Urban Design movements - Ebenezer Howard Garden City Movement

 Ebenezer Howard garden city movement.

 

   Garden city movement that was initiated in 1898 by Sir Ebenezer Howard is a method of urban planning. The garden city movement was intended to be planned, self-contained communities surrounded by green belts, containing a balance in areas of residences,agriculture and industry. Green belts are land that are kept in reserve for open spaces, most often around the larger cities. Their purpose is to protect the land around these larger urban centers from urban sprawl.

 

Green belt around Ottawa

   

   After Ebenezer Howard's success in To-morrow: a peaceful path to real reform led him to publish a second edition, Garden Cities of To-morrow, to sustain his movement. The success he had provided him with enough support needed to possibly bring his vision into reality. Howard's garden city vision combined the town and the country together, providing the working class an alternative to working on farms or congested cities. Howard founded the Garden Cities Association which later adopted the name, Town and Country Planning Association (TCPA). They created the First City Garden in 1899, Letchworth.With this pioneering project, he hoped it would be the start of a mass movement. His other project, Welwyn Garden City, would be launched after World War I.

Ebenezer Howard's concept. 

Combine the best elements of the city and the country.
Avoid the worst elements of the city and country.
Form the basis of the earliest suburbs
Seperation from the city.

 

Letchworth, England Plan

 

 Welwyn Garden City Plan

The three magnet theory.

- Town magnet (High wages, opportunities and amusement)

- Country magnet (Natural beauty, low rents and fresh air)

- Town country (Combination of both)

 

Garden city, which is to be built in the middle of the 6000 acre plot of land. It covers 1000 acres.

 Six boulevards, each 120ft wide, connecting the city from the centre to the circumference. The centre is a garden, and surrounding it are the larger public buildings.

Dealing with population growth.

Solution to population growth.

When the garden city's population is built up and exceeds 32 000, it grows by establishing. A new city would be established just outside the garden city. This would be reached in a few minutes via rapid transit transportation.