Sociology Applied to Planning: Robert K. Merton and the Columbia–Lavanburg Housing Study

Abstract

In 1944, the Fred L. Lavanburg Foundation resolved to fund sociological research of value to planners of housing projects and communities for low-income families. Columbia University sociologist Robert K. Merton directed the project. Two communities were studied: Winfield Park, NJ, a free-standing town constructed under the New Deal’s Mutual Home Ownership Plan, and Addison Terrace, a federally constructed housing project managed by the Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Housing Authority. Findings evaluated effects of site layout and building design in fostering patterns of friendships, creating local social structures. A book-length report manuscript that has never been published is described and discussed.