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The garden city movement was a 20th century
urban planning Urban planning (also called city planning in some contexts) is the process of developing and designing land use and the built environment, including air, water, and the infrastructure passing into and out of urban areas, such as transportatio ...
movement promoting satellite communities surrounding the central city and separated with greenbelts. These Garden Cities would contain proportionate areas of residences, industry, and agriculture. Ebenezer Howard first posited the idea in 1898 as a way to capture the primary benefits of the countryside and the city while avoiding the disadvantages presented by both. In the early 20th century, Letchworth and
Welwyn Garden City Welwyn Garden City ( ) is a town in Hertfordshire, England, north of London. It was the second Garden city movement, garden city in England (founded 1920) and one of the first New towns in the United Kingdom, new towns (designated 1948). It is ...
were built near London according to Howard's concept and many other garden cities inspired by his
model A model is an informative representation of an object, person, or system. The term originally denoted the plans of a building in late 16th-century English, and derived via French and Italian ultimately from Latin , . Models can be divided in ...
have since been built all over the world.


History


Conception

Inspired by the utopian novel '' Looking Backward'' by Edward Bellamy, and Henry George's work ''
Progress and Poverty ''Progress and Poverty: An Inquiry into the Cause of Industrial Depressions and of Increase of Want with Increase of Wealth: The Remedy'' is an 1879 book by social theorist and economist Henry George. It is a treatise on the questions of why pov ...
'', Howard published the book '': a Peaceful Path to Real Reform'' in 1898 (reissued in 1902 as '' Garden Cities of To-morrow''). His idealised garden city would house 32,000 people on a site of . Howard's diagrams presented such a city in a concentric pattern with open spaces, public parks, and six radial boulevards, wide, extending from the centre, although he made it clear that the actual site planning should be left to experts. The garden city would be self-sufficient and when it reached full population, another would be developed nearby. Howard envisaged a cluster of several garden cities as
satellites A satellite or an artificial satellite is an object, typically a spacecraft, placed into orbit around a celestial body. They have a variety of uses, including communication relay, weather forecasting, navigation ( GPS), broadcasting, scientif ...
of a central city of 58,000 people, linked by road and rail. Howard's '': A Peaceful Path to Real Reform'' sold enough copies to warrant a second edition, now titled ''Garden Cities of ''. This success of this book provided him the support necessary to pursue the chance to bring his vision into reality. Howard believed that all people agreed the overcrowding and deterioration of cities was one of the troubling issues of their time. He quotes a number of respected thinkers and their disdain of cities. Howard's garden city concept combined the town and country in order to provide the working class an alternative to working on farms or in "crowded, unhealthy cities".


First developments

To build a garden city, Howard needed money to buy land. He decided to get funding from "gentlemen of responsible position and undoubted probity and honour". He founded the Garden City Association (later known as the Town and Country Planning Association or TCPA), which created First Garden City, Ltd. in 1899 to create the garden city of Letchworth. However, these donors would collect interest on their investment if the garden city generated profits through rents or, as Fishman calls the process, "philanthropic land speculation". Howard tried to include working class
cooperative A cooperative (also known as co-operative, coöperative, co-op, or coop) is "an autonomy, autonomous association of persons united voluntarily to meet their common economic, social and cultural needs and aspirations through a jointly owned a ...
organisations, which included over two million members, but could not win their financial support. Because he had to rely only on the wealthy investors of First Garden City, Howard had to make concessions to his plan, such as eliminating the cooperative ownership scheme with no landlords, short-term rent increases, and hiring architects who did not agree with his rigid design plans. In 1904, Raymond Unwin, a noted architect and town planner, and his partner Barry Parker, won the competition run by First Garden City Ltd. to plan Letchworth, an area 34 miles outside London. Unwin and Parker planned the town in the centre of the Letchworth estate with Howard's large agricultural greenbelt surrounding the town, and they shared Howard's notion that the working class deserved better and more affordable housing. However, the architects ignored Howard's symmetric design, instead replacing it with a more 'organic' design. Letchworth slowly attracted more residents because it brought in manufacturers through low taxes, low rents, and more space. Despite Howard's best efforts, the home prices in this garden city could not remain affordable for blue-collar workers to live in. The populations comprised mostly skilled
middle class The middle class refers to a class of people in the middle of a social hierarchy, often defined by occupation, income, education, or social status. The term has historically been associated with modernity, capitalism and political debate. C ...
workers. After a decade, the First Garden City became profitable and started paying dividends to its investors. Although many viewed Letchworth as a success, it did not immediately inspire government investment into the next line of garden cities. In reference to the lack of government support for garden cities, Frederic James Osborn, a colleague of Howard and his eventual successor at the Garden City Association, recalled him saying, "The only way to get anything done is to do it yourself." Likely in frustration, Howard bought land at Welwyn to house the second garden city in 1919. The purchase was at auction, with money Howard desperately and successfully borrowed from friends. The
Welwyn Garden City Welwyn Garden City ( ) is a town in Hertfordshire, England, north of London. It was the second Garden city movement, garden city in England (founded 1920) and one of the first New towns in the United Kingdom, new towns (designated 1948). It is ...
Corporation was formed to oversee the construction. But Welwyn did not become self-sustaining because it was only 20 miles from London. Even until the end of the 1930s, Letchworth and Welwyn remained as the only existing garden cities in the United Kingdom. However, the movement did succeed in emphasizing the need for urban planning policies that eventually led to the New Town movement.


