“The Neighborhood Unit”

Reactions to the excesses of the nineteenth-century industrial city had long since occurred by the late 1920s, and new “scientific” and rationalized approaches to city building were well under way, most particularly public health and housing reforms. Garden suburbs, or something approximating them, were being built throughout Europe and North American cities and quickly occupied as emerging middle-class families sought escape from the congestion and perceived ills of central cities. The outlying suburbs were made possible by the rise of widespread automobile ownership, but ever increasing automobile traffic was beginning to cause urban and suburban woes. Traffic dominated the public space of streets, forced pedestrians onto sidewalks, and was perceived as dangerous for children.