To what extent did those principles become applied in practice?
In what ways was the Garden City Movement formative?
Ebenezer Howard 1850 - 1928 Son of trades people
Was quite well educated
Expected to become a rural worker
Became a shorthand writer for parliament
Travelled to America Nebraska and Chicago What provoked Howards ideas? Rapid unplanned urban growth Anti Urbanism Improve living conditions for the working class George Cadbury Lord Leverhulme Joseph Rowntree Land ownership Create a city that provides the people within the city with what they need
The Garden City Proposal 6000 acres 5000 for agriculture and 2000 people 1000 in the city for 30,000 people Low rent on land - Agricultural Dividends on the land would be paid out Create a place that combines city life and rural life Eliminate slums
His garden cities were envisaged with much higher residential densities than the kind of urban expansion along traffic routes that became known as suburban sprawl. They were conceived as a cluster, separated by a green belt, around a central city providing those facilities that individual towns could not supply, in a poly-nucleated settlement pattern of city regions.
Ward, C. (1993) New Town, Home Town, the lessons of experience, London: Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation Garden City Association Founded by Ebenezer Howard 1899 Alfred Russell Wallace Ralph Neville George Cadbury Lord Leverhulme
He wanted to push forward his Garden City Idea Is now the Town and Country Planning Association
Unwin and Parker
Employed as architects because no action was being taken
Commissioned to prepare a plan of Letchworth based on their interpretation of Howards Proposals Letchworth Low population 1905 population was 1400 1907 population was 2800 1908 population was 5600
Slow growth until munitions factory was built there in 1914
Means the housing increases in value
Did Letchworth follow Howards proposals? 3800 acres Less green space Industry was on the outskirts Not part of a network but still a start
The British towns of the postwar period incorporated some garden city features but were nevertheless far removed from Howards original proposals
Ward, S.V (1992) 1 st ed. The Garden City, Past, Present and future. London: Chapman and Hall.
There was never a network created
1917 manifesto written by the Garden Cities Association to get 100 more garden cities built 1918 Howard brought his own land and appointed Louis de Soissons to create the plan Welwyn
The Barnetts Canon Leonard and Henrietta Barnett Saw the evils of poverty Garden suburbs were a result of the Garden City Movement Hampstead garden Suburb 1906 Unwin and Parker were appointed architects. Suburbs werent seen to solve unemployment problems there for was a betrayal of the garden city ideal
Unwin and Parker. Cul-de-sacs
Revived cottage style architecture
Wanted to encourage a sense of community Satellite Towns Residential areas without obvious local employment Based around garden city proposals Helped with the suburbanization of London Unwins housing work for the Ministry of Health who was still reinforcing the idea of the garden suburb Unwin was appointed chief advisor to the Greater London Regional planning committee Satellite towns To be developed within a 12 mile radius of London
Helped with decentralization
Socially and economically self contained towns
Influenced by Howards theories Ideas maintained today. Low density housing Cheaper due to lower road costs and sewer system costs
Block planning instead of street planning
Combining urban and rural housing
Summary Ebenezer Howard proposes a new garden city to improve living conditions for the working class. Unwin and Parker are appointed architects. Letchworth and Welwyn were built didnt match the original proposal but were inspired by it The Barnetts created the Garden Suburb. This lead to the development of Satellite towns.
References Beevers, Robert, (1988) The garden city utopia : a critical biography of Ebenezer Howard London : Macmillan Ward, S.V (1992) 1 st ed. The Garden City, Past, Present and future. London: Chapman and Hall. Ward, C. (1993) New Town, Home Town, the lessons of experience, London: Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation Suburbs Or Satellite Towns The British Medical Journal, Vol. 2, No. 3417 (Jul. 3, 1926), pp. 27-28 www.lgc.amolad.net/heritage/index-3.htm www.geog.ed.ac.uk/homes/tslater/Anit- Urbanism.pdf