Garden cities: the spread of an idea

Howard organised the Garden City Association in 1899. Two garden cities were built using Howard's ideas: Letchworth Garden City and
Welwyn Garden City Welwyn Garden City ( ) is a town in Hertfordshire, England, north of London. It was the second Garden city movement, garden city in England (founded 1920) and one of the first New towns in the United Kingdom, new towns (designated 1948). It is ...
, both in the county of Hertfordshire, England, United Kingdom. Howard's successor as chairman of the Garden City Association was Sir Frederic Osborn, who extended the movement to regional planning. Garden City principles greatly influenced the design of colonial and post-colonial capitals during the early part of the 20th century. This is the case for New Delhi (designed as the new capital of
British India The provinces of India, earlier presidencies of British India and still earlier, presidency towns, were the administrative divisions of British governance in South Asia. Collectively, they have been called British India. In one form or another ...
after World War I), of
Canberra Canberra ( ; ) is the capital city of Australia. Founded following the Federation of Australia, federation of the colonies of Australia as the seat of government for the new nation, it is Australia's list of cities in Australia, largest in ...
(capital of Australia established in 1913) and of
Quezon City Quezon City (, ; ), also known as the City of Quezon and Q.C. (read and pronounced in Filipino language, Filipino as Kyusi), is the richest and List of cities in the Philippines, most populous city in the Philippines. According to the 2020 c ...
(established in 1939,
capital of the Philippines This is an overview of current and former national capital cities in the Philippines, spanning from the Captaincy General of the Philippines, Spanish colonial period to the current History of the Philippines (1986–present), Fifth Philippine R ...
from 1948 to 1976). Outside the British empire, the ideas quickly spread as well.


Early examples


Africa

* Morocco. Ifrane in
Morocco Morocco, officially the Kingdom of Morocco, is a country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It has coastlines on the Mediterranean Sea to the north and the Atlantic Ocean to the west, and has land borders with Algeria to Algeria–Morocc ...
(est. 1929). * South Africa. The Garden City movement was able to take root in
South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. Its Provinces of South Africa, nine provinces are bounded to the south by of coastline that stretches along the Atlantic O ...
, with the development of the suburbs of Pinelands, Meadowridge, and Edgemead in
Cape Town Cape Town is the legislature, legislative capital city, capital of South Africa. It is the country's oldest city and the seat of the Parliament of South Africa. Cape Town is the country's List of municipalities in South Africa, second-largest ...
as well as Durbanville near Cape Town.


Asia

* Mandatory Palestine. The Garden City movement also influenced the Scottish urbanist Sir Patrick Geddes in the planning of
Tel Aviv Tel Aviv-Yafo ( or , ; ), sometimes rendered as Tel Aviv-Jaffa, and usually referred to as just Tel Aviv, is the most populous city in the Gush Dan metropolitan area of Israel. Located on the Israeli Mediterranean coastline and with a popula ...
,
Israel Israel, officially the State of Israel, is a country in West Asia. It Borders of Israel, shares borders with Lebanon to the north, Syria to the north-east, Jordan to the east, Egypt to the south-west, and the Mediterranean Sea to the west. Isr ...
, in the 1920s, during the British Mandate for Palestine. Geddes started his Tel Aviv plan in 1925 and submitted the final version in 1927, so all growth of this garden city during the 1930s was merely "based" on the Geddes Plan. Changes were inevitable. Similarly, in the 1920s, German-born Jewish architect Richard Kauffman designed several neighborhoods under Garden City influence, including Beth HaKerem, Rehavia, Bayit ve-Gan and Kiryat Moshe in Jerusalem, as well as Hadar HaCarmel, Bat Galim, Newe Shaanan, and Central and Western Carmel in
Haifa Haifa ( ; , ; ) is the List of cities in Israel, third-largest city in Israel—after Jerusalem and Tel Aviv—with a population of in . The city of Haifa forms part of the Haifa metropolitan area, the third-most populous metropolitan area i ...
as well as the historical center of Afula. He referred to these neighborhoods as "Garden Suburbs." * Japan. In Japan, several towns were inspired by the Garden City movement in the early 1900s, including Den-en-chofu, Yamato Village (around Rikugi-en Gardens), and Omiya Bonsai Village. As with many Garden Cities, despite goals of creating classless societies, each of these examples became increasingly exclusive and populated primarily by wealthy statesmen and celebrities. * Vietnam. The garden city model was also applied to many colonial hill stations, such as Da Lat in
Vietnam Vietnam, officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam (SRV), is a country at the eastern edge of mainland Southeast Asia, with an area of about and a population of over 100 million, making it the world's List of countries and depende ...
(est. 1907).


