{"id":1391,"date":"2015-03-09T07:31:27","date_gmt":"2015-03-09T07:31:27","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.qu.edu.qa\/qatarurbanism\/?page_id=1391"},"modified":"2015-04-25T05:40:16","modified_gmt":"2015-04-25T05:40:16","slug":"the-neighborhood-unit-2","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"http:\/\/blogs.qu.edu.qa\/qatarurbanism\/urban-design-in-history\/the-neighborhood-unit-2\/","title":{"rendered":"\u201cThe Neighborhood Unit\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"

From the regional plan to New York and its Environs (1929) – Clarence Perry<\/em><\/p>\n

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Author<\/strong><\/p>\n

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fig 1 Clarence Arthur Perry<\/p><\/div>\n

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Clarence Arthur Perry was an American planner, sociologist, author, and educator. He was born in Truxton, New York. He later worked in the New York City planning department where he became a strong advocate of the Neighborhood unit.<\/p>\n

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SUMMARY<\/strong><\/p>\n

In the 1920s, early in the automobile age, American architect Clarence Perry thought deeply about the way in which the growth of cities and the rise of the automobiles were affecting neighborhoods and characteristics that make good neighborhoods.<\/p>\n

He articulated a philosophy for maintaining human-scale neighborhoods in the modern world that has had a profound impact on twentieth century urban planning and remains extremely relevant nowadays.<\/p>\n

Every great city is a conglomerate of smaller communities.<\/strong><\/p>\n

He wrote about the cellular city. The \u201ccellular city \u201c is the inevitable product of the automobile age. It is the quality of life within these smaller communities that will most shape individuals\u2019 experience.<\/p>\n

Perry noted that in the past many people felt a strong identity with villages and small towns, a perception shared by the new urbanists.\u00a0 But by the time, Perry wrote that the express highways were cutting up residential areas into small islands separated from each other.<\/p>\n

He also\u00a0noted that the primary school was the central institution to which nuclear families with young children related. The quality of the school was the most important factor in deciding which school district to live in, and the location of the house in relation to school affected home buying choices. Perry argued that neighborhood units\u00a0should be built around schools.<\/span><\/p>\n

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Author’s Introduction<\/strong><\/p>\n

What is known as a neighborhood, and what is now commonly defined as a region, has at least one characteristic in common. They possess a certain unity, which is quite independent of political boundaries.<\/p>\n

In the planning of any large metropolitan area, we find that three kinds of communities are involved:<\/p>\n