Radburn design housing

The objective of the planners Clarence Stein and Henry Wright in the late 1920s was to accommodate the increasing car traffic of the time while keeping it separate from pedestrian spaces and to prevent accidents.

[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.

"[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.

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."

[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.

][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.

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.

[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.

[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.

"[17] 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.

[19] 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".