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Vikas Rathore
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RADBURN’S PLANNING CRITERIAS :
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
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
2. Many developers have used one or more aspects of the Radburn plan
and its implementation in their own suburbs.