Parkside was built in the late 60's - early 70's to house people mainly from London (London overspill). It was built for the Grater London Council as social housing. The layout is known as a 'Radburn layout'
Radburn was a new town built in America. Two architects Clarence Stein and Henry Wright collaborated on the design of the town in New Jersey. Radburn, founded in 1929, was intended to be the "town in which people cold live peacefully with the car-or rather in spite of it". Radburn was designed in such a way that thoroughfares had a specialized use; main roads linking traffic at various sections, service lanes to allow direct access to buildings, and main roads. The desire was also to have as complete a separation of cars and pedestrian's as possible. Pedestrian crossways were designed at differing levels than that of cars, and were directed differing places than cars. These largely residential areas were termed "superblocks". Radburn was also intended to become a garden city characterized by surrounding greenbelts, and the careful design of residential, industrial and agricultural land. Residential areas were designed to face inwards towards gardens and nature rather than out towards traffic. Unfortunately, the depression proved the end of the "Radburn idea". Only a minute section was completed before the operation was forced to stop. The originally-planned manufacturing area never materialized, so the town became a commuter city, despite the planners' best hopes. The other main problem to appear were extremely high costs of developments of this type, as well as the large amout of land that it consumed. However, the city did achieve a very high level of pedestrian walkability.

The plans for parkside were not as grand as Radburn but incorporated the fundemantals of seperating the people and the cars by use of one main acess road and a series of culdasacs. Houses faceing on to green areas and subways under the main road.