Radburn design housing (also called Radburn housing, Radburn design, Radburn principle, or Radburn concept) is a concept for planned housing estates, based upon a design that was originally used in the community of Radburn within Fair Lawn, New Jersey, United States.
The design is typified by the backyards of homes facing the street and the fronts of homes facing one another, over common yards. [1] [2] It is an offshoot of American designs from the English 'garden city' movement and culminated in the design of the partly-built 1929 Radburn estate. [3]
In the US, the Radburn idea reached its ultimate expression in Los Angeles, California, with the design and construction of Clarence Stein and Robert Alexander's Baldwin Hills Village, now known as 'The Village Green'. It opened as apartments for lease to the public on December 7, 1941. Between 1973 and 1978, it was transformed into an HOA community of 629 unit-owners. It has been designated a National Historic Landmark. [4]
It is often referred to as an urban design experiment that is typified by failure because of its laneways being used as common entries and exits to the houses, helping to isolate communities and to encourage crime. There have been efforts to 'de-Radburn' or demolish some Radburn designed public housing areas in Australia. [5]
When interviewed in 1998, the architect responsible for introducing the design to public housing in New South Wales, Australia, Philip Cox, was reported to have admitted with regard to a Radburn-designed estate in the suburb of Villawood: "Everything that could go wrong in a society went wrong.... It became the centre of drugs, it became the centre of violence and, eventually, the police refused to go into it. It was hell." [5]
The impact of Radburn's urban form on energy conservation for short, local trips was considered in a 1970 study by John Lansing of the University of Michigan. [6] The study found Radburn's design to have important implications for energy conservation: 47% of its residents shopped for groceries on foot, compared to 23% for Reston, Virginia (another Radburn-type development but more car-oriented) and only 8% for a nearby, unplanned community.
Walt Disney was influenced by Radburn and the works of Howard in his planning for Disneyland, Walt Disney World, more specifically, his original vision of the Experimental Prototype Community of Tomorrow (concept) (EPCOT). Disney incorporated the pedestrian pathway concept into his own future city planning: "Children going to and from schools and playgrounds will use these paths, always completely safe and separated from the automobile."
Other Radburn innovations that Disney would look to incorporate into his plans for EPCOT were cul-de-sacs, collector streets and common open spaces within superblocks. [7]
In Canada, the Radburn concept was used in the late 1940s and early 1950s, most notably in Halifax and Winnipeg. Westmount Subdivision in Halifax features a Radburn neighbourhood on the site of the original Halifax Municipal airport. In Winnipeg, Manitoba, there are eight distinct Radburn subdivisions:
Today, as in Westmount in Halifax and Wildwood Park in Winnipeg, Radburn designs are considered to be desirable middle to upper-middle income neighbourhoods to reside in.
Clarence Stein incorporated Radburn design principles into the plan of Alcan company town Kitimat, British Columbia in the 1950s, and the developers of Varsity Village and Braeside, subdivisions in Calgary, Alberta also used the Radburn model in the late 1960s.[ citation needed ]
In Australia, the first example of the Radburn model was used for a housing estate for workers at the Commonwealth Munitions works in St. Marys, Sydney, from 1942, the architect being Walter Bunning. [8] The model was also used in the planning of some Canberra suburbs developed in the 1960s, in particular Charnwood, Curtin and Garran, and a small part of Hughes. In 2014, with plans for demolition of houses under the Mr Fluffy asbestos home demolition scheme being developed, it was realised that a significant number of the houses treated with loose asbestos, and thus affected, were in the Radburn areas. [9]
In Western Australia it was used in the 1970s in the southern suburb of Thornlie in what is known as the Crestwood Estate. Today the estate is considered to be a highly successful implementation of the Radburn principles. It also inspired the design of South Hedland which clustered four residential neighbourhoods around a commercial core. [10] The design was quickly considered a failure by residents and government authorities and abandoned in 1974. [11] Other examples include Withers Housing Estate, in South Bunbury [12] and Karawara.
