Summary of Life, Times and People
Clarence Stein was born in 1882 in Rochester, New York. As child he moved with his family to New York City. Later on in his life, Stein’s ambition was to “improve the living conditions of the poor by providing proper housing and community environments” (McCullough 2012, p9). McCullough credited this motivation to his upbringing and enrollment with an academy run by the Society for Ethical Culture where Stein learned the value of social responsibility. Growing up he was exposed to the living conditions of New York’s Urban Poor (McCullough 2012, pp7-8). Stein briefly attended Columbia University to study interior design. In 1903, Stein then moved to Paris where he shifted his career interest to community architecture …show more content…
This book was written as a guide for anyone building or designing New Towns. Stein believed that change in urban America and Europe was needed. As suggested by Ebenezer Howard, Clarence Stein believed the best way to accomplish this goal was to “build New Towns on new sites”. He believed redevelopment would fail because it was only patching the issues. In the foreword to the revised edition, Stein explains that the book is titled Toward New Towns since the communities described never reached their full potential to be considered what he would call New Towns (Stein 1957, p7 & 9). In a review by James Gillies, he states that “this is an important book for urban land economists”. He also explains, since Stein worked on most of the projects, the book covers the philosophies behind the plans (Gillies 1954, p381). Holford writes “It is an achievement to pass on to posterity a design for a new town” (Holford 1951, p269). Reimer believes readers won’t believe the works described in this book warrant for city planning. He goes on to state that we might want to doubt the scientific credibility of their reasoning however, we should recognize their value made on social history (Reimer 1952, …show more content…
Radburn was designed using ideas from Ebenezer Howard and lessons from the Sunnyside development. The automobile, something they now had to consider, wasn’t an issue with Howard’s ordinal garden city plans. The stock market crash of 1929 slowed down progress before the first neighborhood was even completed. Even though not fully completed, Radburn was still successful. The trademark feature of the town was its cluster of houses that faced away from the roads. The fronts of the houses were connected by pedestrian paths that lead to a common green space (Bamberg 2011, p44, 48 &
Clarence Stein was born in 1882 in Rochester, New York. As child he moved with his family to New York City. Later on in his life, Stein’s ambition was to “improve the living conditions of the poor by providing proper housing and community environments” (McCullough 2012, p9). McCullough credited this motivation to his upbringing and enrollment with an academy run by the Society for Ethical Culture where Stein learned the value of social responsibility. Growing up he was exposed to the living conditions of New York’s Urban Poor (McCullough 2012, pp7-8). Stein briefly attended Columbia University to study interior design. In 1903, Stein then moved to Paris where he shifted his career interest to community architecture …show more content…
This book was written as a guide for anyone building or designing New Towns. Stein believed that change in urban America and Europe was needed. As suggested by Ebenezer Howard, Clarence Stein believed the best way to accomplish this goal was to “build New Towns on new sites”. He believed redevelopment would fail because it was only patching the issues. In the foreword to the revised edition, Stein explains that the book is titled Toward New Towns since the communities described never reached their full potential to be considered what he would call New Towns (Stein 1957, p7 & 9). In a review by James Gillies, he states that “this is an important book for urban land economists”. He also explains, since Stein worked on most of the projects, the book covers the philosophies behind the plans (Gillies 1954, p381). Holford writes “It is an achievement to pass on to posterity a design for a new town” (Holford 1951, p269). Reimer believes readers won’t believe the works described in this book warrant for city planning. He goes on to state that we might want to doubt the scientific credibility of their reasoning however, we should recognize their value made on social history (Reimer 1952, …show more content…
Radburn was designed using ideas from Ebenezer Howard and lessons from the Sunnyside development. The automobile, something they now had to consider, wasn’t an issue with Howard’s ordinal garden city plans. The stock market crash of 1929 slowed down progress before the first neighborhood was even completed. Even though not fully completed, Radburn was still successful. The trademark feature of the town was its cluster of houses that faced away from the roads. The fronts of the houses were connected by pedestrian paths that lead to a common green space (Bamberg 2011, p44, 48 &