Europe

* Belgium. In Belgium the Garden City movement started early, but took roots in the 1910s, directly connected to industrial development, especially that of the coal mines. Early examples are Tuinwijk Beringen-Mijn (1908), Tuinwijk van Zwartberg (1910), and Eisden-Tuinwijk (1911). After the First World War, there was a huge need for new housing, and the principles were widely applied. Social housing associations were created, often linked to political movements. In Brussels, Antwerp and Ghent new extensions of the city were built. The houses in these areas are still very popular among residents and classified as historical heritage. * Czechia. In the former
Czechoslovakia Czechoslovakia ( ; Czech language, Czech and , ''Česko-Slovensko'') was a landlocked country in Central Europe, created in 1918, when it declared its independence from Austria-Hungary. In 1938, after the Munich Agreement, the Sudetenland beca ...
, all industrial cities founded or reconstructed by the Bata Shoes company (
Zlín Zlín (in 1949–1989 Gottwaldov; ; ) is a city in the Czech Republic. It has about 75,000 inhabitants. It is the seat of the Zlín Region and it lies on the Dřevnice River. It is known as an industrial centre. The development of the modern city ...
, Svit, Partizánske) were influenced by the conception of the Garden City. * Finland.
Kauniainen Kauniainen (; ) is a town in Finland, located in the southern interior of the country. Kauniainen is situated in the southern part of the Uusimaa region, and it is Enclave and exclave, enclaved by the City of Espoo. The population of Kauniainen ...
is an early example, which was founded by a corporation in 1906, AB Grankulla. * France. The Garden City movement was very influential in France. The concept of garden city (''cité jardin''), was closely related to the concept of the 'workers city' (''cité ouvrière''). All over the country settlements were established accordingly. * Germany. Along with the UK, Germany was at the forefront of the Garden Cities movement, starting in the late 19th century, part of a broader discourse on social renewal. Specific projects were typically the results of private initiatives. * Hungary. Originally built in Kispest (now part of
Budapest Budapest is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns of Hungary, most populous city of Hungary. It is the List of cities in the European Union by population within city limits, tenth-largest city in the European Union by popul ...
) in 1908, Wekerletelep is a prime example of the garden city concept * Poland. Located on the south-west outskirts of Warsaw, both Komorów ( Komorów, Pruszków County), as well, as Podkowa Leśna,
Brwinów Brwinów is a town in Pruszków County, Masovian Voivodeship, Poland, about from the centre of Warsaw. As of December 2021, the town has a population of 13,718. Until 1954, Brwinów was the location of the Helenów parish council and between 19 ...
and Milanówek are based on Howard's garden-city concept. * Netherlands. The concept of the Garden City was widely applied in different parts of the country, mainly as 'garden villages', such as Tuindorp Vreewijk in Rotterdam, Tuindorp 't Lansink in Hengelo, Tuindorp Oostzaan in Amsterdam, and Tuindorp Watergraafsmeer (Betondorp) in Amsterdam. In most cases, private industrial companies took the initiative. The development continued on a bigger scale after the Second World War, now initiated and controlled by municipalities, with examples such as the Westelijke Tuinsteden (a part of Amsterdam). * United Kingdom – Letchworth Garden City and Welwyn Garden City (see History above) * Ukraine – Nova Kakhovka


North America

* Canada. Grand Falls-Windsor, NL, initiated in 1905, is one of the first Garden cities outside of England. The historic Townsite of Powell River, British Columbia, and the Hydrostone district of
Halifax, Nova Scotia Halifax is the capital and most populous municipality of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Nova Scotia, and the most populous municipality in Atlantic Canada. As of 2024, it is estimated that the population of the H ...
, are recognized as National Historic Sites of Canada built upon the Garden City Movement. The
Ontario Ontario is the southernmost Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada. Located in Central Canada, Ontario is the Population of Canada by province and territory, country's most populous province. As of the 2021 Canadian census, it ...
towns of Don Mills (now incorporated into the City of
Toronto Toronto ( , locally pronounced or ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, most populous city in Canada. It is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Ontario. With a p ...
) and Walkerville (now incorporated into the City of Windsor) are, in part, garden cities, as well as The Kingsway, Toronto and the
Montreal Montreal is the List of towns in Quebec, largest city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Quebec, the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-largest in Canada, and the List of North American cit ...
suburb of Mount Royal. In Montreal, la Cité-jardin du Tricentenaire (Tricentennial Garden-City) is a classic form of Garden City located in front of the large Maisonneuve Park and near the
Olympic Stadium ''Olympic Stadium'' is the name usually given to the main stadium of an Olympic Games The modern Olympic Games (Olympics; ) are the world's preeminent international Olympic sports, sporting events. They feature summer and winter sports ...
. All streets are cul-de-sacs and are linked via pedestrian paths to the community park. * United States. Examples include Residence Park in
New Rochelle, New York New Rochelle ( ; in ) is a Political subdivisions of New York State#City, city in Westchester County, New York, Westchester County, New York (state), New York, United States. It is a suburb of New York City, located approximately from Midtow ...
; Woodbourne in
Boston Boston is the capital and most populous city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Massachusetts in the United States. The city serves as the cultural and Financial centre, financial center of New England, a region of the Northeas ...
; Newport News, Virginia's
Hilton Village Hilton Village is a planned English-village-style neighborhood in Newport News, Virginia. Recognized as a pioneering development in urban planning, it is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The neighborhood was built between 191 ...
;
Pittsburgh Pittsburgh ( ) is a city in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, United States, and its county seat. It is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania#Municipalities, second-most populous city in Pennsylvania (after Philadelphia) and the List of Un ...
's Chatham Village; Garden City, New York (parenthetically, the name "Garden City", as it applied to the Stewart-designed city on Long Island, incorporated in 1869, pre-dates that of the garden city movement, which was established some years later near the end of the nineteenth century); Sunnyside; Jackson Heights; Forest Hills Gardens, in the borough of Queens, New York; Radburn, New Jersey; Greenbelt, Maryland;
Buckingham Buckingham ( ) is a market town in north Buckinghamshire, England, close to the borders of Northamptonshire and Oxfordshire, which had a population of 12,890 at the United Kingdom Census 2011, 2011 Census. The town lies approximately west of ...
in
Arlington County, Virginia Arlington County, or simply Arlington, is a County (United States), county in the U.S. state of Virginia. The county is located in Northern Virginia on the southwestern bank of the Potomac River directly across from Washington, D.C., the nati ...
; the Lake Vista neighborhood in
New Orleans New Orleans (commonly known as NOLA or The Big Easy among other nicknames) is a Consolidated city-county, consolidated city-parish located along the Mississippi River in the U.S. state of Louisiana. With a population of 383,997 at the 2020 ...
; Norris, Tennessee; Baldwin Hills Village in Los Angeles; Rotunda West near Punta Gorda, Florida, and the
Cleveland Cleveland is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Cuyahoga County. Located along the southern shore of Lake Erie, it is situated across the Canada–U.S. maritime border and approximately west of the Ohio-Pennsylvania st ...
suburbs of
Parma Parma (; ) is a city in the northern Italian region of Emilia-Romagna known for its architecture, Giuseppe Verdi, music, art, prosciutto (ham), Parmesan, cheese and surrounding countryside. With a population of 198,986 inhabitants as of 2025, ...
and
Shaker Heights Shaker or Shakers may refer to: Religious groups * Shakers, a historically significant Christian sect * Indian Shakers, a smaller Christian denomination Objects and instruments * Shaker (musical instrument), an indirect struck idiophone * Cockta ...
. Greendale, Wisconsin is one of three "greenbelt" towns planned beginning in 1935 under the direction of Rexford Guy Tugwell, head of the United States Resettlement Administration, under authority of the Emergency Relief Appropriation Act. The two other greenbelt towns are Greenbelt, Maryland (near Washington, D.C.), and Greenhills, Ohio (near
Cincinnati Cincinnati ( ; colloquially nicknamed Cincy) is a city in Hamilton County, Ohio, United States, and its county seat. Settled in 1788, the city is located on the northern side of the confluence of the Licking River (Kentucky), Licking and Ohio Ri ...
). The greenbelt towns not only provided work and affordable housing, but also served as a laboratory for experiments in innovative urban planning. Greendale's plan was designed between 1936 and 1937 by a staff headed by Joseph Crane, Elbert Peets, Harry Bentley, and Walter C. Thomas for a site that had formerly consisted of of farmland.


