UNIVERSITY OF DAR ES SALAAM

COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING AND TECHNOLOGY

DEPARTMENT OF STRUCTURAL AND CONSTRUCTION
BACHELOR OF ARCHITECTURE
THIRD YEAR-SECOND SEMISTER
AR 316 STUDIO DESIGN PROJECT VI

NEIGHBOURHOOD CONCEPTS: RADBURN THEORY

2021/20222

PREPARED BY: IHINDULIZA FABIUS

REGISTRATION NUMBER: 2019-04-02622
INSTRUCTORS: DR.FATMA MOHAMED
MS.MARGARET SISILA

1
TABLE OF CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION
OBJECTIVES
CONCEPT
FEATURES
PLANNING
LAYOUT
CASE STUDY
INNOVATIONS
FAILURES
RECOMMENDATIONS
CONCLUSION

2
 INTRODUCTION.
 Radburn is located within the borough of Fair Lawn, Bergen County, New Jersey 12
miles from New York City.
 Radburn is a planned community started in 1929 by the city housing corporation from the
plans developed by Clarence Stein and Henry Wright and the landscape architect
Marjorie Sewell Cautley.
 The city housing corporation acquired a vacant land in New Jersey that was easily
commutable from New York City.
 The industrialization of the United States after World War I led to dramatic growth of
cities and shift of population.
 Population shift led to severe shortage of housing and Radburn development emerged as
a solution to the problem.
 The intent was to build a community which made provisions for the complexities of
modern life while still providing open spaces and being economically viable.

3
 The community was intended to be 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 worldwide example of the
harmonious blending of private area and open spaces.

4
 The total area of the city is 139 acres with 23 acres as interior parks and four tennis
courts, three baseball fields, two softball fields, two swimming pools, and an archery
plaza. Young children and their parents can make use of two toddler playgrounds, and a
toddler bathing pool.
 It includes 430 single family homes, 90 row houses, 54 semi attached houses and 93
apartment units along with shopping centres, open spaces and other amenities.
 One of the principles that is applied is maximum radius for walking distance from the
home to the community should be 400m at most.
 Shopping areas are situated at the intersecting traffic on the outside corners rather than
the centre unit.
 The main concept behind the layout of community was cul-de-sac grouping and
separation of vehicular and pedestrian movements.
 There are extensive range of recreational activities planned for entire community like tot
lots, preschools, sports, aerobics, amateur dramatics, library, clubroom etc.

5
OBJECTIVES

 To ensure environmental
consideration by conserving open
space, arrange buildings and grounds
as to give sunlight, air and a tolerable
outlook to even the smallest cheapest
houses.
 Providing self-contained
settlement i.e., providing
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 will add to the comfort of the
individual, at lower cost than is
possible under individual operation.
 Arrange for the occupancy of
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.
 To make the place of man’s
habitation and industry and to fit the
health requirements of his daily life in
same area.

6
7
 CONCEPT
 SEPARATION of pedestrian and vehicular movement.
 SUPER BLOCK – large block surround by main roads.
 CUL-DE-SAC – houses grouped around small cul-de-sac and each house
accessed from main road.
 Living room, Bedroom faced garden and parks, service areas to access roads.
 Remaining Land – PARK AREAS.
 WALKWAYS- designed such that pedestrians can reach social places without
crossing Automobile Street.

8
 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 I led to a dramatic growth of the
cities during the 1920’s.
 Population shift led to severe housing shortage.
 In answer to the needs of “modern society”.Radburn, “Town for the Motor Age” was
created in 1929.
 It has 2500 people, 149 acres area, 430 single houses, 90 row houses, 54 semi attached
houses, 93 apartment units.
 Its planners were, Clarence Stein and Henry Wright.
 A diagram
showing the street
network structure
of Radburn and its
nested hierarchy.
Separate
pedestrian paths
run through the
green spaces
between the cul-
de-sac and
through the
central green
spine (The shaded
area was not
built).

9
Henry Wright’s “Six Planks for a Housing Platform
i. 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.
ii. Arrange buildings and grounds so as to give sunlight, air and tolerable outlook to even
the smallest and cheapest house.
iii. Provide ample sites in the right places for community use.i.e.playgrounds, schools
gardens, schools, theatres, churches, public buildings and stores.
iv. Put factories and other industrial buildings where they can be used without wasteful
transportation of goods or people.
v. Cars must be parked and stored, deliveries made, waste collected-plan for such services
with a minimum of danger, noise and confusion.
vi. Bring private and public land into relationship and plan buildings and groups of buildings
with relation to each other. Developing collectively such services as will add to the
comfort of the individual, at lower cost than is possible under individual operation.

The neighborhood block, showing the “Six planks of Henry Wright”

10
 Arrange for the occupancy of houses on a fair basis of cost and service, including the cost
what needs to be done in organizing, building and maintaining the community.
 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.
 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 services 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.

FEATURES
 Hierarchical transportation systems
 Cul-de-sacs
 Footpath systems
 Underpasses
 Shopping center
 Ideal size of 30,000 people
 Homogeneity
 Large-scale development
 Clustered superblock
 Mixed-use
 Interior park

11
12
 LAYOUT

 The houses were oriented in reverse of the conventional placement on the plot.
 Kitchen 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.
 The Plaza Building is 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.

13
 CASE STUDY
 USA
 Baldwin Hills

 Kitimat B.C

14
 ENGLAND
 Coventry

 SWEDEN
 Vallingby

15
  Baronbackavna Estate, Orebro

 FLATBUSH,NEW YORK CITY

16
 INNOVATIONS
 Separation of vehicular and pedestrian movement.
 This was accomplished by giving away the grid-iron street pattern and replacing
it with a new innovation called superblocks.
 What is superblock?
 A 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
access road coming from the main road.
 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.

17
NEIGHBOURHOOD SUPERBLOCK

18
 FAILURES
 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
pedestrians’ 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

RECOMMENDATIONS
PROJECT SITE: The area is located at Victoria/Kinondoni B Area; bounded by New
Bagamoyo Road on the North, Kawawa Road on the East, an unnamed road and Kanazi Street
on the South, and Mwananyamala Road on the West.

19
The following can be included in the given neighborhood context:
i. Arranging the buildings and grounds so as to give sunlight, air and tolerable outlook to
even the smallest and cheapest house.
ii. The use of cul-de-sac or Dead End Street which reduce and eliminate traffic in a positive
manner, this also ensures no interferences with accessibility of fire protection and other
services.
iii. Provision of ample sites in the right places for community use such as playgrounds,
school gardens, schools, theatres, churches, public buildings and stores.
iv. Putting factories and other commercial buildings where they can be used without
wasteful transportation of goods or people.
v. Cars must be parked in an orderly manner, waste collection services should be planned
with a minimum danger, noise and confusion to the people.
vi. Bringing private and public land into relationship and plan buildings and groups of
buildings with relation to each other. Developing collectively such services as will add to
the comfort of the individual, at lower cost than is possible under individual operation.

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 implementation
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 suburban model of choice.

20