Garden Cities of the Past and "To-morrow"

“Human society and the beauty of nature are meant to be enjoyed together ... As man and woman by their varied gifts and faculties supplement each other, so should town and country." — Sir Ebenezer Howard (1850-1928), the founder of the Garden City movement, in his seminal book To-morrow: a peaceful path to real reform (1898, p.9) (republished in 1902 as Garden Cities of To-morrow).

The Garden City movement was the brainchild of Sir Ebenezer Howard (1850-1928) at the end of the 19th century. Described as “one of those heroic simpletons” by friend and playwright George Bernard Shaw (1856-1950) (Clark, 2003, p.95), Ebenezer Howard, an amateur urban planner, envisaged an entirely new model of self-sufficient towns in a healthy, pastoral setting as a response to the sprawling, industrial cities polluting Victorian Britain. He outlined his holistic proposals and social reforms in his 1898 To-morrow: a peaceful path to real reform, a publication that continues to influence urban planning globally (Rodwin, 1945, p.280; Mumford, 1972, p.29, quoted in Clark, 2003, p.87; Richert & Lapping, 1998, p.125; Nikologianni & Larkham, 2022).

The construction of the Letchworth and Welwyn garden cities during the early 20th century cemented the movement’s place in future analysis and critique of urban social integration and class, sustainability, and design, which this article will discuss.

Climate change has renewed interest in garden cities and the possibility of “re-imagining” (Swart et al., 2021) Howard’s vision to address the multiple health, social, and spatial challenges urban centres will face.

Figure 1: Sir Ebenezer Howard, dubbed "Ebenezer the garden city geezer" by friend and playwright George Bernard Shaw, photographed in June 1926 (Bundes Schweizer Architekten & Schweizerische Werkbund, 1928, p.222).

Slumless and Smokeless Cities

The Garden City movement was a bold urban plan outlined by Sir Ebenezer Howard in his 1898 seminal book To-morrow: a peaceful path to real reform (Howard, 1898), republished in 1902 as Garden Cities of To-morrow (Howard, 1902). It would have a global impact on urban planning (Almandoz, 2004, p.438; Clapson, 2017, p.48).

In response to the slum dwellings, overcrowding, and pollution blighting the industrial cities of Britain—“a critique of the conditions wrought by industrial capitalism” (Clevenger, 2017)—Howard envisioned carefully planned, healthy environments with accessible green spaces, catering to the socioeconomic needs of the workers. It would be a “joyous union” between the urban and rural (Howard, 1902, p.18) by creating completely new Town-Country settlements spatially planned to incorporate the best features of both. Population sizes would be strictly controlled, and residents or self-described “pioneers” (Clapson, 2017, p.49) would be pulled, like a needle by a magnet (see Figure 3), with utopian promises of natural beauty, social opportunity, freedom, and cooperation—echoing the spirit of the era’s colonial expansion. The depopulation of the countryside, which Howard was passionately against, would be reversed (Rodwin, 1945, p.270; Richert & Lapping, 1998, p.125) thereby restoring society's historical connection to the land.

These expanding networks of decentralised towns, or “social cities” (Howard, 1902, p.126), would be self-contained communities but mutually cooperate and connected by modern transportation systems (Nikologianni & Larkham, 2022). Sustainable living would be achieved through mixed rural and industrial land usage—incorporating amenities and green spaces, the latter acting as a natural barrier to excessive population growth (Gatarić et al., 2019)—within walking distance of places of residence. It would be a uniformed society of "bright homes and gardens, no smoke, no slums" (Diagram No. 1, Howard, 1898, p.8).

Figure 2: Mid-Victorian London slums, depicted by the French artist Gustave Doré (1832-1883), from London: A Pilgrimage (1872) (Doré, 1872).