Oceania

* Australia. The Dacey Garden Suburb (now Daceyville) was established in 1912 based on Garden City principles. The suburb of Colonel Light Gardens in Adelaide, South Australia was also designed according to Garden City principles. So too the town of Sunshine which is now a suburb of
Melbourne Melbourne ( , ; Boonwurrung language, Boonwurrung/ or ) is the List of Australian capital cities, capital and List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city of the States and territories of Australia, Australian state of Victori ...
in Victoria and the suburb of Lalor, also in Melbourne. The Peter Lalor Estate in Lalor takes its name from a leader of the Eureka Stockade and remains today in its original form. However it is under threat from developers and Whittlesea Council. Lalor:Peter Lalor Home Building Cooperative 1946-2012 Scollay, Moira. Pre-dating these was the garden suburb of Haberfield in 1901 by Richard Stanton, organised on a vertical integrated model from land subdivision, mortgage financing, house and interior designs and site landscaping. * New Zealand. Garden city ideals were employed in the original town planning of
Christchurch Christchurch (; ) is the largest city in the South Island and the List of cities in New Zealand, second-largest city by urban area population in New Zealand. Christchurch has an urban population of , and a metropolitan population of over hal ...
. Prior to the earthquakes of
2010 The year saw a multitude of natural and environmental disasters such as the 2010 Haiti earthquake, the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, and the 2010 Chile earthquake. The 2009 swine flu pandemic, swine flu pandemic which began the previous year ...
and
2011 The year marked the start of a Arab Spring, series of protests and revolutions throughout the Arab world advocating for democracy, reform, and economic recovery, later leading to the depositions of world leaders in Tunisia, Egypt, and Yemen ...
, the city infrastructure and homes were well integrated into green spaces. The rebuild blueprint rethought the garden city concept and how it would best suit the city. Greenbelts and urban greenspaces have been redesigned to incorporate more living spaces.


South America

* Argentina. An example is '' Ciudad Jardín Lomas del Palomar'', declared by the influential Argentinian professor of engineering, Carlos María della Paolera, founder of "Día Mundial del Urbanismo" ( World Urbanism Day), as the first Garden City in South America. * Brazil. In
São Paulo São Paulo (; ; Portuguese for 'Paul the Apostle, Saint Paul') is the capital of the São Paulo (state), state of São Paulo, as well as the List of cities in Brazil by population, most populous city in Brazil, the List of largest cities in the ...
, several neighbourhoods were planned as Garden Cities, such as Jardim América, , , Alto de Pinheiros, Butantã, Interlagos, Jardim da Saúde, and (Garden City in Portuguese).
Goiânia Goiânia ( ; ) is the capital and largest city of the Brazilian federative units of Brazil, state of Goiás. With a population of 1,536,097, it is the second-largest city in the Central-West Region, Brazil, Central-West Region and the 10th-larges ...
, capital of
Goiás Goiás () is a Brazilian States of Brazil, state located in the Central-West Region, Brazil, Central-West region. Goiás borders the Federal District (Brazil), Federal District and the states of (from north clockwise) Tocantins, Bahia, Minas Ge ...
state, and
Maringá Maringá () is a Municipalities of Brazil, municipality in southern Brazil founded on 10 May 1947 as a planned urban area. It is the third largest city in the state of Paraná (state), Paraná, with 385,753 inhabitants in the city proper, and 76 ...
are also examples of Garden Cities. * Peru. In Peru, there is a long tradition in urban design that has been reintroduced in its architecture more recently. In 1966, the Residencial San Felipe in Lima's district of Jesus Maria was built using the Garden City concept.