It was also used in the Melbourne suburb of Doncaster East in an area known as the Milgate Park Estate.[ citation needed ] In the mid-1960s the Fountain Gate Housing Estate in Narre Warren was designed with Radburn design principles. [13] The design was also applied in the 1970s in Minto, an outer suburb of Sydney, Australia where it was one of a number of factors leading to serious social problems on the estate. [1] In New South Wales the then Housing Commission used the Radburn concept in numerous new estates built in the mid to late 1960s and early 1970s. Many of the medium density dwellings are being 'turned around' by lowering the road side 'rear' fence and fencing off the 'front yards that share a communal space.[ when? ][ citation needed ]
The lane ways have long been a problem giving local youth a place to hide and evade motorized police patrols while launching raids into homes virtually unobserved.[ dubious ][ citation needed ] One benefit of this plan not often mentioned is that it allows for narrower streets in the cul-de-sacs that serve the backs of the houses. This means lower costs as less bitumen, piping and cabling is needed to service the homes. In major Radburn areas such as Mt Druitt in Sydney the current Housing NSW are selling off many of their properties as they pass their economical maintenance life and begin to cost more than they are worth. Other properties, particularly the blocks of flats often housing the less affluent and educated are being demolished and new medium density developments built in their place. These are being given to the aged and (specifically migrant) families rather than the former residents, many of whom were on parole or being reintroduced to the general community after treatment for various psychiatric disorders.[ citation needed ]
Planning for new towns built for the iron ore industry in Australia in the late 1960s was also heavily influenced by Radburn principles. They included South Hedland, Dampier, Shay Gap (now demolished) and Karratha. [14]
The Orchard Park Estate, Kingston upon Hull, UK was built beginning 1963 to the Radburn design, with several other council estates in the city following that pattern - most notably Bransholme. [2] At Skelmersdale, UK the Radburn design layout was explicitly blamed by residents for problems of antisocial behaviour; specifically that unobserved rear parking gave areas prone to crime. [15] In The Meadows, Nottingham the model also led to anti-social behaviour problems : Nottingham City Council has stated that "the problems associated with the layout of the New Meadows Radburn style layout... contribute to the anti-social behaviour and crime in the area." [16] However, councillors in Kent have suggested the reputation is unfair, instead blaming negative press coverage and unfavourable views towards incomers from London following slum clearances. [17]
In the new town of Hemel Hempstead the Grove Hill neighbourhood, one of the seven planned neighbourhoods, was partly designed using the Radburn model. The Stanshawe Estate (at one time the largest private estate in Europe), in the south-west of Yate, South Gloucestershire in England was developed using the Radburn model. Parts of Abbeydale in Gloucester surrounding the Heron Way spine road have been built using the Radburn design. Elsewhere in England the model was employed in an extension to Letchworth Garden City and in the New Town of Bracknell, particularly in the neighbourhoods of Great Hollands, Wildridings and Hanworth.[ citation needed ]
Much of the early new town of Livingston in West Lothian was built to a Radburn design plan. [18]
In Haywards Heath the Wilmington Way Estate was designed on Radburn principles, which "resulted in an absence of properly overlooked streets and encouraged crime and anti-social behaviour". [19] The estate was demolished and rebuilt in a different layout between 2010 and 2013 (the original layout then being considered "poor and outdated" [20] and the buildings life-expired).
The Lakes Estate in what is now Milton Keynes (but preceded it) was designed and built by the Greater London Council as part of its London overspill developments around Bletchley. [21] [ page needed ] "Less than fifty years after completion the Lakes Estate ranked in the top 10 most deprived areas in England for crime, income and health deprivation according to the Index of Multiple Deprivation (IMD 2015). The urban principles of the Radburn System have contributed to a place that lacks prosperity, pride, or opportunities for healthy and happy lifestyles." [22]
Radburn is an unincorporated community located within the borough of Fair Lawn in Bergen County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey.
A planned community, planned city, planned town, or planned settlement is any community that was carefully planned from its inception and is typically constructed on previously undeveloped land. This contrasts with settlements that evolve organically.
A dead end, also known as a cul-de-sac, no through road or no exit road, is a street with only one inlet or outlet.
Don Mills is a mixed-use neighbourhood in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It was developed in the 1950s and 1960s to be a self-supporting "new town" and was at the time located outside Toronto proper in the suburb of North York. Consisting of residential, commercial and industrial sub-districts, it was planned and developed by private enterprise.
Water Eaton is an area of Milton Keynes, Buckinghamshire, England and in the civil parish of Bletchley and Fenny Stratford. It is to the south of, and contiguous with, Fenny Stratford. It is one of the ancient Buckinghamshire villages that became incorporated as part of Milton Keynes in 1967.
Airds is a predominantly residential suburb of Sydney. Houses within the suburb are owned by Housing NSW.
The garden city movement was a 20th century urban planning movement promoting satellite communities surrounding the central city and separated with greenbelts. These Garden Cities would contain proportionate areas of residences, industry, and agriculture. Ebenezer Howard first posited the idea in 1898 as a way to capture the primary benefits of the countryside and the city while avoiding the disadvantages presented by both. In the early 20th century, Letchworth, Brentham Garden Suburb, and Welwyn Garden City were built in or near London according to Howard's concept and many other garden cities inspired by his model have since been built all over the world.
Thornlie is a large residential suburb of Perth, the capital city of Western Australia, located 15 kilometres (9.3 mi) south-east of the city's central business district. It is a part of the City of Gosnells local government area. The Canning River runs through the northern side of the suburb. Since the 1950s the suburb has developed in approximately five stages; north-east Thornlie (1950s–60s), south Thornlie (1970s–80s), Crestwood (1970s), Castle Glen (1980s) and Forest Lakes.
Curtin is a suburb in Canberra, Australia, part of the Woden Valley district; its postcode is 2605.
