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

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.