REPRINTED FROM JANUARY 28, 1965

ENGINEERINGNEWS-RECORDCopyright 1965 McGraw-Hill, Inc. All rights reserved. Printed in U.S.A.

The new town plannedto stop urban sprawl

Fitting Cities to the Future

Washington's Year 2000 Plan calls for satellite cities on radial transportation corridors.

Reston Starts Year 2000 PlanWith this report on Reston, Va.,

ENR temporarily shifts the focus of itsFitting Cities series from the rebuildingof decaying central cities to a plan forcontrolling metropolitan expansion.Nearly all of the estimated 80 millionAmericans added to our population dur-ing the next 20 years will live in thesuburbs of our exploding metropolises.Reston illustrates vital planning princi-ples for controlling the chaotic sprawleddevelopment that, for the past two dcc-ades, has consumed land with recklessabandon, created traffic jams and drivencommunity service costs skyward.As part of the national capital's Year

2000 Plan, endorsed by the late Presi-dent Kennedy in November, 1962, Res-ton is the first of 20 satellite cities pro-posed to absorb the major part of thearea's soaring population, which is ex-

pected to rise 150% from its present 2million to 5 million in 2000 AD. The

Year 2000 Plan calls for future develop-ment in a pattern of transportation cor-ridors that would radiate from down-town Washington (map). Along thesetransportation corridors would be rapidtransit with tracks in freeway centerstrips or in their own rights-of-way. Sat-ellite cities spaced along the corridorswould permit the conservation of largewedges of open space, and thus preservethe recreational amenities of open coun-tryside within reasonable distance of theregion's 5 million inhabitants.

If past trends continue, according toWashington planners, the area'sgrowth over the next 35 years couldconsume 1,700 square miles, four timesthe present metropolitan area. Uncon-trolled sprawl would drive the boundaryof the open countryside 30 miles fromdowntown Washington, create crazy-quilt travel patterns, spread traffic con-gestion, and increase the cost of trans-

portation and the other public services.Of more immediate significance than

its role as a satellite city is Reston's roleas a "new town" in the British tradi-tion. The new-town concept comple-ments the satellite-city concept, reduc-ing the principles underlying the re-gional plan to a more intimate, localscale. Some so-called new towns in theU. S. are little more than vast subdivi-sions, aggravating the sprawl they aresupposed to control. But Reston illus-trates all the essential features of a newtown-the surrounding green belt, localindustry, varied housing zoned for dif-ferent densities-plus some recreationalbonuses.

Fortunately, Reston's roles as satel-lite city and new town are largely inde-pendent. Even if Washington fails toachieve its Year 2000 Plan, Reston canstill stand as an example of good localplanning.

Fitting Cities to the Future

SLENDER APARTMENT TOWER, rising 15 stories from lakefront site, will be a SINGLE-FAMILY HOUSES that are attached re-landmark for the first village center, planned as the focal point of community life. quired a cluster amendment to zoning ordinance.

A prototype community, where thelubricant of planning promises to re-duce many frictions of ordinary urbanlife, is welcoming its pioneer scttlers.By 1980, some 75,000 citizens of

Reston, Va., should be enjoying a to-tall r planned community where fisher-men will cast from their lakefrontlawns, golfers will live on fairway-bor-dering home sites, and horsemen livingin their own equestrian village will rideto a main street complete with hitchingposts. Trees and other greenery willabound in seven village centers designedfor varied communal life. Pedestrianswill have an independent walkway sys-tem isolated from automobiles. And thetrip to work may be just a stroll aroundthe corner, instead of a long drive.While avoiding the drab, institu-

tional look of the earliest of GreatBritain's government-built and man-aged new towns, Reston's plan incorpo-rates all of their essential elements. Liketwo early prototypes founded by theplanning prophet, Ebcnczcr

Howard,contemporaryBritishnewtownsincor-porate three basic features:

" A surrounding green belt main-tained largely undeveloped by strict gov-ernment control.

" Self-sustaining industry aid otherjobs that provide local employment.

" Varied housing-apartments andsingle-family dwellings.

Reston will occupy 10.6 square milesof rolling pasture and woodlands inFairfax County, Va. The site is split bya freeway linking Washington, D. C., 18miles east, with the Dulles InternationalAirport, 4 miles west.

Construction began in the spring of1963 on the first of Reston's seven vil-lage centers. The other six are plannedto follow in stages, with completion ofsome $700 million worth of construc-tion by 1980. About 60% of the landwill be zoned residential, 23% will bedevoted to parks, lakes, golf courses, andother recreation and 17% industrial andgovernment area, village centers and atown center densely developed like acentral city's downtown district.