The fused grid is a street network pattern first proposed in 2002 and subsequently applied in Calgary, Alberta (2006) and Stratford, Ontario (2004). It represents a synthesis of two well known and extensively used network concepts: the "grid" and the "Radburn" pattern, derivatives of which are found in most city suburbs. Both concepts were conscious attempts to organize urban space for habitation. The grid was conceived and applied in the pre-automotive era of cities starting circa 2000 BC and prevailed until about 1900 AD. The Radburn pattern emerged in 1929 about thirty years following the invention of the internal combustion engine powered automobile and in anticipation of its eventual dominance as a means for mobility and transport. Both these patterns appear throughout North America. "Fused" refers to a systematic recombination of the essential characteristics of each of these two network patterns.
South Hedland or Port Hedland City Centre is a suburb of the Town of Port Hedland, in the Pilbara region in north-western Western Australia. It is the CBD of the Town of Port Hedland and is the Port Hedland Town Centre. It can be reached by the North West Coastal Highway and Great Northern Highway. It contains Hedland Senior High School.
Public housing in Singapore is subsidised, built, and managed by the Government of Singapore. Starting in the 1930s, the country's first public housing was built by the Singapore Improvement Trust (SIT) in a similar fashion to contemporaneous British public housing projects, and housing for the resettlement of squatters was built from the late 1950s. In the 1960s under the SIT's successor, the Housing and Development Board (HDB), public housing consisting of small units with basic amenities was constructed as quickly and cheaply as possible at high densities and used for resettlement schemes. From the late 1960s, housing programmes focused more on quality, public housing was built in new towns, and a scheme allowing residents to lease their flats was introduced. Throughout the 1970s and 1980s, more public housing options were provided for the middle class and efforts to increase community cohesion within housing estates were made. From the 1990s, the government began portraying public housing as an asset, introducing large-scale upgrading schemes and loosening regulations on the resale of public housing while additional housing programmes for the sandwich classes and elderly residents were introduced. Rising housing prices led to public housing being seen as an investment from the 2000s, and new technologies and eco-friendly features were incorporated into housing estates.
Varsity is an established neighbourhood in the Northwest quadrant of Calgary, Alberta. It was developed in the 1960s and early 1970s on a plateau to the north of the Bow River valley, and is primarily composed of Single-detached dwellings on wide lots. The neighbourhood comprises three major areas: Varsity Acres, Varsity Village, and Varsity Estates. Varsity is bounded on the north and east by Crowchild Trail, on the west by the Bow River, and on the south by 32nd Avenue NW. It borders the neighbourhoods of Silver Springs and Bowness on the west side, and both Montgomery and the University of Calgary campus on the south side. The easternmost portion of Varsity contains the University of Calgary Research Park.
The new towns of Singapore are planned communities located across Singapore that are designed to be self contained. Designed to house up to 300,000 residents, these new towns contain areas zoned for housing, recreation and employment, and are composed of multiple neighbourhoods, each of which is further subdivided into multiple precincts. Amenities in these new towns are provided through a multi-tiered system, and based on Housing and Development Board (HDB) guidelines. As of 2022, the country has 24 new towns.
Sydenham is an eastern suburb of the town of Leamington Spa, Warwickshire, England.
While purpose-built towns and cities have many precedents in antiquity - the 195 BC iteration of Chang'an providing a case in point - the New Towns movement refers to an ideologically-driven social campaign. An associated government-driven building and development program to realise the creation of new towns took place in two tranches in the United Kingdom after World War II. Towns were planned and built with two main intentions: to remedy overcrowding and congestion, and to organize scattered ad hoc settlements. An additional purpose was to rehouse people in freshly built, fully planned towns that were completely self-sufficient for the community. Ideological aspects of environmental determinism predominated in this last purpose.
The Meadows or Meadows is an area of Nottingham, England, south of the city centre, close to the River Trent and connected to West Bridgford in the Borough of Rushcliffe by Trent Bridge and the Wilford Suspension Bridge. Victoria Embankment runs alongside the River Trent to the south of the Meadows and is home to the Nottingham War Memorial Gardens.
The sustainable urban neighbourhood (SUN) is an urban design model which is part of 21st-century urban reform theory, moving away from the typical suburban development of the UK and US towards more continental city styles. It emerged in the UK in the 1990s, specifically from pioneering work by URBED, an urban regeneration consultancy and research centre in Manchester.
Public housing in the United Kingdom, also known as council housing or social housing, provided the majority of rented accommodation until 2011 when the number of households in private rental housing surpassed the number in social housing. Dwellings built for public or social housing use are built by or for local authorities and known as council houses. Since the 1980s non-profit housing associations became more important and subsequently the term "social housing" became widely used, as technically council housing only refers to housing owned by a local authority, though the terms are largely used interchangeably.
A council house or council flat is a form of British public housing built by local authorities. A council estate is a building complex containing a number of council houses and other amenities like schools and shops. Construction took place mainly from 1919 after the Housing Act 1919 to the 1980s, with much less council housing built since then. There were local design variations, but they all adhered to local authority building standards. The Housing Acts of 1985 and 1988 facilitated the transfer of council housing to not-for-profit housing associations with access to private finance, and these new housing associations became the providers of most new public-sector housing. The characterisation of council houses as 'problem places' was key for leading this movement of transferring public housing stock to the private arena. By 2003, 36.5% of the social rented housing stock was held by housing associations.
