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The Concept Of Garden City And Its Relevancy in Modern City Planning

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 SEUJA,VOL. 1, NO. 1, JUNE. 2021, PP. 1–7

Southeast University Journal of Architecture

Journal homepage: www.seu.edu.bd/seuja

The Concept Of Garden City And Its Relevancy in Modern City Planning
Nuzhat Nabila a
*
Lecturer, Department of Architecture, Southeast University, Dhaka, Bangladesh. [email protected]
a

ARTICLE INFORMATION ABSTRACT

Received: April 05, 2021 The main planning principles of Howard’s Garden City were derived from the urge to
Revised: May 23, 2021 prohibit environmental degradation and capitalism due to the migration of people from
Accepted: May 30, 2021
the country to the cities during the industrial revolution in 19th century England. The
Published online: July 03, 2021
Garden City Movement was a revolutionary idea in the early 90s, leaving a legacy of
planning principles and approaches. This article explores if Howard’s Garden City
Keywords: principles are still relevant in contemporary city planning. This article describes the
Garden City
Ebenezer Howard relevance of the garden city concept through case studies where the ‘core’ of planning
Legacies policies and strategies aim to individual’s enjoyment and prosperity, access to healthy
Planning Principles and safe housing, services and employment, and various opportunities for socialising and
participating in the community. Moreover, this article argues that Garden city’s planning
principles can be utilised with adjustments, fine-tuning and alteration required in
different circumstances and contexts depending on the scale of the plot, block and suburb
sizes in today’s city planning.

1. Introduction aspects of Howard’s Garden city movement and suggests

incorporating the principles in modern city planning.
The Garden City movement is one of the remarkable
urban planning methods initiated in 1898 by Ebenezer 2. Methodology
Howard in the United Kingdom. In the 19th century, due
to the industrial revolution in England, the migration rate This article compares the case studies of present-day
to cities increased rapidly, leading to environmental cities with Howard’s original garden city concept using a
degradation and capitalism. Howard’s intention behind the qualitative approach method. At first, the literature review
Garden City movement was to combine the benefits of the section explores Howard’s vision about Garden city by
countryside environment and city environment while examining his book ‘Garden Cities of To-morrow’,
avoiding the disadvantages of both. This article explores published in 1902, where Ebenezer Howard explained the
the planning principles embedded in Howard’s vision and planning principles and the main elements of the physical
plan of a Garden City. It explains the main elements form, structure and layout of Garden City. With this
comprising the physical form, structure and layout of knowledge about the Garden city concept, this article
Howard’s Garden City. proceeds to evaluate several approaches that appeared as
Moreover, it explores if the Garden City principles are the inheritance of the Garden City Movement. Four case
still visible in contemporary society and what kind of studies- Canberra Suburbs, Australia; Letchworth, United
modification it needs. This article investigates Garden Kingdom; Welwyn, United Kingdom and Radburn, New
City’s inheritance like The Garden city association, Jersey, USA; have been examined to recognize how the
Briain’s New Towns Act, The Neighbourhood unit by garden city concept has been applied in their planning. By
Clarence Perry; and connects them with the planning exploring the opportunities and challenges to apply
principles of Howard’s Garden City. Discussing a few garden city concepts in these cities, the article decides
examples of cities where garden city principles have been whether the garden city concept is still relevant in
expressed, this article discovers both positive and negative contemporary planning principles.

* Corresponding author: Nuzhat Nabila, Lecturer, Department of Architecture, Southeast University, Dhaka, Bangladesh
This article is published with open access at www.seu.edu.bd/seuja
ISSN No.: DOI:
Nabila, N. SEUJA, Vol. 1, No. 1, June. 2021

3. Literature review benefiting the whole community. People from different

classes provide their capital and effort to develop a healthy
3.1. Planning principles of Howard’s Garden City natural and economic city.