" People magnets-The recreationallures for Reston's homebuycrs wereclearly visible before anyone bought ahouse. Already completed at Reston isa championship 18-hole golf course andits clubhouse, to be followed by others.A 30-acre artificial lake, dammed and al-most full, forms a waterfront setting forthe first village center. From a lakesidemall, a 15-story concrete apartmentbuilding that will he a landmark is ris-ing. Nearby, a two-story building whosecrescent shape encloses a lakefront plazais nearing completion. It will containsuch varied things as a cobbler shop, anart gallery and a teen-age rathskeller onthe ground floor. Above, in second-floor apartments, will live Reston's mostdedicated urbanites, the people whowant to be where the action is.The success of this developmental ap-

proach is already evident. Land pur-chased at an average cost of $1,900 peracre is now selling at prices up to 15times as much for fully serviced lake-front or golf course sites. Local buildershave been paying from $4,200 to $10,-000 for lots ranging from one-fifth to

one-half acre. "If we had them ready wecould sell 200 additional lots," saysGlenn \V. Saunders, Jr., manager ofReston's engineering division.

Prices for the first town houses anddetached single-family houses rangefrom $23,000 to $47,000. The nextgroup of townhouses will drop the lowerlimit to $18,000. Before it is completedReston should have housing to suit theincome of anyone who works there, pos-sibly including federally aided low-income rental apartments.

The developer, Simon Enterprises,Inc., of New York City, plans a gradu-ally increasing development pace,stepped up to 1,100 residential units ayear in 1965 and 1966. Reston's threepioneer families will get neighbors inthe spring, when the first village's 65single-family detached houses, 227 at-tached houses, and 113 apartment unitsare completed. The proportion of thethree types of units will vary to satisfythe projected demand. Preliminaryplanning calls for 70% attached houses,15% apartments and 15% detachedhouses, but the master plan is flexibleenough to accommodate changes.

Construction of detached single-family homes is the one phase of con-struction Reston leaves entirely to localbuilders. Land complete with utilitiesis sold to builders or to individuals whocontract for construction of theirhouses. Reston has been general con-tractor for all phases of the project,with exception of a $3.6-million generalcontract let to Eugene Simpson &Brother, Inc., of Alexandria, Va. tobuild the first village center.

Concurrent with the residential andcommercial construction is an industrialbuilding program with varied arrangemerits for leasing, buying, or building.Reston's Group Facilities Complex,partly completed now, will ultimatelycontain 370,000 sq ft of space for lightindustry. Five industries already com-mitted to Reston will provide more jobsthan the total working population ofthe first 340 homes in the first villagecenter. Supplying jobs for residents is agoal that the town must achieve toavoid becoming merely another com-muters' suburb. Since the Year 2000

The Master Plan

Plan calls for government growth insatellite cities, Reston's managers hopeeventually to get a large federal officeto supplement a supply of jobs in indus-try, retailing, local government, profes-sional and other services.

Mr.Saundersestimatesthat60%ofReston 's working population will workin Reston; Developer Robert F. Simon'sless optimistic guess is 30%.

" The battle for cluster-The key toReston was a cluster-zoning amendmentthat permits the developer to build invaried densities and reserve land for

parks and other open space instead ofspreading houses uniformly over an en-tire tract. Reston's cluster-zoning per-mits three residential densities-60, 14and 3.8 persons per acre, with an aver-age limit of 11 persons per acre.

In most suburban developments,zoning and subdivision regulationsmag-nifythe earth-scarring work of the bull-dozer. But Reston's development pat-tern follows natural contours, withsinuous high-density bands threadingthrough the site. Thus, cluster zoningpleases the planners by bringing treesand greenery close to all. It also pleases

CLUBHOUSE designed by Charles M.Goodman overlooks 18th green of champion-ship golf course that winds through the site.

CLUSTERS of attached houses, planned for70% of dwelling units, arc built in medium-and highdcnsityresidentialareas .

VILLAGE CENTER (above) concentrates varied activities on lakefront. High-density residential bands (right) weave through the 6,800-acre tract.

" " . Fitting Cities To the

the builder by lightening land prepara-tion work and reducing the cost of utili-ties and roads.

Opposition to the cluster-zoningamendment was expected from FairfaxCounty's older residents. But the op-position of local builders was surprising.Fearing that they would be squeezedout of Rcston's construction, localBuilders claimed that the cluster-zoningam 'nclnient and the master plan fa-vored big builders. After nearly twoyears of controversy, however, andabout 100 planning meetings, conserva-tive members of the Fairfax Countyboard of supervisors were finally con-vinced and voted the necessary change.The school crisis played a big part in

winning the fight for Reston. One ofthe nation's fastest growing counties,Fairfax has been struggling with bulg-ing classrooms and increasingly expen-sive school sites. As urban sprawl spreadwestward from the eastern third of thecounty, already covered with housingdevelopments averaging about three lotsper acre, the search for school sites be-came more hectic and expensive. Aplanned community with 20 pre-se-lected school sites donated by the de-veloper was an irresistible attraction.

