Garden Cities

Theory
By: Sir Ebenezer Howard
 Sir Ebenezer Howard
(29th January 1850 May 1st, 1928)
Sir Ebenezer Howard was born as the son of
a shopkeeper in the City of London, on
29th of January 1850.
He left school at 15 and began working as a
stenographer in London
In 1871, he emigrated to the frontier
country of America to become a farmer.
In the US he became acquainted with, and
admired, poets Walt Whitman and Ralph
Waldo Emerson.
Howard began to ponder ways to improve
the quality of life.
 Garden Cities: Origin
Howard was heavily influenced by the utopian visions of
Edward Bellamy and his publication Looking Backward
(1888).
Sir Ebenezer Howard is known for his publication Garden
Cities of To-morrow (1898), the description of a utopian city
in which people live harmoniously together with nature.
The publication resulted in the founding of the garden city
movement, that realized several Garden Cities in Great
Britain at the beginning of the 20th century.
The first garden cities proposed were Letchworth and
Welwyn in 1903 and 1920 respectively.
 Garden Cities of Tomorrow: The Book
This book offered a vision of towns free of slums
and enjoying the benefits of both town (such as
opportunity, amusement and good wages) and
country (such as beauty, fresh air and low rents).
He illustrated the idea with his famous Three
Magnets diagram : 'Town', 'Country' or 'Town-
Country'.
It proposed the creation of new suburban towns of
limited size, planned in advance, and surrounded
by a permanent belt of agricultural land.
 Garden Cities of Tomorrow: The Cure
London (and other cities) in the 19th century were
in the throws of industrialization, and the cities were
exerting massive forces on the labour markets of
the time.
This situation was unsustainable and political
commentators of all parties sought how best to
provide the proper antidote against the greatest
danger of modern existence (St. James Gazette,
1892)
To Howard the cure was simple - to reintegrate
people with the countryside.
 Garden Cities of Tomorrow: The Cure
He believed that Human society and the beauty of
nature are meant to be enjoyed together
"Town and country must be united, and out of this
joyous union, will spring a new hope, a new life, a
new civilization.
 THE THREE MAGNETS : The People, Where will
they go?
- Town life has good and bad characteristics
- Country life has good and bad characteristics
- Town-Country life can have all the good things about
life in towns and life in the country - without any of
the bad things.
TOWN COUNTRY
POSITIVE ASPECTS NEGATIVE ASPECTS POSITIVE ASPECTS NEGATIVE ASPECTS
Social opportunity Closing out of nature Beauty of nature Lack of society
Isolation of crowds High rents & prices Land lying idle Hands out of work
Places of amusement Foul air and Murky sky Wood, meadow, forest Trespassers
Chances of Slums & gin palaces Fresh air Low wages
employment Low rents Lack of drainage
High money wages Costly drainage Abundance of water Lack of amusement
Well-lit streets Bright sunshine No public spirit
Palatial edifices Need for reform
Crowded dwellings
Deserted villages
 Town and Country

COMBINATION OF BOTH ASPECTS

Beauty of nature- peace all-over the places.
Social opportunity- cumulative growth.
Fields and parks of easy access- equal chances.
Low rents- high wages.
Low rates- plenty to do.
Low prices- no sweating.
Field for enterprise- flow of capital.
Pure air and water- good drainage.
Bright homes & gardens- no smoke, no slums.
Freedom- Co-operation.
 Green Belt Concept

