As the visionary behind the planned community in Radburn, New Jersey, Clarence Stein was heralded as one of the most progressive and controversial American architects and planners of the twentieth century. Stein's admirers placed him in the company of such giants as Lewis Mumford and Benton MacKaye. He championed green-centered, pedestrian-friendly, dispersed residential communities, finding inspiration in his studies in Paris as well as the Garden City movement of Great Britain. His ideas influenced well-known developments in Greenbelt and Columbia, Maryland; Reston, Virginia; and Woodlands, Texas. His collaboration with Benton MacKaye in the Regional Planning Association of America led to building the Appalachian Trail, America's prototypical greenway. His work has influenced community planning all over the world -- including Tapiola, Finland, and other post-war towns of England, Scotland, and Sweden. Stein's dramatic personal and professional story, however, has remained largely unexamined until now.
In The Writings of Clarence S. Stein: Architect of the Planned Community, Kermit Carlyle Parsons presents a wide-ranging selection of more than 500 annotated letters, papers, and other writings that shed light upon the personal struggles and professional achievements of this major force for change in community planning and regional design. Parsons supplements these documents with a succinct biographical introduction to Stein's life and career, 137 illustrations (including photographs, plans of Stein's work, and personal sketches), a complete list of his many projects, a bibliography of Stein's own articles and books as well as articles about him, and biographical sketches of the people mentioned in the documents. The Writings of Clarence S. Stein offers the first full examination of this American whose city planning ideas transformed communities in both the United States and Europe.