" Growth without pain-In addition tosmoothing the path of growth, Restonpromises to reverse the public deficitspiling up as conventional residential de-velopments roll over the countryside.

"Urbanization has traditionally beena subsidized operation," says WilliamH.Moss,formerchairmanoftheseven-

man county board of supervisors. "Anew town with integrated industrial andcommercial districts promises to breakthe vicious spiral sinking us in a deepen-ing financial hole."To offset the cost of each new home-

owner settling in a subdivision, thecounty could only hope that sufficienttax-paying industry and commercial de-velopment would spring up to offset theresidential deficits. But within fiveyears, Reston's concurrent commercialand industrial development will makeit a financial asset to the county, saysMr. Moss.Not only the industrial-residential

balance, but the economy of the com-pact layout contribute to the publicsavings of a new town over the typicalsprawled development. The county'sper-capita operating costs for the typicalsprawled development are nearly 21/2times the estimated per capita costs forsatellite cities. For schools, roadmainte-nance,streets, water supply, sewerage,police and fire protection, garbage col-lection and other public services, thecounty had spent $20 million for apopulation of 200,000 in 1960. Thatfuture

same $20 million could have financedthe equivalent services for 465,000 peo-ple in satellite cities, say Fairfax Countyplanners.A development bonus clearly gained

from the compact layout of apartments,attached houses and commercial build-ings in the first village in communityair conditioning. From a central refrig-erating plant of 1,200-ton capacity,chilled water will flow through fourmiles of underground piping to coolingcoils concealed in plenums above thebuildings' furnaces. For the widelyspaced detached single-family houses,however, the excessive length of chilled-

The men behind the plan

water piping spoils the inherent econ-omy of central refrigeration; so thesehouses will have individual systems.

" Keep the wedges green-Preservationof a largely undeveloped green belt, es-sential to Reston's function as a satel-lite city in the region's Year 2000 Plan,depends on several controls. A countyprohibition of building in a 100-yearflood plain, and the capacity limits ofthe sewer system imposes other controls.But the main control is an acquisitionprogram by the County Park Authority.

Hopefully, Reston will inspire pub-lie demand for planning and order.

DEVELOPER Robert E. Simon, Jr.Reston's founder is Robert E. Simon,

Jr., president of Simon Enterprises,Inc., of New York City. Shortly afterhis graduation from Harvard University,Mr. Simon, then 21, took over the fam-ily real estate firm and became managerof Carnegie Hall. Now an urbane,youthful 50, he revels in his role as artpatron and city builder.

Visits to British and Scandinaviannew towns inspired Mr. Simon with theurge to build one, and he got his oppor-tunity when Simon Enterprises was of-fered a 101/2-square-mile tract of roll-ing Virginia countryside, 18 miles fromdowntown Washington. Mr. Simonbought the land for $12.8 million inMarch, 1961, and engaged a firm ofarchitects and city planners, Whittlesey& Conklin. Planning started that fall,followed by negotiations with countyofficials for a required zoning change.

Developers' frequent failure to for-mulate clear-goals results in barren,monotonous projects, says Mr. Simon."Regardless of whether the developeris a private individual or a governmentagency, his function is to set the proj-ect's goals. The land planner's functionis to translate these goals into a physi-cal plan. If the developer shirks this re-sponsibility, the planner steps into avacuum. Without definite goals, he maycreate some abstract architectural uto-pia at the expense of the people whomust live with the reality." He calls themaster plan, "magnificent."

PLANNER William J. Conklin

As a partner in Whittlesey & Conk-lin, architects and city planners, of NewYork City, William J. Conklin is direct-ing the master planning of Reston. Inaddition to coordinating the work ofother architects, Mr. Conklin designedthe lakeside center of Reston's first vil-lage and is presently designing attachedhouses and apartments that will sur-round a golf course in this village. Mr.Conklin is also a member of Reston'sarchitectural review board, which mustapprove the designs of all detached sin-gle-family houses built in Reston.The other members of this board are

Chloethiel Woodward Smith andCharles M. Goodman, two Washing-ton architects, who have designed at-tached-house clusters, and Geddes,Brecher, Quails, & Cunningham, Phila-delphia architects.A scholarly, intense Harvard gradu-

ate, Mr. Conklin likes to philosophizeabout his work: "If architecture is thestage set, then planning is the scriptfor shaping environment to enhancecommunity life." He sees new townsas a means of improving the qualityof American life by relieving pressureafter the daily grind, and, increasingrecreational and cultural opportunities,and he disparages the economic argu-ments based on tax savings. "Newtowns and clustering, normally pro-moted for their economies, must ulti-mately be judged by their pleasure andsecurity they offer their inhabitants."