Criticisms

While garden cities were praised for being an alternative to overcrowded and industrial cities, along with greater sustainability, garden cities were often criticized for damaging the economy, being destructive of the beauty of nature, and being inconvenient. According to A. Trystan Edwards, garden cities engender desecration of the countryside by trying to recreate countryside suburbs that could spread on their own; however, this was not a possible feat due to the limited space that they had (except at their outermost edges). More recently, the environmental movement's embrace of urban density has offered an "implicit critique" of the garden city movement. In this way the critique of the concept resembles critiques of other suburbanization models, though author Stephen Ward has argued that critics often do not adequately distinguish between true garden cities and more mundane dormitory city plans. It is often referred to as an urban-design experiment which is typified by failure due to the laneways used as common entries and exits to the houses, thereby helping to ghettoise communities and encourage crime; it has ultimately triggered efforts to 'de-Radburn'-ize, or to partially demolish American-Radburn-designed public housing areas. When interviewed in 1998, the architect responsible for introducing the design to public housing in
New South Wales New South Wales (commonly abbreviated as NSW) is a States and territories of Australia, state on the Eastern states of Australia, east coast of :Australia. It borders Queensland to the north, Victoria (state), Victoria to the south, and South ...
, Philip Cox, was reported to have admitted with regards to an American-Radburn-designed estate in the suburb of Villawood, "everything that could go wrong in a society went wrong," and "it became the centre of drugs, it became the centre of violence and, eventually, the police refused to go into it. It was hell."


Legacy

The concept of the Garden City was adopted again in the UK after World War II, when the New Towns Act spurred the development of many new communities based on Howard's egalitarian ideas. It also affected town planning in other countries, such as Italy; the INA-Casa plan – a national public housing plan from the 1950s and '60s – designed several suburbs according to Garden City principles: examples are found in many cities and towns of the country, such as the Isolotto suburb in
Florence Florence ( ; ) is the capital city of the Italy, Italian region of Tuscany. It is also the most populated city in Tuscany, with 362,353 inhabitants, and 989,460 in Metropolitan City of Florence, its metropolitan province as of 2025. Florence ...
, Falchera in
Turin Turin ( , ; ; , then ) is a city and an important business and cultural centre in northern Italy. It is the capital city of Piedmont and of the Metropolitan City of Turin, and was the first Italian capital from 1861 to 1865. The city is main ...
,
Harar Harar (; Harari language, Harari: ሀረር / ; ; ; ), known historically by the indigenous as Harar-Gey or simply Gey (Harari: ጌይ, ݘٛىيْ, ''Gēy'', ), is a List of cities with defensive walls, walled city in eastern Ethiopia. It is al ...
in
Milan Milan ( , , ; ) is a city in northern Italy, regional capital of Lombardy, the largest city in Italy by urban area and the List of cities in Italy, second-most-populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of nea ...
, Cesate Villaggio in Cesate (part of the
Metropolitan City of Milan The Metropolitan City of Milan (; , ) is a Metropolitan cities of Italy, metropolitan city (not to be confused with the Milan metropolitan area, metropolitan area) in the Lombardy region of Italy. It is the second most populous metropolitan ci ...
), etc. More recent application of the principles can be found in different contexts across the world. In
Bhutan Bhutan, officially the Kingdom of Bhutan, is a landlocked country in South Asia, in the Eastern Himalayas between China to the north and northwest and India to the south and southeast. With a population of over 727,145 and a territory of , ...
's capital city Thimphu, for example, the new plan, following the Principles of Intelligent Urbanism, is an organic response to the fragile ecology. Using sustainable concepts, it is a contemporary response to the garden city concept. The Epcot Center in Bay Lake, Florida, took some influence from Howard's Garden City concept while the park was still under construction. Singapore, a tropical city, has over time incorporated various facets of the Garden City concept in its town plans to try and make the country a unique City in a Garden. In the 1970s, the country started including concepts in its town plans to ensure that building codes and land use plans made adequate provisions for greenery and nature to become part of community development, thereby providing a great living environment. In 1996, the National Parks Board was given the mandate to spearhead the development and maintenance of greenery and bring the island's green spaces and parks to the community. Contemporary town-planning charters like ''
New Urbanism New Urbanism is an urban design movement that promotes environmentally friendly habits by creating Walkability, walkable neighbourhoods containing a wide range of housing and job types. It arose in the United States in the early 1980s, and has ...
'' and '' Principles of Intelligent Urbanism'' originated with this movement. Today there are many garden cities in the world, but most of them have devolved to dormitory suburbs, which completely differ from what Howard aimed to create. In 2007, the Town and Country Planning Association marked its 108th anniversary by calling for Garden City and Garden Suburb principles to be applied to the present
New Towns A planned community, planned city, planned town, or planned settlement is any community that was carefully planned from its inception and is typically constructed on previously undeveloped land. This contrasts with settlements that evolve ...
and Eco-towns in the United Kingdom. The campaign continued in 2013 with the publication in March of that year of "Creating Garden Cities and Suburbs Today - a guide for councils". Also in 2013, Lord Simon Wolfson announced that he would award the Wolfson Economics Prize for the best ideas on how to create a new garden city. In 2014 The Letchworth Declaration was published which called for a body to accredit future garden cities in the UK. The declaration has a strong focus on the visible (architecture and layout) and the invisible (social, ownership and governance) architecture of a settlement. One result was the creation of the New Garden Cities Alliance as a community interest company. Its aim is to be complementary to groups like the Town and Country Planning Association and it has adopted TCPA garden city principles as well as those from other groups, including those from Cabannes and Ross's booklet ''21st Century Garden Cities of ''.