Criticism

Ebenezer Howard’s Town-Country vision has been described as socialist (Fishman, 1977, p.8) and anarchistic (O’Sullivan, 2016, p.165), two sharply contrasting left-wing ideologies, in light of his cooperative principles and association with alternative thinkers (Clark, 2003). However, his “unique combination of proposals” (Howard, 1902, p.101), outlined in the 1902 Garden Cities of To-morrow, imagined a characteristically English rural environment of “social contentment” (Clevenger, 2017)—a pacification even (Tizot, 2016)—between social classes rather than a new civilisation of workers’ control.

By 1902, the Labour Party, formed in 1900, was emerging as the political force to address the growing discontentment of the trade union movement and the urban working class. Howard sought a liberal way of social reform, rather than societal transformation, between the radicalism of socialism and the extremes of capitalism (Tizot, 2018). While he was sympathetic to the plight of the workers and their divided loyalties—“wasted in strikes, or employed by capitalists in fighting strikers” (Howard, 1902, p.90)—Howard’s new settlements, Clevenger & Andrews (2017, p.143) argue, were simply a response to the era’s “paternalist” preoccupation with the debilitating health conditions and immorality of the working class.

This physical degeneration/degeneracy theory (Greenslade, 1995; Thorsheim, 2011) had class and racial undertones, which Clevenger (2017) believes was incorporated by Howard in the Garden City movement: “Howard’s book was a euthenics project: planning an ideal built environment, the design and layout of which would naturally raise the social and physical health of the British working class.” A return to pastoral living, the cure to the consequences of urbanisation promoted by the Victorians (Soloway, 1982), would combat the degeneration of the urban working class and thereby maintain the strength of the British Empire (Clevenger & Andrews, 2017, p.143).

The reformism of Howard was criticised by the Marxist theorist Eduard Bernstein (1850-1932), who believed the Garden City principles to be abandoning the communist ideals (Bernstein, 1990, translated by and quoted in Harris, 2012). Politically, the Garden City movement was a “heterogeneous collection of different groups and interests” (Swenarton, 1981, p.5, quoted in Shasore, 2018, p.178), and it required financial backing from business interests (Clark, 2003, p.94). Compromises were therefore inevitable; radical change was not. Capitalism would still be able to function in the mixed economy outlined in Garden Cities of To-morrow. While reforms would bring the land under public ownership, "friendly" capitalist elements could still influence the running of the new towns: “[I]f any private corporation or any body of individuals proved itself capable of supplying on more advantageous terms” (Howard, 1902, p.27).

Figure 3: Where to go? Diagram No. 1, from To-morrow: a peaceful path to real reform, showing the magnet drawing people to Howard's Town-Country (Howard, 1898, p.8).

Since the creation of the world’s first Garden City, Letchworth, North Hertfordshire, in 1903, similar criticisms relating to the model’s class dynamics have been expressed, with its environment of individuality and affluence becoming synonymous with middle-class suburbia (Eric Hobsbawm, 1989, p.167, quoted in Clevenger, 2017; Vernet & Coste, 2017). Its gentility of clubs and leisurely activities aimed to have a civilising effect on the working class (Clevenger & Andrews, 2017), but after its completion, Letchworth’s housing proved to be too expensive for most workers in the area (Scott, 2000, p.468). This process of uniformity was noted by the celebrated author George Orwell (1903-50), a resident of the nearby village of Wallington. In a 1941 opinion piece, The Lion and the Unicorn, he wrote that Letchworth and its middle-class inhabitants reflected “a restless, cultureless life” created by inter-war standardisation in social class and lifestyle (as did the industrial suburbs like Slough and Barnet) and scathingly described the consequences as one of “the germs of the future England” (Orwell, 1971, p.98).

Letchworth and Beyond

Despite opposition and ridicule, even amongst left-wing circles (Clark, 2003, p.95), the Garden City vision became a reality when Letchworth was opened on 9 October 1903. The first occupants arrived in July 1904. The implementation of Howard’s spatial planning and zoning, albeit modified by the town’s architects Barry Parker and Raymond Unwin (Bonham-Carter, 1951), significantly influenced future urban planning (Rodwin, 1945, p.280; Mumford, 1972, p.29, quoted in Clark, 2003, p.87; Richert & Lapping, 1998, p.125; Nikologianni & Larkham, 2022).

