Clarence Arthur Perry (1872 – September 6, 1944) was an American urban planner, 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. He was an early promoter of neighborhood community and recreation centers. He began his education as a student at

Stanford University Stanford University, officially Leland Stanford Junior University, is a private research university in Stanford, California. The campus occupies , among the largest in the United States, and enrolls over 17,000 students. Stanford is consider ...

for two years then finished his degree at Cornell University 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 then became a special agent for the United States Immigration Commission from 1908–1909. During the summer of 1912, he served as a lecturer at New York University. 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 The Russell Sage Foundation is an American non-profit organisation established by Margaret Olivia Sage in 1907 for “the improvement of social and living conditions in the United States.” It was named after her recently deceased husband, rail ...

as associate director of recreation until 1937. His ideas were realized in neighborhoods like

Radburn Radburn may refer to: Places *Radburn, New Jersey, an American suburb and the basis for later housing planning designs known as 'Radburn estates' *Radburn (NJT station), railway station People *Jade Radburn, English football defender *Will Radbur ...

through the work of

Clarence Stein Clarence Samuel Stein (June 19, 1882 – February 7, 1975) was an American urban planner, architect, and writer, a major proponent of the garden city movement in the United States. Biography Stein was born in Rochester, New York into an upwardly ...

. 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