Greenbelt refers to any area of undeveloped natural

land that has been set aside near urban or developed
land to provide open space, offer light recreational
opportunities or contain development.
Greenbelts in and around urban areas act as lung
space and are important to the ecological health of any
region.
The various plants and trees in greenbelts serve as
organic sponges for various forms of pollution, and as
storehouses of Carbon-di-oxide to help offset global
warming
The original Garden City concept by Ebenezer
Howard, 1902.
 Conceptual Layout
Circular city growing in a radial manner or pattern.
Divided into six equal wards, by six main Boulevards that radiated from the
central park/garden.
Civic institutions (Town Hall, Library, Hospital, Theatre, Museum etc. ) are
placed around the central garden.
The central park enclosed by a crystal palace acts as an arcade for indoor
shops and winter gardens.
The streets for houses are formed by a series of concentric ringed tree
lined avenues.
Distance between each ring vary between 3-5km .
A 420 feet wide , 3 mile long, Grand avenue which run in the center of
concentric rings , houses the schools and churches and acts as a
continuous public park.
 Conceptual Layout
All the industries, factories and warehouses were placed at the periferal
ring of the city.
The municipal railway was placed in another ring closer to the industrial
ring , so that the pressure of excess transport on the city streets are
reduced and the city is connected to the rest of the nation.
REVENUE AND EXPENDITURE:
Pay the interest with which the estate was purchased (providing a 4%
return for the initial investors)
Provide a sinking fund for the purpose of paying off the principal.
Construct and maintain all the works typically undertaken by
municipalities (including a detailed breakdown of associated costs).
Provide a large surplus for other purposes including old age pensions,
medical services and insurance.
 Conceptual Layout

City Growth
Assuming the Garden City model was implemented and found to be
successful Howard begins to describe how the City could grow and
become part of an integrated network of Garden Cities.
The principle of always preserving a belt of country around cities
should always be maintained, argues Howard, so once a city has
reached capacity a new one must be founded outside the agricultural
belt (the influence of colonial-models prominent).
 Garden Cities: Conclusion

Ebenezer Howards Garden City concept shows us a place where genuine urban
activities are carried at human scale.
The garden city introduced the use of greenbelts that have served many uses
including the preservation of agricultural and rural life, nature and heritage
conservation, recreation, pollution minimization, and growth management.
Garden city tradition endowed urban planning with a social and community
dimensions.
The garden city idea however, showed how both industrial estates and collective
retailing spaces could be used within a comprehensive planning approach to
serve public purposes.
 Case Study:
The first Garden City evolved out
of Howards principles is
Letchworth Garden City
designed by Raymond Unwin
and Barry Parker in 1903.

The second one to evolve was

Welwyn Garden City designed
by Louis de Soissons and
Frederic Osborn in 1920.
 Letchworth: The First Garden City

Letchworth, officially Letchworth Garden City, is a town in Hertfordshire, England,

with a population of 33,600
It was designed by Raymond Unwin and Barry Parker.
Letch worth 35 miles from London

Data:
Land of 3822 acres
Reserved Green belt- 1300 acres
Designed for a maximum of 35000
population
In 30 years developed with Latchworth Garden City- Arrangement from top.
15000 population & 150 shops,
industries
Broadway Garden
Commercial Area
Residential Area
Green Belt Area
 Welywn Garden City
Welwyn Garden City is a town within
the Borough of Welwyn
Hatfield in Hertfordshire, England.
It is located approximately 19 miles
from Kings Cross and 24 miles from London.
On 29 April 1920 a company, Welwyn Garden
City Limited, was formed to plan and build the
garden city, chaired by Sir Theodore
Chambers. Louis de Soissons was appointed
as architect and town planner and Frederic
Osborn as secretary.
Data:
Land of 2378 acres
Designed for a maximum of 40000 population
In 15 years developed with 10000 population
& 50 shops, industries.
 Streets are designed so as to
give the concept of a
Neighborhood unit.

Separation of the pedestrian

walkways from the main roads
gives a sense of natural beauty.

Open and green spaces are

given on a large scale.

Personalization of Homes in
Welwyn with varying roofline,
texture and composition for
each house.
 Local: Quezon City as Garden City

Quezon City is bordered by Manila to the southwest, by Caloocan and

Valenzuela City to the west and northwest. To the south lie San Juan
and Mandaluyong, while Marikina and Pasig border the city to the
southeast.

The city can be divided into a number of areas.

The southern portion of the city is divided into a number of districts
including Diliman, Commonwealth, the Project areas, Cubao,
Kamias, Kamuning, New Manila, San Francisco del Monte, and
Santa Mesa Heights.
The northern half of the city is often called Novaliches and contains
the areas of Fairview and Lagro. Most of these areas have no
defined boundaries and are primarily residential in nature.
Local: Quezon City as Garden City
 Garden and Parks
Quezon City is distinct for having the largest ecological parks in an urban
setting. It is a balanced urban center with about 300 parks, including the
renowned Quezon Memorial Circle and Ninoy Aquino Parks and Wildlife.