Designing Suburban Developments

In this activity, you will:

• Research the growth of suburban development in the United States after World War II
• Design a plan for a suburban development
• Write a rationale about the design choices for your suburban development

• Multiple Parts

• Large paper (at least 11” x 17”)
• Pencils
• Colored pencils
• Suburban Development Design Planning Guide (Google Slides). Print, download, or type directly into the chart by making a copy.

Look at a Photograph of a Suburban Housing Development

William A. Garnett photographed one of the first large-scale housing developments built after World War II, in Lakewood, California (about ten miles southeast of Los Angeles). This city became an important example of postwar suburban growth when the Lakewood Park Company began building one of the first large planned housing developments in the United States. The growth of suburbs after the war was due to the population boom and new mass-production methods in construction.

The developers asked Garnett to photograph various stages of its construction using an aerial view from his Cessna airplane. Look closely at one of these photographs taken in 1950, Trenching Lakewood, California to see what Garnett saw from his plane. (Trenching is an early part of the construction process.) Write or discuss your responses to these questions:

• What do you see in this photograph?
• What shapes do you see? Triangles, organic shapes, or...?
• What kinds of lines do you see? Curvy lines, vertical lines, diagonal, or...?
• Which lines and shapes are repeated and form patterns?
• Do you recognize any of the shapes and lines in the photograph?
• Do the shapes and lines remind you of anything, such as roads or yards?

Read and Research About the Lakewood Housing Development

Lakewood soon became known as a model suburban community and it grew quickly. It featured modern planning ideas such as streetlights, underground utility wires, landscaped barriers between neighborhoods and highways, and a shopping center designed for people traveling by car. The project included around 17,500 homes spread across approximately 3,500 acres of land that had once been used for growing sugar beets. Builders used assembly-line construction methods and were able to complete about 50 houses each day. The development came at an important time for returning World War II veterans, who were able to buy homes using the G.I. Bill, which made homeownership more financially possible.

Research the following questions to learn more about how Lakewood was developed.

• Who was Lakewood built for? What economic and political forces shaped who could and could not buy a home there? Use specific evidence (GI Bill, FHA, restrictive covenants).
• What was the relationship between Lakewood and cars? How did transportation infrastructure shape the design of the community?
• What amenities (parks, schools, libraries, transit, retail) did the original Lakewood plan include, and which did it lack?
• How did the mass-production building process affect the appearance and variety of homes in the neighborhood?
• How have critics and supporters of postwar suburban development described the legacy of Lakewood? What do people today value or criticize about communities like Lakewood?

Design a Suburb

Now it’s your turn to be the planner. You will design a suburban development of approximately 200 acres (about the size of a large neighborhood). You are not recreating Lakewood exactly. Instead, you are designing a new community informed by what you learned from Garnett’s photograph and your research.

Set Your Design Principles

Before you draw a single street, make three decisions and write them down:

• Who is this neighborhood for? (income levels, family types, ages, accessibility needs)
• What values will you prioritize? (affordability, walkability, sustainability, density, green space, mixed income, transit access)
• What is one thing you saw in Garnett’s photograph that you want to replicate, and one thing you deliberately want to do differently? Explain why.

Note Design Constraints

Your development must meet the following requirements:

• It must house between 800 and 1,200 residents.
• It must include at least five different land-use categories. (See chart below.)
• It must include at least one school, one park, and one commercial corridor.
• You must show at least two modes of transportation (e.g., streets and bike paths, or streets and a bus route).
• At least 15% of your land must be designated as green or open space.

Plan Your Suburb

You will need to consider nine land-use categories in your design. Use the Suburban Development Design Planning Guide (Google Slides) to help you plan how you will represent each one on your map.

Create Your Map

On large paper, draw your development map. Your map must include the following elements. Check them off as you complete each one:

• A clear title for your development (give it a name!)
• A north arrow
• A scale bar showing distances (e.g., 1 inch = 500 feet)
• A color-coded legend identifying all land-use zones
• Each of the nine land use categories listed in your Suburban Development Design Planning Guide
• Labels for all major streets, zones, and facilities
• A border showing the full extent of your 200-acre site

Important Considerations

Consider the following questions as your design your community:

• What do you see in Garnett’s photograph that might influence your design? (either something you want to copy or do differently)
• How will you place different zones in your community?
• What aspects of your design will help provide access to city resources such as schools, parks, and public transportation? Is there anyone who might be disadvantaged by your design?
• Are there any features of your design that could help to reduce environmental impact or adapt to climate change?

Write Your Rationale

Write a 600–900 word rationale for your design. This is not a description of your map, but an argument for your design choices. Think of it as a planning memo to a city council that needs to approve your neighborhood.

Your rationale must address the following prompts. You do not need to answer them in this exact order, but each must be clearly covered:

• Photographic Influence: What specific features in Garnett’s photograph most influenced your design? Cite at least two specific visual details.
• Historical Lessons: What did your research tell you about the successes and failures of postwar suburban planning? How did that history shape at least two of your design decisions?
• Land Use Justification: Explain your three most important zoning choices. Why did you place these zones where you did? What would happen if they were placed differently?
• Equity Analysis: Who has good access to resources in your neighborhood? Is there anyone who might be disadvantaged by your design? What would you change if you had more time or resources?
• Sustainability: Identify at least two features of your design intended to reduce environmental impact or adapt to climate change. Why are these important?
• Reflection: What is the most significant way your neighborhood differs from Lakewood? What tradeoff did that choice require?

A mostly residential community or area outside or adjacent to a city or town.

The process of digging long, narrow rows for different purposes such as for utilities, drains, construction preparation, etc.