Garden Cities: The Cornerstone of Modern Planning (by Timothy Mallis)

 (Figure 1) The Garden City, 1898 (Source: Howard, 1898)

 

The turn of the twentieth century was something of a global revolution in urban history. A countermovement began to form as a reaction against the suburban boom of the eighteenth century (Mumford, 1989). This was a time when social change began to take shape in the form of social liberalism which sought to respond to ‘a second industrial revolution, social dislocation, agricultural decline, unemployment, and mounting discontent [which] exerted a persistent and accelerating pressure upon traditional social theory’ (Soffer, 1970). Ebenezer Howard then went on to propose the notion of the garden city which, in turn, influenced modern planning throughout the Western and parts of the Eastern world to this day (Ward, 2002).

 

Before the Garden City

The Russian geographer Peter Kropotkin was effectively the fortune-teller prior to the conception of the Garden City. As a prominent economic theorist, he wrote a book entitled ‘Fields, Factories, and Workshops’. Within this text, Kropotkin outlines his concerns about the then-current state of industry specialisation in both cities and nations. As a reactionary solution, Kropotkin suggests the decentralisation of industry. What he means by this is that industry would not just be centred on the production of coal to fuel the city and it would need to take advantage of smaller, self-contained settlements in order to thrive. He saw the big city as an excessive conglomerate of residences and industries that would not be able to support its own weight from constant expansion (Kropotkin, 1899).

 

Imagining the Garden City

English urban planner Ebenezer Howard was the man responsible for conceiving the idea of the garden city. Heavily influenced by Kropotkin, Howard wished to take his ideas further in the creation of a scheme outlined in his landmark book entitled ‘To-Morrow: A Peaceful Path to Real Reform’. Howard’s scheme involved the juxtaposition of urban and rural environments to bring the best of both worlds together (see Figure 1).

(Figure 2) The Three Magnets, 1898 (Source: Howard, 1898)

  

Howard stated many of his sources of inspiration including the ancient Greek concept of a ‘natural limit to the growth of any organism or organisation’ (Mumford, 1989). Once again, the limitations of the cities of the Industrial Revolution of the nineteenth century stood out as a looming threat during the early twentieth century.

Howard emphasised the creation of a community that, at the same time, would be protecting nature (Ward, 2002). Howard achieved this by envisaging a classless residential blueprint with wide public spaces between (Bratnz & Dümpelmann, 2011) (Ward & Hall, 2014). Howard achieved this by dividing cities with agricultural greenbelt. This greenbelt would both encourage the close proximity of the rural landscape as well as providing distance between other urban communities (Mumford, 1989).

 

The Birth of the Garden City

The first establishment of the garden city was the city of Letchworth in 1903. Situated in Hertfordshire in Southern England, this garden city was first and foremost a prototype which, according to Stephen V. Ward, ‘compromised his original ideas on land and governance’. Nevertheless, it was the first realisation of Howard’s imagined utopian city. Progress of the construction of Letchworth was also very slow which temporarily squandered Howard’s plans to move on to other cities (Ward, 2002).

 

(Figure 3) Letchworth: Garden Cities by Ebenezer Howard

 

Howard therefore decided to move on to existing cities rather than creating new ones from scratch (Ward, 2002). This notion of modifying existing cities gave birth to the concept of the garden suburb. By applying the same principals as garden cities, garden suburbs meant that time would be saved and practicality increased with similar results.

The most famous example of this is the Hampstead Garden Suburb. Planned by Raymond Unwin and Barry Parker in 1907 (Ward & Hall, 2014). Hampstead specifically sought to achieve the values of the garden suburb: classless low-density housing, wide, green spaces for roads and greenbelts and the accessibility of public areas for all who inhabited (Gayler, 1996).

 

The Legacy of the Garden City

Howard’s garden city was soon exemplified in cities outside England – especially across the English Channel in mainland Europe. The ideals were recognised overseas as a result of the social liberalist reforms of the early twentieth century and were therefore attractive to foreign urban planners.

In Germany, a relationship between German town planning ideas and English ideas soon emerged and proved fruitful (Ward, 2002). Translated as the Gartenstädte, twentieth-century planning in Dresden, Frankfurt and Berlin followed Howard’s example. They should not, however, be considered pure garden cities. These cities were still being planned as large metropolises but with elements of garden city ideals (Ward & Hall 2014).

France’s Cités-Jardins were a part of Georges Benoȋt-Levy’s introduction of the garden city from the English-speaking world. The Musée Social movement that resulted, led by Tony Garnier, showed important similarities with Howard’s garden city and ‘was an attempt to develop the idea of reform and spread it more widely’ (Ward, 2002). Examples of garden suburbs in France include Petit Groslay, in the eastern suburbs of Paris, and Draveil, in the southern suburbs of Paris (Ward, 2002).

 

Conclusion

Howard’s ground-breaking ideas of the garden city sparked the emergence of modern planning as we know it today. From its humble beginnings in Letchworth to sprawling metropolises across the world, garden cities and garden suburbs have established a foothold in urban life. Although sparked from the social change of the early twentieth century, its social implications still resonate in the development of the twenty-first century.

 

 

 

 

 

Reference List:

Brantz, D., & Dümpelmann, S. (2011). Greening the city: urban landscapes in the twentieth century. Charlottesville, VA: University of Virginia Press.

Gaylor, H. J. (1996). Georgraphical excursions in London. Lanham, MD: University Press of America.

Howard, E. (1898). To-morrow: a peaceful path to real reform. London, England: Swan Sonnenschein.

Kropotkin, P. A. (1899). Fields, factories and workshops. New York: G.P. Putnam’s Sons.

Mumford, L. (1989). The city in history: its origins, its transformations, and its prospects. San Diego: Harcourt Brace & Co.

Soffer, R. N. (1970). The revolution in English social thought, 1880-1914. The American Historical Review, (7).

Ward, S. (2002). The emergence of modern planning. In Planning the Twentieth Century. Chichester: John Wiliey & Sons.

Ward, S., & Hall, P. G. (2014). Sociable cities: the 21st-century reinvention of the garden city (2nd Ed.). Oxfordshire, England: Routledge.