5. Elements of The Radburn Idea:
Super Block.
Specialized Highway system.
Complete separation of vehicular
and pedestrian traffic.
Park as backbone of the
neighborhood.
Turned around houses
6. INTRODUCTION:
Radburn is located within the Borough of Fair Lawn, Bergen County, New Jersey, 12 miles
from New York City.
Radburn, a planned community, was started in 1929 by the City Housing Corporation from the
plans developed by Clarence Stein and Henry Wright.
The concept of the "new town" grew out of the older planned communities in Europe and the
work of Ebenezer Howard and Patrick Geddes.
The intent was to build a community which made provisions for the complexities of modern
life, while still providing the amenities of open space, community service and economic
viability.
The community was intended to be a self-sufficient entity, with residential, commercial and
industrial areas each supplementing the needs of others.
It is America's first garden community, serving as a world wide example of the harmonious
blending of private space and open area. Radburn provided a prototype for the new towns to
meet the requirements for contemporary good living.
The residential areas include every type of housing unit with a wide range of cost.
7. Radburn means Saddle River in Old English
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
Represented many of the basic principles of planning
theory from 1930s to 1960s
that the maximum radius for walking distance from the
home to the community center should be only 1/4 mile
(400m).
Shopping areas are situated at intersecting traffic streets
on the outside corners rather than at the center of the unit.
8. The basic layout of the community introduced the "super-block" concept, cul-
de-sac (cluster) grouping, interior parklands, and separation of vehicular and
pedestrian traffic to promote safety.
Every home was planned with access to park walks.
There are extensive recreation programs planned for the entire community.
While the orientation is primarily toward children, there is also a full range of
adult activities. Some of the programs are: Tot Lot, Radburn PreSchool, sports,
aerobics, amateur dramatics, library, clubroom facilities.
A diagram showing the street network structure of
Radburn and its nested hierarchy. Separate
pedestrian paths run through the green spaces
between the culs-de-sac and through the central
green spine (Note: the shaded area was not built)
Diagram of the Radburn street pattern showing
the cellular structure of the network and the
nested road hierarchy
9. 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:
hierarchical transportation systems
cul-de-sacs
footpath systems
underpasses
shopping center
ideal size of 30,000 ppl
homogeneity
large-scale development
clustered superblock
mixed-use
Interior park
10. Innovations of Radburn
Separation of pedestrian and vehicular traffic:
This was accomplished by doing away with the traditional grid-iron
street pattern and replacing it with an innovation called the
superblock.
What is a superblock?
The superblock is a large block of land surrounded by main
roads.
The houses are grouped around small cul-de-sacs, each of which
has an access road coming from the main roads.
Finally, to further 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.
11. EMERGENCE OF RADBURN PLANNING.
Inspired by the garden city idea, the city housing
corporation of New York acquired a vacant site in new
jersey within commuting distance of New York city for the
community of Radburn.
The industrialization of the United States after World War I
led to a dramatic growth of the cities during the 1920's.
Population shift led to a severe housing shortage.
In answer to the needs of "modern society", Radburn, the
"Town for the Motor Age" was created in 1929.
12. Planning of radburn
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.
13. Cul-de-sac and the loop street
The cul-de-sac, or dead-end street,
came into use to eliminate through
traffic in a positive manner.
Cul-de-sac terminate in a circular to
retain their inherent advantages, they
should be short-a maximum length of
450 feet is recommended.
Long cul-de-sacs, induce accelerated
traffic speeds and render access for
service and fire protection more
complicated.
It eliminates the necessity for the
turnaround and provides the
continuous circulation that is required
by some communities to assure no
interference with the accessibility of
fire protection and other services.
14. Layout of housing units
The houses were oriented
in reverse of the
conventional placement on
the lot.
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.
15. 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.
The Plaza Building is Radburn’s
only neighborhood shopping
center, and its tall clock tower
has been a neighborhood
landmark since 1927.
Radburn works as a garden city
and a wonderful example of a
well designed community
because every piece is
integrated perfectly into one
body.
16. The parks were secured without additional
cost to the residents.
The savings in expenditures for roads and public
utilities at Radburn, as contrasted with the normal
subdivision, paid for the parks.
The Radburn type of plan requires less area of
street to secure the same amount of frontage.
In addition, for direct access to most houses, it used
narrower roads of less expensive construction, as
well as smaller utility lines.
In fact, the area in streets and length of utilities is
25% less than in the typical American street.
The savings in cost not only paid for 12 - 14% of
the total area that went into internal parks, but also
covered the cost of grading and landscaping the
play spaces and green links connecting the central
block commons.
17. 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.
18.
19. CONCLUSION:
1. Compared to contemporary developments the Radburn plan is
more safer, orderly, convenient, spacious and peaceful.
2. Many developers have used one or more aspects of the Radburn plan
and its implementation in their own suburbs.
3. Radburn idea is now the suburban model of choice.
4. From a sociological point of view, Radburn not only exemplifies an
ideally planned place to live, but it establishes a real mode or plan of
living.
