Robert E. Simon, Jr. was designated by the American Institute of Certified Planners as a National Planning Pioneer. At Reston, Virginia, he created the nation’s first Planned Community Zone to fulfill his vision of a new town where people of all ages, races, and incomes could live throughout their full life cycle. Working with the firm of Whittlesey and Conklin, he developed a plan that concentrated development in higher-density zones so wooded hills and valleys, fields, and trees could be preserved as large areas of commonly held ground. At Lake Anne Village Center, he introduced urban living to the American suburban countryside. Reston was planned from the outset to provide a full range of commercial, recreational, and cultural facilities, and Simon created a welcoming community dedicated to social openness, citizen participation, and the dignity of the individual. In the early 1960s, Reston breathed new life into the American new towns movement and became world renowned as one of the finest examples of American 20th century conceptual new town planning.
