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Overview:
Background
Definition
Ebenezer Howard
The Three magnets
Features
Applications

The Garden city movement

Inspired by the Utopian novel

Looking Backward, Howard published his book
To-morrow: a Peaceful Path to Real Reform in
1898 (which was reissued in 1902 as
Garden Cities of To-morrow)

The garden city movement is a method of

urban planning that was initiated in 1898 by Sir
Ebenezer Howard in the United Kingdom
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Sir Ebenezer Howard

Definition:
A Garden city is a self sufficient
city in which the attractive
features of both rural life and
city life are combined
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How the idea came into his minds??

Being a residence of London he witnessed

various evils of an unplanned town
As many farmers became workers in the
factories, they also started living there, next
to the industrial areas, so unsatisfactory
condition developed and the life condition
became worse
He conceived the idea of Garden City to
reduce and solve the social problem and to
reduce the load on the existing city
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Howard Definition:
A garden city is a town designed for
healthy living and industry; of size
that makes possible of full measure
of social life, but not larger;
surrounded by a rural belt; the
whole of the land being in public
ownership or held in trust for
community
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Ebenezer Howard mentioned the advantages

and disadvantages of town life and rural life on
the respective two magnets, namely, town
magnet and country magnet
On the third magnet he wrote the attractive
features of town life and country life and posed
the problem, where will the people go?
These attractive features were natural beauty,
bright homes and gardens, low rents, no slums,
no smoke and social opportunity
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Open spaces and gardens around all houses and

factory buildings
Population neither too small nor too large
Howard's limit b/w 30000 to 40000
City is owned by all citizens on co-operative basis
Independent and have its own civic life and afford
all daily needs
Self sufficient unit having its own industries
Surrounded by green belt
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Principles of zoning strictly applied

Surplus fund used for the development

of the community itself

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Garden city NY

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The Garden City consists for different zones, street

types and green.
The core is in the centre contains a central park,
surrounded by a commercial, cultural and
administrative zone.
Here, the idea of the shopping mall came up, as
Howard wanted to develop a " Crystal palace"
where goods such as handicraft produced by the
inhabitants could be sold protected from weather.
During the weekends the core was supposed to be
the cultural and recreational centre.
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A wide (Grand Avenue) and some smaller ring roads are

arranged circular around the centre, and together with
the radial roads, they form the wards - living area
Every family has a house of a minimum size of 6m x
30m with a shared or owned garden
Social infrastructure (i.e. schools) is located along the
Grand Avenue
The outer ring is supposed for small scale industries and
manufacturing units to keep the inhabitants away from
emission and a green belt and a circle railway mark the
border to the countryside
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Howard was fortunate enough to apply his theory

in actual practice.
In 1903, the first garden city was planned 48km
from London.
The area was 1527 hectares.
It was steadily grown with great success. It
contains 8500 houses, 95 factories and 33600
people today.
So the idea get success and another garden city
was developed Welwyn.
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Letch worth Garden City

The First Garden City in the World

Letch worth Garden City played an

important role in the development of
modern urban planning theory and
practice throughout the 20th century

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Letchworth Garden City, commonly known as

Letchworth, is a town in Hertfordshire, England

Founded in 1903
Its development inspired another garden
city welwyn, and other small towns
Barry Barkers and Rymoned Unwin were
architects
16km square area for buiding
Natural beauty was mantained
1905 & 1908 Cheap Cottage Exhibition was
heled to build inexpensive housing.

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Letchworth today

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A comparison
S.no feature
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Dependence

Garden cities
Self-sufficient unit

Satellite towns
Depend on the
parent city

Gardens

Around all houses and Not compulsory

factories

Green belt

Surrounded by green
belt

Situated outside
green belt of
the parent city

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Industries
Rapid transit
arrangement

Permitted
Not necessary

Not permitted
Necessary in
the form of
local trains and
buses

zoning

Essential

May or may not

have

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