Editorials

Law Enforcers Confused?NEW YORK STATE'S most recent antimonopoly suitagainst contractors and their organizations (see p. 153)suggests that the attorney general's office is on some kindof a campaign to harass contractors. Earlier this monthAttorney General Louis J. Lefkowitz filed three separateantimonopply actions against subcontractors, claimingthey had boycotted work offered under the single con-tract system they have been fighting (ENR Jan. 14, p.69). Now Mr. Lefkowitz makes a charge against generalcontractors that seems to lack basis in logic or law.The latest suit charges that general contractors vio-

lated antimonopoly statutes by refusing, in concert, tobid on public jobs that required contractors directly totake on the responsibility for any possible errors in archi-tectural or engineering design.The law enforcers appear to ignore the fact that in

demanding that contractors assume responsibility forerrors of design they in effect order violation of an-other law: that architecture and engineering be prac-ticed by only licensed professionals. Mr. Lefkowitz alsodemands that contractors buy insurance that in fact can-not be obtained.

It's hard to imagine how the state's legal experts couldbe so confused as to the relative responsibilities of con-tractors and architects or engineers. It now remains withthe courts to expose and correct any misconceptions.

Still the Weakest LinkTHE INSPECTOR, labeled here long ago the weakest linkin construction's owner-architect-engineer-contractorchain, is scrutinized in this issue (p. 58). The unavoid-able judgment is that he is still the weakest link inpublic construction, although there are encouragingsigns of effective efforts to strengthen him. These effortsare far too scattered to have made a radical improvementin the general situation. But they are noteworthy.As stated here in the past (ENR Nov. 30, 1961, p.

92), the inspector of public works projects needs to bebetter educated, better paid, better trained and in-structed, better supervised and recognized for advance-ment. And unfortunately, it does not go without sayingthat he should be incorruptible.

It took the sordid findings of corrupt and sloppy in-spection in Interstate highway work by the Blatnikcommittee to move some state agencies to strengthentheir inspection forces. It should take no such shocktreatment to bring all state and local construction agen-cies to follow suit.The ways of strengthening the inspector, as reported

in this issue, are many and varied. There is no one bestway to recruit, train, and hold onto the inspector; thereare many good ways. There is no one best type of in-

spector; there is much to be said for the subprofessional,for the young professional, or for the professional at orbeyond retirement age. Whatever his age, experience oreducation, the inspector, needs responsible professionalsupervision; he needs clear and definite instructions as tothe limits of his authority; he needs continual trainingand the best available manuals or other guides to workby.

If constructed facilities are to be created as conceived,the inspector must do his job well-better than it hasbeen done in the past, better than it is being done intoo many places right now. And for this improvement,we need improved inspectors.

A Beacon of PlanningRESTON, VA., THE NEW TOWN rising in the outer fringesof metropolitan Washington, D.C., deserves high praisefor two reasons. It is one of the first U.S. examples of anew town-planned to achieve by private enterprise whatgovernment is achieving in Britain. Even more impor-tant, it is the first satellite city on a radial-corridor systemproposed in the national capital's' Year 2000 Plan, the na-tion's only regional master plan for controlling metro-politan growth (see p. 53).The Year 2000 Plan was made by the National Capital

Planning Commission and the National Capital RegionalPlanning Council, federal agencies created by Congressin 1952 "to secure comprehensive planning for the physi-cal development of the national capital and its environs."To accommodate an additional 3 million residents ex-pected by the year 2000, the plan proposes 20 satellitecities built on transportation corridors radiating fromdowntown Washington. Rapid rail transit tracks, someoccupying the center strips of freeways, are a part of theplan, to stimulate concentrated development corridors.Equally essential to the plan is a disciplined policy ofgovernmental controls restricting development in the"green" wedges between the radial corridors.The late President Kennedy endorsed the Year 2000

Plan and directed all federal agencies to support it. TheNational Capital Planning Commission, which must ap-prove expansion plans of all federal agencies, favors loca-tion of outlying agencies in satellite cities. Since thefederal government is the key employer in this region, itcan exert considerable power in directing regional de-velopment.One threat to the Year 2000 Plan is the failure of Con-

gress to enact legislation for what could be the nucleusof a regional rail transit system. Another is politically in-spired rezoning practices that threaten to extend urbansprawl all over neighboring Montgomery County, Md.If these failures are not corrected, the nation will lose agreat opportunity for its capital region and an inspiringexample for other exploding metropolises.