Clarence Arthur Perry (1872 – September 6, 1944
) was an American
urban planner
An urban planner (also known as town planner) is a professional who practices in the field of town planning, urban planning or city planning.
An urban planner may focus on a specific area of practice and have a title such as city planner, town ...
, sociologist, author, and educator. Perry devised the neighbourhood unit plan, a residential community scheme disseminated through the Regional Plan of New York and Its Environs in 1929 that influenced planning in US cities.
Life
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
Generally the concept of the neighborhood unit, crystallised from the prevailing social and intellectual attitudes of the early 1900s by Clarence Perry, is an early diagrammatic planning model for residential development in metropolitan areas. It w ...
. He was an early promoter of neighborhood community and recreation centers.
He began his education as a student at
Stanford University for two years then finished his degree at
Cornell University
Cornell University is a private statutory land-grant research university based in Ithaca, New York. It is a member of the Ivy League. Founded in 1865 by Ezra Cornell and Andrew Dickson White, Cornell was founded with the intention to tea ...
in 1899. He was married to Dr. Julia St. John Wygant in 1901 with whom he had one daughter. In 1904 he continued at the
Teachers College of Columbia University. From 1904–1905 he served as principal of the Ponce High School in
Puerto Rico
Puerto Rico (; abbreviated PR; tnq, Boriken, ''Borinquen''), officially the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico ( es, link=yes, Estado Libre Asociado de Puerto Rico, lit=Free Associated State of Puerto Rico), is a Caribbean island and unincorporated ...
then became a special agent for the
United States Immigration Commission
The United States Immigration Commission (also known as the Dillingham Commission after its chairman, Republican Senator William P. Dillingham of Vermont) was a bipartisan special committee formed in February 1907 by the United States Congress, Pr ...
from 1908–1909. During the summer of 1912, he served as a lecturer at
New York University
New York University (NYU) is a private research university in New York City. Chartered in 1831 by the New York State Legislature, NYU was founded by a group of New Yorkers led by then- Secretary of the Treasury Albert Gallatin.
In 1832, th ...
. During World War I he served overseas as a major then returned in 1924 as a lieutenant colonel in the reserves.
Work
As a staff member of the New York Regional Plan and the City Recreation Committee, Perry formulated his early ideas about the neighborhood unit and community life. In 1909 he became associated with the
Russell Sage Foundation as associate director of recreation until 1937. His ideas were realized in neighborhoods like
Radburn through the work of
Clarence Stein.
He produced several books, many pamphlets and articles though is best remembered for his ''The Neighborhood Unit'' (The Neighbourhood Unit: From the Regional Survey of New York and Its Environs, Volume VII, Neighbourhood and Community Planning, 1929) and ''Housing for the Machine Age'' (1939).
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Perry, Clarence
1872 births
1944 deaths
American urban planners
Urban theorists
Columbia University alumni