Howard’s main objective was to break the • Permanent belt of agricultural land
centralisation in towns and rescuing the natural A Permanent green belt is provided around the
environment (ACT Planning and Land Authority, 2008). city to control the growth, ensuring a healthy
The primary planning principles embedded in Howard’s environment.
vision and plan are:

• The Advantage of both City and Country

In Howard’s ‘The Three Magnets’ diagram, he
identified the individual favourable components of both
country and town lifestyles and merged them into a third
alternative ‘Town-Country’ magnet. In this ‘Town-
country’, all benefits from the city-life can be enjoyed, such
as a higher chance of employment, high wages, and better
amenities, yet preserving the freshness of the healthy and
beautiful natural environment of the country-life (Figure
01).

Figure 02 - Howard’s diagram of a series of satellite garden

cities limiting the growth of each and connecting to the Central
city (Howard, 1902)

• Limiting the growth

Providing the green belt limits the growth of
32,000 people. Despite inhabitants’ good intention of
restricting the growth, the Garden city is predicted to
grow. Therefore, the principle is stated that after reaching
Figure 01 - The Three Magnets. Plate No. 1 from Ebenezer the population of 32,000, another city will be established
Howard's Garden Cities of Tomorrow. (Howard,1902 ) at proximity beyond its own zone accessible with rapid
transportation representing a similar identity as one
• Raise the Standard of life community. The cluster of cities is grouped around a
Securing healthier surroundings and regular Central City and will always preserve a green belt
employment in the ‘Town-Country’ magnet, Howard surrounding the cities (Figure 02) (Howard, 1902).
promotes the healthy, natural, and economic lives of all • Rapid Railway Transit
the factory workers of various grades, combining the best Easy accessibility and walkability are one of the
advantages of cooperation, freedom, high wages, and low major principles of Howard’s Garden City. The distance
rents. between one town to its most distant neighbour is only
ten miles which could be accomplished by inter-municipal
railway at the outer ring in twelve minutes. Electric
• Collective ownership tramways in the high roads serve between the towns.
Howard’s Garden City introduced collective ownership Moreover, a railway system directly to Central City from
of lands instead of private individuals, which ensures each town reaches in five minutes (Howard, 1902).

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Nabila, N. SEUJA, Vol. 1, No. 1, June. 2021

3.2. Main elements of the physical form, structure and ensures equal accessibility for all residents of the city.
layout of Howard’s Garden City
• Hierarchy of roads
A few of the fundamental structures of Howard’s Garden The 120 feet wide six magnificent boulevards cover
City are: the distance from the centre to the circumference of 1240
yards and divide the city into six equal parts or wards.
• Concentric form These boulevards are interconnected via internal streets,
The concentric rings system in the Garden City which are also utilised to separate the zoning.

Figure 03 - Diagram of one ward of the Garden City. "Ward and Centre." Plate No. 3 from Ebenezer Howard's Garden Cities of
Tomorrow. (Source: Howard, 1902; Edited by Author)

• Zoning and Land Use Patterns equally divided into six wards which ensures serving all
Industrial, residential, recreational and green spaces the residents alike.
are segregated with the avenues which secure the
environment quality (Figure 03). The garden city is •
Open space Amenities parallel, an average size of 20 feet x130 feet for each lot is
Health benefits of natural environments are guaranteed prescribed to ensure a consistent level of housing
by ample green space provided in a hierarchy of parks amenities like sanitary arrangements (Howard, 1902).
such as Central Park and Grand Avenue and finally
enclose it with a permanent agricultural land belt (Figure The Town-Country concept establishes access to safe
03). and pleasant housing representing a town lifestyle and
social interaction.
• Individuality in architecture prevailing Sense of At the same time, it appreciates the beauty of nature
Community characterising the country lifestyle, which can encourage
Howard encouraged individual taste and preference at people to migrate spontaneously, promoting
most for the architectural quality of the buildings. In decentralisation in towns.
the inheritance of the Garden City Movement:

The legacies of the Garden City Movement 4.1 The Garden City Association
While intervening with the Garden City movement's
idea in practice, Howard encountered financial difficulties, Howard founded the Garden City Association,
land unavailability, and the government’s unwillingness to renamed in 1941 as the ‘Town and Country Planning
get involved. Following are a few approaches that shaped Association’ or TCPA, which created the First Garden

