SIR EBENEZER HOWARD

GARDEN CITIES OF TOMORROW

SAHIL PAHAL (10607) DEEPANSHU SINGH (10639)

Sir Ebenezer Howard (29th January 1850– May 1st, 1928)

AN INTRODUCTION -

• Sir Ebenezer Howard was born as the son of a shopkeeper in the City of London, on 29th of January 1850.

• After schooling, he took on a number of clerical posts.

• In 1871, he emigrated to the frontier country of America to become a farmer.

• He subsequently spent four years living in Chicago, witnessing it’s rebuilding following the great fire.

• It was during this time, he began to contemplate ways to improve cities.

GARDEN CITY MOVEMENT: The 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 ideas put forth in To-morrow were a synthesis of his personal experiences and the works of others.

• 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 which addressed the question 'Where will the people go?', the choices being '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.

• These Garden cities were used as the model for many suburbs.

• Howard believed that such Garden Cities were the perfect blend of city and nature.

• The towns would be largely independent, managed by the citizens who had an economic interest in them, and financed by ground rents on the Georgist model.

• The land on which they were to be built was to be owned by a group of trustees and leased to the citizens.

THE CURE - Sir Ebenezer Howard • It is important to understand the context to which Howard’s work

was a reaction.

• 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.

• Massive immigration from the countryside to the cities was taking place with London.

• 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. Jame’s Gazette, 1892) 

• To Howard the cure was simple - to reintegrate people with the countryside.

• In trying to understand and represent the attraction of the city he compared each city to a magnet, with individuals represented as needles drawn to the city.

• He set about comparing the ‘town and country magnets’ but decided that neither were suitable attractors for his utopian vision.

• Instead he believed that “Human society and the beauty of nature are meant to be enjoyed together” – hence giving his solution “the two magnets must be made one.”

• "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 Diagram (below) makes three points:- 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.

POSITIVE ASPECTS

NEGATIVE ASPECTS

• Social opportunity.

• Closing out of nature.

• Isolation of crowds.

• High rents & prices.

• Places of amusement.

• Foul air and Murky sky.

• Chances of employment.

• Slums & gin palaces.

• High money wages.

• Costly drainage.

• Well-lit streets.

• Palatial edifices.

TOWN

POSITIVE ASPECTS NEGATIVE ASPECTS

• Beauty of nature. • Lack of society

• Land lying idle. • Hands out of work.

• Wood, meadow, forest.

• Trespassers beware.

• Fresh air. • Low wages.

• Low rents. • Lack of drainage.

• Abundance of water.

• Lack of amusement.

• Bright sunshine. • No public spirit.

• Need for reform.

• Crowded dwellings.

• Deserted villages.

COUNTRY

THE THREE MAGNETS - The People, Where will they go?

TOWN-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.

The original Garden City concept by Ebenezer Howard, 1902.

GARDEN CITY PRINCIPLE

GARDEN CITY DATAS

• Central City: Area: 12000 acres. Population : 58000 people• Agglomeration Cities: Area: 9000 acres Population: 32000 people• Distance between central main city and the agglomeration: ~10km .

Assumed data-• A total of 6000 acre estate• 1000 acres, purely for the central garden city as a home for

30000 people.• Surrounding the central city 5000 Acres of land is retained for

agriculture and home for 2000 people, with cow pastures, farmlands, and welfare services.

• 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

Howard goes to great lengths to demonstrate how the revenue derived simply from rents could be used to:

• All the industries, factories and warehouses were placed at the periferal ring of the city.

REVENUE AND EXPENDITURE

• 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.

• 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.

ADMINISTRATION• Howard did not advocate the complete municipalisation of

industry or the elimination of private enterprise, instead he proposes a cautious and limited municipality that doesn’t attempt “too much.”

• The activities are to be closely related to the rate-rent of the tenants and would “grow in proportion as municipal work is done efficiently and honestly.”• With this in mind the structure of the municipality and its administration is proposed with a Board of Management composed of The Central Council and The Departments (Public Control, Engineering, Social and Education).

• 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.

CITY GROWTH

• 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). • Eventually there a central city (of perhaps 58,000 inhabitants) would be surrounded by a number of smaller off-shoot cities, connected by railroad and canal infrastructure.

Garden City Principle in Practice• The first Garden City evolved

out of Howard’s 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.

• Another example was Radburn City designed by Clarence Stein and Henry Wright in 1928.

LATCHWORTH• 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

• Land of 3822 acres• Reserved Green belt- 1300 acres• Designed for a maximum of 35000 population• In 30 years – developed with 15000 population & 150 shops,

industries.

An Analysis

Latchworth Garden City- Arrangement from top.

Latchworth- A New Vision

WELWYN• 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.

.

An Analysis

Welwyn Garden City- Arrangement from top.

• Land of 2378 acres• Designed for a maximum of 40000

population• In 15 years – developed with 10000

population & 50 shops, industries.

• Personalization of Homes in Welwyn with varying roofline, texture and composition for each house.

• 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.

RADBURN, NEW JERSEY• Radburn was planned by architects Clarence Stein and Henry

Wright in 1928.

• It is America’s first garden community, serving as a world wide example of the harmonious blending of private space and open area.

• Radburn provided a prototype for the new towns to meet the requirements for contemporary good living.

• Radburn was designed to occupy one square mile of land and house some 25,000 residents.

• However, the Great Depression limited the development to only 149 acres.

• Radburn created a unique alternative to the conventional suburban development through the use of cul-de-sacs, interior parklands, and cluster housing.

• Although Radburn is smaller than planned, it still plays a very important role in the history of urban planning.

• The Regional Planning Association of America (RPAA) used Radburn as a garden city experiment.

RADBURN CONSISTS OF-• Residential areas

• 149 acres of interior parks,

• Walkways.

• 2 swimming pools,

• 4 tennis courts,

• 2 playgrounds,

• Archery plaza and a school,

• 2 outdoor basketball courts

• A community center, which houses administrative offices, library, gymnasium, clubroom and service and maintenance areas.

ELEMENTS OF THE RADBURN CITY

• Park as backbone of the neighborhood.

• Specialized Highway system, Complete separation of vehicular and pedestrian traffic with 21% of road areas.

• The Radburn planners achieved the separation of vehicular and pedestrian traffic through the use of the superblocks, cul-de-sacs, and pedestrian-only pathways.

• Through the use of the superblock, houses in Radburn were uniquely designed to have two fronts.

• The ‘back side’ of the house, what we would normally consider the front side, faced the culs-de-sac and parking.

• The kitchen was normally placed in the back to provide visitors a place to enter the house.

• The ‘front side’ of the house faced towards the green spaces or parks encouraging pedestrian traffic.

• Since automobiles were given limited access to the ‘backs’ of the houses, the ‘fronts’ of the house were relatively quiet, therefore, the bedrooms were always placed on this side of the house.

• The 2900 residents of Radburn share 23 acres of interior parks, which yield 345 square feet / person.

Housing blocks

Parks and greenbelt

Plaza building the shoping center

Conclusion• Ebenezer Howard’s 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.

Thank you…

• MA Architecture + Urbanism, Manchester School of Architecture.• Garden Cities of Tomorrow, Published by The University of Adelaide.• Miller, Dr Mervyn (1998) Letchworth Garden City – Dream and Reality,

Town and Country Planning, October 1998. • Hall, Peter and Ward, Colin (1998) Sociable Cities – the legacy of

Ebenezer Howard, Chichester, John Wiley and Sons Ltd.

REFERENCES & LITERATURE-