New garden cities and towns

British Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne announced plans for a new garden city to be built at
Ebbsfleet Valley Ebbsfleet Valley, located in Kent, South East England, southwest of Gravesend, is a new town and redevelopment area within the Thames Gateway regeneration initiative. It is part of the broader Ebbsfleet Garden City project, which encompasses the ...
,
Kent Kent is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Essex across the Thames Estuary to the north, the Strait of Dover to the south-east, East Sussex to the south-west, Surrey to the west, and Gr ...
, in early 2014, with a second also planned as an expansion of Bicester,
Oxfordshire Oxfordshire ( ; abbreviated ''Oxon'') is a ceremonial county in South East England. The county is bordered by Northamptonshire and Warwickshire to the north, Buckinghamshire to the east, Berkshire to the south, and Wiltshire and Glouceste ...
. The United Kingdom government announced further plans for garden towns in 2015, supporting both the development of new communities in North
Essex Essex ( ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the East of England, and one of the home counties. It is bordered by Cambridgeshire and Suffolk to the north, the North Sea to the east, Kent across the Thames Estuary to the ...
and support for sustainable and environmentally-friendly town development in Didcot, Oxfordshire. A " Black Country Garden City" was announced in 2016 with plans to build 45,000 new homes in the West Midlands on brownfield sites. On 2 January 2017, plans for new garden villages, each with between 1,500 and 10,000 homes, and garden towns each with more than 10,000 houses were announced by the government. These smaller projects have been proposed due to opposition of "
urban sprawl Urban sprawl (also known as suburban sprawl or urban encroachment) is defined as "the spreading of urban developments (such as houses and shopping centers) on undeveloped land near a city". Urban sprawl has been described as the unrestricted ...
" in the garden city projects, as well as such quick expansion to small communities. The first wave of villages to be approved by ministers are to be located in: * Long Marston, Warwickshire * Oxfordshire Cotswold, Oxfordshire * Deenethorpe * Culm, Devon * Welborne, Hampshire * West Carclaze, Cornwall * Dunton Hills, Essex * Spitalgate Heath, Lincolnshire * Halsnead, Merseyside * Longcross, Surrey * Bailrigg, Lancashire * Infinity Garden Village, Derbyshire * St Cuthberts, Cumbria * North Cheshire, Cheshire The approved garden towns are to be located in: * Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire * Taunton, Somerset *
Harlow Harlow is a town and local government district located in the west of Essex, England. Founded as a Planned community, new town in 1947, it is situated on the border with Hertfordshire, and occupies a large area of land on the south bank of the ...
& Gilston, Essex-Hertfordshire


Diagrams


Diagrams from the 1898 edition

File:Howard, Ebenezer, To-morrow.jpg , Ebenezer Howard, To-morrow: A Peaceful Path to Real Reform. File:Diagram No.1 (Howard, Ebenezer, To-morrow.).jpg , Diagram No.1: The Three Magnets (Ebenezer Howard, To-morrow: A Peaceful Path to Real Reform.) File:Diagram No.2 (Howard, Ebenezer, To-morrow.).jpg , Diagram No.2 (Ebenezer Howard, To-morrow: A Peaceful Path to Real Reform.) File:Diagram No.3 (Howard, Ebenezer, To-morrow.).jpg , Diagram No.3 (Ebenezer Howard, To-morrow: A Peaceful Path to Real Reform.) File:Diagram No.4 (Howard, Ebenezer, To-morrow.).jpg , Diagram No.4 (Ebenezer Howard, To-morrow: A Peaceful Path to Real Reform.) File:Diagram No.5 (Howard, Ebenezer, To-morrow.).jpg , Diagram No.5 (Ebenezer Howard, To-morrow: A Peaceful Path to Real Reform.) File:Diagram No.6 (Howard, Ebenezer, To-morrow.).jpg , Diagram No.6 (Ebenezer Howard, To-morrow: A Peaceful Path to Real Reform.) File:Diagram No.7 (Howard, Ebenezer, To-morrow.).jpg , Diagram No.7 (Ebenezer Howard, To-morrow: A Peaceful Path to Real Reform.)


Diagrams from the 1922 edition

File:ハワード『明日の田園都市』3版-01.jpg , Ebenezer Howard, Garden Cities of To-morrow. File:ハワード『明日の田園都市』3版-02.jpg , Ebenezer Howard, Garden Cities of To-morrow. File:ハワード『明日の田園都市』3版-03.jpg , Ebenezer Howard, Garden Cities of To-morrow. File:ハワード『明日の田園都市』3版-04.jpg , Diagram No.1 (Ebenezer Howard, Garden Cities of To-morrow.) File:ハワード『明日の田園都市』3版-05.jpg , Diagram No.2 (Ebenezer Howard, Garden Cities of To-morrow.) File:ハワード『明日の田園都市』3版-06.jpg , Diagram No.3 (Ebenezer Howard, Garden Cities of To-morrow.) File:ハワード『明日の田園都市』3版-07.jpg , Diagram No.4 (Ebenezer Howard, Garden Cities of To-morrow.)


