- Radburn, New Jersey was a planned community developed in the 1920s to separate pedestrian and vehicular traffic through superblocks and cul-de-sacs. It aimed to provide efficient housing and preserve open space. However, residents primarily used their homes' rear vehicle entrances rather than the pedestrian greenways as intended, and preferred more private yard space than Radburn's clustered design allowed. Financial troubles during the Great Depression also contributed to Radburn's failure to fully achieve its visionary planning objectives.

1. RADBURN PLANNING
SUBMITTED BY :
AKSHITA GARG
18/AR/003

2. CONTENT
INTRODUCTION
FACTORS INFLUENCED RADBURN'S PLANNING
OBJECTIVES
CONCEPT
PLANNING
HOUSING UNIT LAYOUT
FAILURE

3. INTRODUCTION
• Radburn is located within the Borough of Fair Lawn, Bergen County,
New Jersey, 12 miles from New York City.
• Radburn plans is developed by Clarence Stein and Henry Wright.
• It was started in 1929.
• Size of 149 acres, includes 430 single family homes, 90 row houses,
54 semi-attached houses and a 93 apartment unit, as well as a
shopping center, parks and amenities.
• One of the most publicized, long-lived and influential models of
rational planning.
• A partially built, planned settlement in northern New Jersey
represents the influence of the English Garden City rational
scientific planning.

4. RADBUN CITY
PLAN

5. FACTORS THAT INFLUENCED RADBURN'S
PLANNING
• Rapid industrialization after World War I.
• Migration of Rural to Cities.
• Dramatic growth of Cities.
• Housing Shortage.
• The need to provide housing and protect from motorized traffic.

6. OBJECTIVES OF RADBURN
• Decentralized, self-contained settlements, organized to promote environmental considerations by conserving open space, harnessing the
auto and promoting community life;
• Key features:
o Hierarchical transportation systems
o Cul-de-sacs
o Footpath systems
o Underpasses
o Shopping center
o Ideal size of 30,000 people
o Homogeneity
o Large-scale development
o Clustered superblock
o Mixed-use
o Interior park

7. RADBURN'S CONCEPT
• SEPARATION of pedestrian and vehicular planning.
• SUPER BLOCK – large block surrounded by main
roads.
• Houses grouped around small CUL DE SACS – each
access from main road.
• Living, Bedroom faced gardens & parks, service areas
to ACCESS ROADS.
• PARK AREAS - remaining land.
• WALKWAYS - designed such that pedestrians can
reach social places without crossing automobile
street.

8. PLANNING OF RADNURN
• The street plan formed a pattern of rectangular blocks
divided into rectangular lots that were usually very
narrow to conserve on utility lines and very deep to
conserve on streets.
• The curvilinear design was then revised to give some
resemblance of character to the subdivision to subdue
to deadly monotony of parallel streets stretching to
infinity.
• When parking is desired on each side of the street,
the right of way is between 54- 64 feet wide,
pavement width 36 feet.
• It suggests parking on one side only since the traffic
lanes should not be less than 10 feet wide.

9. LAYOUT OF HOUSING UNITS
• The houses were oriented in reverse of the conventional
placement on the plot.
• Kitchens and garages faced the road, living rooms and
bedrooms turned toward the garden.
• Pathways provided uninterrupted pedestrian access to a
continuous park strip, which led to large common open
spaces within the center of the superblock.
• The 2900 residents of Radburn share 23 acres of interior
parks, which yield 345 square feet / person.
• These parks provide small districts for the city.

10. FAILURE OF RADBURN PLANNING
• The design of Radburn believed that people would actively use the front of the houses
facing the greenways.
• In reality, people come and "leave" from the back of the houses and the vehicles, not
pedestrian access.
• More people and children walking and playing in the 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 large green space in common.
• The Depression pushed the builder, City Housing Corporation, into bankruptcy.

11. THANK YOU