses on a fair basis of cost of what needs to be
done in organizing, building and maintaining the community.
 To make the place of man’s habitation and industry and fit the health
requirements of his daily life in the same area.

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CONCEPT
THE MOVEMENT – separation of pedestrian and vehicular movement.
SUPER BLOCK – large blocks surrounded by the main roads.
CUL-DE-SAC – houses grouped around small cul-de-sac (dead ends or round about)
and each house accessed from main road.
WALKWAYS – designed such that pedestrian can reach social places without
crossing automobile street.
VIEWS – living rooms, bedroom faced the gardens and parks, service areas to the
access roads.
GREENS – remaining land was parks and gardens.

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PLANNING
CLARENCE STEIN AND HENRY WRIGHT’S SIX PLANKS
FOR A HOUSING PLATFORM
1. Plan simply, but comprehensively. Don’t stop at the individual property line.
Adjust paving, sidewalks, sewers and the like to the particular needs of the
property dealt with – not to a conventional pattern.
2. Arrange the buildings and grounds so as to give sunlight, air and a tolerable
outlook to even the smallest and cheapest house.
3. Provide ample sites in the right places for community use ie playgrounds,
schools, gardens, schools, theatres, churches, public buildings and stores. Put
factories and other industrial buildings where they can be used without wasteful
transportation of goods or people.
4. Cars must be parked and sorted, deliveries made, waste collected – plan for such
services with a minimum of danger, noise and confusion.
5. Brings private and public land into relationship and plan buildings and groups of
buildings with relation to each other. Develop collectively such services as well as
add to the comfort of the individual, at lower cost than is possible under
individual operation.
6. Arrange for the occupancy of the houses on a fair basis of cost and services,
including the cost of what needs to be done in organizing, building and
maintaining the community.
CUL-DE-SAC
 The dead end or cul-de-sac street came into use to eliminate through traffic in
positive manner.
 Cul-de-sac terminate in circular to retain their inherent advantages; they should
be short of minimum length of 450 feet.
 Long cul-de-sacs, induce accelerated traffic speeds and render access for service
and fire protection more complicated.

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 It eliminates the necessity for the turn around and provides the continuous
circulation that is required by some communities to assure no interference with
the accessibility of fire protection and other services.
FEATURES
 Hierarchical transportation systems
 Cul-de-sacs
 Footpath systems
 Underpasses
 Shopping centres
 Homogeneity
 Ideal city for 30,000 people
 Large scale development
 Clustered superblock
 Mixed use
 Interior parks

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LAYOUT OF THE HOUSES
 The houses were oriented in reverse of conventional placement on the plot.
 Kitchens and gardens faced the road, living rooms and bedrooms turned towards
the garden.
 Pathways provided uninterrupted pedestrian access to a continuous park strip,
which led to large common open spaces within the centre of the superblock.
 The 2900 residents of radburn share 23 acres of interiors parks, which yield 345
sqft per person.
 The Plaza building is the only neighbourhood shopping centre and its tall clock
tower has been a landmark since 1927.
 Radburn works as a garden city and a wonderful example of well-designed
community because every piece is integrated perfectly into one body.

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PROS
 Separation of vehicular and pedestrian movement: this was accomplished by
giving away the traditional grid-iron street patter and replacing it with new
innovation called super blocks.
 Superblock is a large block of land surrounded by main roads on all its size.
 The houses are grouped around small cul-de-sacs each of which has an access
road coming from the main road.
 To maintain the separation of pedestrian and vehicular traffic, a pedestrian
underpass and an overpass, linking the superblocks were provided.
 The system was so devised that a pedestrian could start at any given point and
proceed on foot to school, stores or church without crossing a street used by
automobiles.
CONS
 The design of radburn believed that people would actively use the front of the
houses facing the greenway.
 In reality, people enter and exit from the back of the houses and the vehicles not
the pedestrian access.
 More people and children walking and playing in little driveways and cul-de-sacs
than on the actual greenways.
 Second, the market has repeatedly shown that homeowners prefer more personal
land around their homes to living on tiny lots and sharing a larger green space in
common.
 The Depression pushed the builder, City Housing Corporation, into bankruptcy.
CONCLUSION
 Compared to contemporary developments, the Radburn plan is safer, orderly,
convenient, spacious and peaceful.
 Many developers have used one or more aspects of Radburn plan and its
implementations in their own suburbs.
 From a socialist point of view, Radburn is not only an ideally planned place to
live, but it establishes a real mode or plan of living.
 Radburn idea is now a suburban model of choice.

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APPLICATIONS
 USA
 Baldwin hills
 Los Angeles
 Kit mat BC
 Reston
 Virginia
 Columbia
 Maryland
 ENGLAND
 Coventry
 Stevenage
 Bracknell
 Cumbernauld
 SWEDEN
 Gallingly
 Baronbackavana estate, Orebro
 Beskopsgaden estate, Goteborg
 Chandigarh, India
 Brasilia, Brazil
 Several towns in Russia
 Sections of Osaka, Japan
 Wellington, New Zealand