"Den-en Toshi (Garden City)" Tokyo: Hakubunkan, 1907

File:内務省地方局編『田園都市』01.jpg , "Den-en Toshi (Garden City)" Tokyo: Hakubunkan, 1907. File:内務省地方局編『田園都市』02.jpg , "Den-en Toshi (Garden City)" Tokyo: Hakubunkan, 1907. File:内務省地方局編『田園都市』03.jpg , Diagram No.1 ("Den-en Toshi (Garden City)" Tokyo: Hakubunkan, 1907.) File:内務省地方局編『田園都市』04.jpg , Diagram No.2 ("Den-en Toshi (Garden City)" Tokyo: Hakubunkan, 1907.) File:内務省地方局編『田園都市』05.jpg , "Den-en Toshi (Garden City)" Tokyo: Hakubunkan, 1907.


Garden suburbs

The concept of garden cities is to produce relatively economically independent cities with short commute times and the preservation of the countryside. Garden suburbs arguably do the opposite. Garden suburbs are built on the outskirts of large cities with no sections of industry. They are therefore dependent on reliable transport allowing workers to commute into the city. Lewis Mumford, one of Howard's disciples, explained the difference as "The Garden City, as Howard defined it, is not a suburb but the antithesis of a suburb: not a rural retreat, but a more integrated foundation for an effective urban life." The planned garden suburb emerged in the late 19th century as a by-product of new types of transportation were embraced by a newly prosperous merchant class. The first garden villages were built by English estate owners, who wanted to relocate or rebuild villages on their lands. It was in these cases that architects first began designing small houses. Early examples include Harewood and Milton Abbas. Major innovations that defined early garden suburbs and subsequent suburban town planning include linking villa-like homes with landscaped public spaces and roads. Despite the emergence of the garden suburb in England, the typology flowered in the second half of the 19th century in United States. There were generally two garden suburb typologies, the garden village and the garden enclave. The garden villages are spatially independent of the city but remain connected to the city by railroads, streetcars, and later automobiles. The villages often included shops and civic buildings. In contrast, garden enclaves are typically strictly residential and emphasize natural and private space, instead of public and community space. The urban form of the enclaves was often coordinated through the use of early land use controls typical of modern zoning, including controlled setbacks, landscaping, and materials. Garden suburbs were not part of Howard's plan and were actually a hindrance to garden city planning—they were in fact almost the antithesis of Howard's plan, what he tried to prevent. The suburbanisation of London was an increasing problem which Howard attempted to solve with his garden city model, which attempted to end urban sprawl by the sheer inhibition of land speculation due to the land being held in trust, and the inclusion of agricultural areas on the city outskirts. Raymond Unwin, one of Howard's early collaborators on the Letchworth Garden City project in 1907, became very influential in formalizing the garden city principles in the design of suburbs through his work ''Town Planning in Practice: An Introduction to the Art of Designing Cities and Suburbs'' (1909). The book strongly influenced the Housing and Town Planning Act of 1909, which provided municipalities the power to develop urban plans for new suburban communities. Smaller developments were also inspired by the garden city philosophy and were modified to allow for residential "garden suburbs" without the commercial and industrial components of the garden city. They were built on the outskirts of cities, in rural settings. Some notable examples being, in London, Hampstead Garden Suburb, the Sutton Garden Suburb in Benhilton, Sutton, Pinner's Pinnerwood conversation area and the Romford Garden Suburb in Gidea Park and, in
Liverpool Liverpool is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. It is situated on the eastern side of the River Mersey, Mersey Estuary, near the Irish Sea, north-west of London. With a population ...
, Wavertree Garden Suburb. The Gidea Park estate in particular was built during two main periods of activity, 1911 and 1934. Both resulted in some good examples of domestic architecture, by such architects as Wells Coates and Berthold Lubetkin. Thanks to such strongly conservative local residents' associations as the Civic Society, both Hampstead and Gidea Park retain much of their original character. Bournville Village Trust in Birmingham, UK, is an important residential development which was associated with the growth of 'Cadbury's Factory in a Garden'. Here garden city principles are a fundamental part of the Trust's activity. There are tight restrictions applying to the properties here such as no stonewall cladding. Howard's influence reached as far as
Mexico City Mexico City is the capital city, capital and List of cities in Mexico, largest city of Mexico, as well as the List of North American cities by population, most populous city in North America. It is one of the most important cultural and finan ...
, where architect José Luis Cuevas was influenced by the garden city concept in the design of two of the most iconic inner-city subdivisions, Colonia Hipódromo de la Condesa (1926) and Lomas de Chapultepec (1928-9): *In 1926, Colonia Hipódromo (a.k.a. Hipódromo de la Condesa), in what is now known as the Condesa area, including its iconic parks Parque México and Parque España *In 1928–29, Lomas de Chapultepec The subdivisions were based on the principles of the garden city as promoted by Ebenezer Howard, including ample parks and other open spaces, park islands in the middle of "grand avenues", such as Avenida Amsterdam in colonia Hipódromo. One unique example of a garden suburb is the Humberstone Garden Suburb in the United Kingdom by the Humberstone Anchor Tenants' Association in
Leicestershire Leicestershire ( ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the East Midlands of England. It is bordered by Derbyshire, Nottinghamshire and Lincolnshire to the north, Rutland to the east, Northamptonshire to the south-east, Warw ...
, and it is the only garden suburb ever to be built by the members of a workers' co-operative; it remains intact to the present. In 1887 the workers of the Anchor Shoe Company in Humberstone formed a workers' cooperative and built 97 houses. American architects and partners, Walter Burley Griffin and Marion Mahony Griffin were proponents of the movement and after their arrival in
Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...
to design the national capital
Canberra Canberra ( ; ) is the capital city of Australia. Founded following the Federation of Australia, federation of the colonies of Australia as the seat of government for the new nation, it is Australia's list of cities in Australia, largest in ...
, they produced a number of garden suburb estates, most notably at Eaglemont with the Glenard and Mount Eagle Estates and the Ranelagh and Milleara Estates in Victoria. The idea of garden suburbs was implemented by the Jewish settlers in Mandate Palestine and later in
Israel Israel, officially the State of Israel, is a country in West Asia. It Borders of Israel, shares borders with Lebanon to the north, Syria to the north-east, Jordan to the east, Egypt to the south-west, and the Mediterranean Sea to the west. Isr ...
, as well as in British and French colonial urban areas in Africa.