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Nabila, N. SEUJA, Vol. 1, No. 1, June. 2021

City Ltd and initiated the first Garden Cities in Towns Act (1946) led to the development of over a dozen
Letchworth and Welwyn (Hardy, 1999). The Association new communities based on Howard's idea (Figure 04),
campaigned through the inter-war period for new e.g.-Newcastle, UK (Jones, 2018). Osborn proposed the
settlements and a revolution in housing standards (Town comprehensive system of a nationwide network of new
and Country Planning Association). towns with a surrounding green belt campaigning against
the high rise and high-density housing (Hardy, 1999).
4.2 Regional Scale
F.J. Osborn, the leader and successor of the Association’s 4.4 International Scale
campaign, accelerated the Garden City movement into
regional planning. With Osborn’s persuasion for In 1976, when the United Nations held a leading
government’s involvement, The Royal Commission, conference on human settlements in Vancouver, the
formed in 1937, produced the Barlow report investigating TCPA held an exhibition and seminars at a parallel forum
the industrial population's distribution (Hardy, 1999). for non-governmental organisations. Thus they became a
founding member of the UN Committee on human
4.3 New Towns settlements, which accelerated the Garden City
Association’s scale to the international level (Hardy,
The congestion and annihilation accompanying World 1999).
War I enormously stimulated the garden-city movements
worldwide, especially in Great Britain. Briain’s New

Figure 04: New Town Structure Planning; (Source: Jones, 2018)

4.5 The Neighbourhood Unit The Neighbourhood unit by Clarence Perry, 1929
demonstrates the influence of the Garden City Movement
with features like centring the school, placing arterial
streets along the perimeter, designing internal roads in
the hierarchy, restricting local shopping areas to the
perimeter and dedicating at least 10% of the
neighbourhood land area to parks and open space (Figure
05) (Jones, 2018).

4. The first Garden Cities

4.1. Letchworth, United Kingdom

In 1904, with the notion of providing better and

affordable housing to the working class, Raymond Unwin,
with his partner Barry Parker planned the first garden
Figure 5 - The Neighbourhood unit by Clarence Perry city of the Letchworth in Hertfordshire, England, the
(Jones, 2018)
United Kingdom, for 35,000 people where they turned

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Nabila, N. SEUJA, Vol. 1, No. 1, June. 2021

Howard’s vision into three-dimensional reality. They separate factory sites similar to Letchworth; festival hall
planned the town in the centre with Howard’s substantial for cultural activities aiming to community development;
agricultural greenbelt of 1300 acres enclosing the city, beautiful mixed-tenure settlements with scenic gardens
albeit the design was organic instead of Howard’s that are affordable for different income people; a variety of
symmetric design (Figure 06) (Hardy, 1999). employment opportunities within easy commuting
distance of homes; strong local cultural, recreational and
Although many viewed Letchworth as a success,
shopping amenities in walking distance; and integrated
it did not promptly influence government investment into
and accessible rapid transport and stable political system.
garden cities' next line.
However, unlike Garden City’s main principle,
Welwyn could not become self-sustaining because it was
4.2. Radburn, New Jersey, USA only 20 miles from London. (Gardencitiesinstitute.com,
2018) (Figure 07).
Radburn Garden City, the first American New
Town, was founded in 1928 to serve the complex modern
life, still providing the amenities of open space, community
service and economic viability. The basic layout involved
cluster grouping, the ‘super-block’ concept similar to Port
Sunlight Garden City principle, interior parkland, and
vehicular and pedestrian traffic separation. Only a tiny
portion of Radburn was completed before the Great
Depression stalled development (Birch, 1980).

