An examination of attitudes of current design thinking and its established generic forms in comparison to the idea held by architects during the first part of the twentieth century is fundamental to understanding the sources and limitations of neighborhood theory in urban design. The purpose of this article is to provide a contextual knowledge that is necessary for interpretation of the theoretical basis of generic solutions for better understanding current models of residential design. During the twentieth century, two major stream of Modern Movement, namely Rationalism and Empiricism, have suggested two clearly separated generic forms of neighborhood. Based on both ideas designer’s concerns have been to accommodate the social organization of communities in a designed physical environment. These two lines of thought were manifested in the Garden City Movement and the CIAM in two different ways and had both physical and social consequences on the following designed residential environments. The neighborhood plan of Clarence Perry, as implemented in Radburn, and the Unite d’habitation of Le Corbusier in Marsielles, might be two polar opposite attitudes towards residential design.Residential design paradigms which have emerged in recent decades are broadly categorized by some researchers under two main stream of thought namely Neo-Rationalism and Neo-Empiricism. The rationalists still design based on their own imagined person and assumptions about the good life while empiricists tend to design based on information about human behavior and the built environment. In the second line of thought which is closer to the objectives of this article, two major concepts can be identified. The first of these is the typological approach, and the second is the work of the researchers and designers who have used people’s experiences of built environment in their design process. An analysis of the design paradigms during the 20th century shows that, for the designers who have used the typological based paradigms, there is a general agreement regarding the physical composition of neighborhood. They all propose a model of residential design that is limited in area and structured around a defined center. While the population density may vary depending on design context and size, each model offers a balanced mix of dwellings, work places, shops, public buildings and parks. Using three dimensional design schemes and attention to detail are important features of recent design paradigms. The general trend is toward the design of compact and socially responsive residential environments.In spite of the similarities of recent design paradigms to earlier design models, in both approaches of recent residential design, designers and critics have paid more attention to the variety of user needs. This is partly based on changing attitudes of researchers and designers toward environmental issues and using the outcome of research for proposing design schemes. It is also partly based on the changing expectations of people and their demands for a better quality of residential accommodation. Therefore, investigation of people’s experiences in design settings, while improving the efficiency of design guidelines can in return enhance the ability of designers to create better design schemes.
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