The New Jersey Institute of Technology's
Electronic Theses & Dissertations Project

Title:	Vital communities criteria for urban neighborhood development
Author:	Smith, Peter Frederick
View Online:	njit-etd1999-096 (xviii, 189 pages ~ 16.2 MB pdf)
Department:	School of Architecture
Degree:	Master of Architecture
Program:	Architecture
Document Type:	Thesis
Advisory Committee:	Schuman, Anthony W. (Committee chair) Papademetriou, Peter C. (Committee member) Santos, Antonio P. De Sousa (Committee member)
Date:	1999-05
Keywords:	Neighborhood. Community development, Urban. City planning --New Jersey --Newark.
Availability:	Unrestricted
Abstract:	It is the goal of this document to explore the issues and physical attributes related to the creation of vital communities. Research into North American and European precedents of planned community design, from the late 19th Century to the present, and the study of the qualities of vitality of two healthy neighborhoods; The Beaches in Toronto, Canada, and the Ironbound in Newark, New Jersey, have demonstrated that the model for neighborhood development is the main street. Further research determined that Springfield Avenue, in the City of Newark, New Jersey, would provide the armature for the revitalization of an urban neighborhood, because of its former main street quality through the early part of this century. The West Side Park neighborhood, between Bergen Street, Avon Avenue, South 20th Street, and 16th Avenue, was then selected as the site for the application of the design. The design application demonstrated that goals of urbanity, control of the automobile, and increased density are achievable through the physical tools of curb cuts, minimum and maximum building heights and densities, lot coverage, and setback requirements, and that these physical qualities of space can be codified.