Figure 07 - The Garden City of Welwyn at present

(Source: Morgan, 2017)

5.2. Canberra Suburbs, Australia

The design and layout of the existing Canberra

suburbs are underpinned by the spatial relationships
between three key physical elements-the street, the block
and the dwelling, where the street is the macro element
and the dwelling being the micro element. ACT
Government introduced the Garden City provisions in the
planning process of Canberra, addressing the requirement
Figure 6 - Letchworth Garden City in Hertfordshire,
England, has a compact town centre and is still adjacent to
of healthy dwellings in the suburban setting in 2003.
the scenic countryside after more than 10 years (Source:
DITTMAR, 2017) • The Street
In the garden city movement, the street has been
5. Garden city concept in the modern time considered not only as vehicular access but also as a place
of the public realm for social gathering and a parameter of
Since the 1980s, TCPA has actively campaigned for the defining the suburb’s character. In the suburbs of
new generation of Garden Cities to address poverty and Canberra, alongside with the street, the land between the
climate change challenges. Sir Peter Hall and Colin Ward building lines on either side of the street, setbacks,
portrayed in their book that people still prefer to live in fencing, landscaping, driveway, verges, utility services- all
settlements on a human scale, but with the advantage of these visible amenities control the environmental quality
access to a wide range of high-level services. They re- of the suburbs providing pleasant housings for residents
expressed Howard’s Garden City in the form of several (ACT Planning and Land Authority, 2008).
development corridors with clusters of settlements, all
served by high-speed rail and other transport links, and • The Block
with protected landscapes alongside (Hardy, 1999). In the suburbs of Canberra, ensuring the
environmental quality of individual block subsequently
5.1. Welwyn, United Kingdom promotes a healthy environment of the suburb. The front
garden defining the property line and the backyard garden
The second Garden City Welwyn was subsequently influence the appearance of the building in the street and
designated as a New Town under the 1946 New Towns contribute to a healthy environment for the dwellers. The
Act. Welwyn portrays Howard’s principle values such as - utilisation of the porches, terraces and front gardens

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Nabila, N. SEUJA, Vol. 1, No. 1, June. 2021

regulates the relationship with the neighbours, promoting this article suggests that rather than implying the Garden
community participation as the Garden City principle city concept in physical form, structure and layout, it is
depicts (ACT Planning and Land Authority, 2008). advisable to follow the essence of the concept to facilitate
environmental and social benefits for the dwellers as
• The Dwelling visible in the planning of Canberra suburbs.
The Garden city values are underpinned in
maintaining economic, social, environmental and cultural
benefits by providing safe, pleasant dwellings whilst 7. Conclusion
ensuring social interaction and participation of the
community. All things considered, it can be said that Howard’s
Garden City Principles are still relevant in contemporary
By controlling scale, materials, texture, articulation, society. The garden city model has inspired modern city
roof pitch, dwelling height, and providing appropriate planning to establish a balance of social, environmental
landscape design and solar efficiency, the appreciation of and economic prosperity. However, the first Garden cities
beautiful natural environment is established (ACT were often criticised for damaging the economy, being
Planning and Land Authority, 2008). destructive of nature's beauty, and being inconvenient.
According to A. Trystan Edwards, Garden cities lead to
6. Discussion and findings the countryside's desecration by recreating countryside
houses that could spread themselves (Edwards, 1914). In
It is evident from the case study of Canberra suburbs the modern time, the garden city values require
that similar to Garden City’s objective, Canberra’s early incorporating more challenges such as shortage of land,
planning aimed to constitute a spacious healthy city with active population, the highly mobile workforce that
enormous streets, generous house blocks with picturesque demands flexibility in the working regimes, greater
green parks and open lands. Walter Burley Griffin’s 1912 personal liquidity, environmental costs that come with
plan for Canberra emphasised on great connectivity with climate change, and high-density population. While
workplace and parks, and public participation, which is Howard’s principle regarding the environmental factors
also one of the objectives of Howard’s Garden City. and social connection are still relevant in the planning
process, principles like collective ownership of land or
From the post-world war era to the 1990’s urban
limiting the growth is quite unimaginable. Although it is
intensification era, the planning of Canberra’s suburbs
difficult to anticipate changes in future urban planning,
included large private open spaces at the front and back of
the planners can indeed work with the strengths of the
the dwellings, good street access and proximity to civic.
Garden city concept in an adaptive way.
The garden city principle of ‘town-country’ magnet is
visible in the planning of Canberra through portraying the
advantages of town lifestyle with great housing
opportunity, social interaction and the benefits of the References
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