See also

* Charles Reade * City Beautiful movement * Garden buildings * Greater city movements *
Greening Greening is the process of transforming living environments, and also artifacts such as a space, a lifestyle (sociology), lifestyle or a brand image, into a more environmentally friendly version (i.e. 'greening your home' or 'greening your office ...
* Roof garden * Utopian architecture


Related urban design concepts

*
Commuter town A commuter town is a populated area that is primarily residential rather than commercial or industrial. Routine travel from home to work and back is called commuting, which is where the term comes from. A commuter town may be called by many o ...
* Ecological urbanism * EPCOT (concept) * European Urban Renaissance *
Green belt A green belt or greenbelt is a policy, and land-use zone designation used in land-use planning to retain areas of largely undeveloped, wilderness, wild, or agricultural landscape, land surrounding or neighboring urban areas. Similar concepts ...
* Green urbanism * Principles of Intelligent Urbanism *
Soviet urban planning ideologies of the 1920s During the 1920s, Soviet urban planning ideologies established along two competing lines: the urbanist and disurbanist schools. Whilst the proposed form of the city differed between the two ideologies, their visions of social organization for commun ...
* Street reclamation * Subsistence Homesteads Division * Transit Oriented Development * Transition Towns * Urban forest


Notes


References


Sources

* . * . * . * .


Further reading

* Bigon, Liora. "Garden Cities." in ''The Wiley Blackwell Encyclopedia of Urban and Regional Studies'' (2019) pp: 1-6. * Bigon, Liora, and Y. Katz, eds. ''Garden Cities and Colonial Planning: Transnationality and Urban Ideas in Africa and Palestine'' (Manchester University Press, 2014)
online review
* Clevenger, Samuel M., and David L. Andrews. "Regenerating the ‘Stock’ of the Empire: Biopower and Physical Culture in English Garden City Planning Discourse, 1898-1903." ''International Journal of the History of Sport'' (2021): 1-20. * Freestone, Robert. "The garden city idea in Australia." ''Australian Geographical Studies'' 20.1 (1982): 24-48. * Geertse, Michel. "The International Garden City campaign: transnational negotiations on town planning methods 1913-1926." ''Journal of Urban History'' 42.4 (2016): 733-752. * Jones, Karen R. "'The Lungs of the City': Green Space, Public Health and Bodily Metaphor in the Landscape of Urban Park History." ''Environment and History'' 24.1 (2018): 39-5
online
. * Knight, Frances. "The Victorian city and the Christian imagination: from gothic city to garden city." ''Urban History'' 48.1 (2021): 37-5
online
. * Kolankiewicz, Victoria, David Nichols, and Robert Freestone. "The tribulations of Walter Burley Griffin’s final Australian plan: Milleara as ‘the garden city of the future’ 1925–1965." ''Planning Perspectives'' 34.5 (2019): 911-923; on Melbourne suburbs. * Lewis, John. "Preserving and maintaining the concept of Letchworth Garden City." ''Planning perspectives'' 30.1 (2015): 153-163. * Meacham, Standish. ''Regaining Paradise: Englishness and the Early Garden City Movement'' (1999). * Miller, Mervyn. "Commemorating and celebrating Raymond Unwin (1863–1940)." ''Planning Perspectives'' 30.1 (2015): 129-140. * Nikologianni, Anastasia, and Peter J. Larkham. "The Urban Future: Relating Garden City Ideas to the Climate Emergency." ''Land'' 11.2 (2022): 147+. * Purdom, Charles Benjamin. ''The Garden City: a study in the development of a modern town'' (JM Dent & sons Limited, 1913), on Letchworth
online
* Reade, Charles C. "A defence of the Garden City movement." ''The Town Planning Review'' 4.3 (1913): 245-251, a primary source
online
* . * Stern, Robert A. M., David Fishman, and Jacob Tilove, eds. ''Paradise planned: the garden suburb and the modern city'' (Monacelli Press, 2013). * van Rooijen, Maurits. "Garden city versus green town: The case of Amsterdam 1910–1935." ''Planning Perspective'' 5.3 (1990): 285-293. * Ward, Stephen. ''The garden city: Past, present and future'' (Routledge, 2005). * Wilson, Matthew. "A new civic spirit for garden city-states: on the lifework of Sybella Gurney." ''Journal of Planning History'' 17.4 (2018): 320-344
online


External links



Norman Lucey 1973 *Patrick Barkha
Britain's housing crisis: are garden cities the answer?
2 October 2014
Nature Meets Culture: Poland's Garden Cities
{{DEFAULTSORT:Garden City Movement Planned communities Sustainable urban planning Political movements in the United Kingdom Urban forestry 1898 introductions Architecture related to utopias