IN-PERSON ISTANBUL HERITAGE(S)

Abstract

Located in New York City, the suburban neighborhood of Douglas Manor offers insight into how planned communities of the early 20th century evolved in the United States, and how they can continue to influence sustainable planning today.
As a reaction to increasing industrialization and urban density, new rail lines spurred the transformation of nearby rural farmland to suburban development. Douglas Manor was subdivided in 1906 from a 187- acre estate, located on a peninsula surrounded on three sides by water. Douglas Manor provided a low-density community of 600 single-family houses with easy access to jobs in Manhattan and an alternative lifestyle—a free-standing house with its own garden—for a growing middle class. Each house is within walking distance of the railroad, and in an era before zoning, deed restrictions limited key aspects of the development. Residents own and maintain a mile-long waterfront in common, which includes a pier, a bathing beach and a playing field. The original planners proposed the idea that creation of a community through commonly held green space would be important for the neighborhood’s survival. Over 120 years this sense of community fostered by the shared green spaces has, in fact, endured. Preserving places like Douglas Manor, which was designated a New York City Historic District in 1997, protects planning concepts which inform future sustainable suburbs. Understanding the principles of successfully shared green spaces, easily accessible mass transit and the preservation and ongoing regeneration of heritage houses are sustainable practices which should be emulated in future community developments.