The Garden City movement, however, almost became a victim of its own success as subsequent, unrelated developments simply adopted the name or attempted to imitate the urban plan (Carter, 1931, p.511). A clear distinction was needed to preserve the model's distinct planning, governance, and environmental principles. In 1920, future garden cities were defined by the Garden Cities and Town-Planning Association, founded by Howard, as: “a town designed for healthy living and industry; of a size that makes possible a full measure of social life, but not only larger; surrounded by a rural belt; the whole of the land being in public ownership or held in trust for the community” (Purdom, 1925, p.32). In the same year, Welwyn, also in Hertfordshire, became the country’s official second garden city.

Figure 4: An undated photographic glass plate showing workmen’s cottages in Letchworth Garden City (State Library Victoria, n.d.).

Sustainable Garden Cities of “To-morrow”?

For more than a century since To-morrow: a peaceful path to real reform, garden cities have infused debate about their environmental, health, and social benefits. Today, urban planners face multiple challenges of increasing demands for sustainable housing, services, and amenities to sustain growing populations and future generations. By 2050, an estimated 6.5 billion people will be living in urban areas (ODI, 2018) when the world’s population is projected to reach between 9 and 9.8 billion (Cohen, 2010; Hoornweg & Pope, 2016). Concurrently, global warming and climate change, the long-term and unprecedented shift of the earth’s surface temperature and weather patterns, respectively (Hansen et al., 2006; Ring et al., 2012; Goebbert et al., 2012; Hashim & Hashim, 2016; Wang et al., 2023), are “accelerating” (Roggema, 2009, p.2) and have exposed the vulnerabilities of urban centres to significant global changes (Swart et al., 2021).

As Howard rejected the old cities for their lack of adaptability (Howard, 1898, p.135), so too are today’s planners (Vernet & Coste, 2017, p.48). The need for sustainable, people-centric urban centres was revealed by the COVID-19 pandemic lockdown of spring 2020, which showed the inefficiencies of existing urban models and management.

Compared to the polluted cities, Howard’s garden cities offered citizens a clean, smokeless existence—eliminating the “smoke fiend” (Howard, 1902, p.25)—using alternative energy sources, such as water, to power the factories and light the homes. By distancing industrial and residential areas, zoning would also improve public health (Hensley et al., 2020, p.71).

Figure 5: “A plan for a 160-acre tract, with dwellings for 6,000 people”, taken from the influential The Neighborhood Unit (1929) of the American sociologist Clarence Perry (1872-1944), incorporated planning elements of the Garden City model (Perry, 1929).

Climate change has given a new impetus to the Garden City model, which had been abandoned for failed post-World War II new towns (albeit influenced by garden cities but larger and less aesthetically pleasing), tower/apartment blocks, and car-centric “auto” cities.

While Ebenezer Howard was agreeable to certain modifications of his vision (Clark, 2003, p.95), the modern "garden cities" are in name only (Vernet & Coste, 2017). Future “re-imagining” (Swart et al., 2021) of the garden cities has been proposed—adopting green and smart technologies, urban greening techniques, extensive public transportation systems, and communal spaces—that can bridge the urban-rural divide and still respect the original environmental, sustainability, and well-being principles of Howard (Vernet & Coste, 2017; Yang, 2017; Nikologianni & Larkham, 2022).

Despite the challenges and criticisms, Ebenezer Howard’s garden cities of Letchworth and Welwyn continue to shape urban planning discussion and implementation. His global influence on community living, sustainability, and the environment are just some of the themes of his enduring legacy.

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Visual sources

Cover image: Howard, E. (1898). Diagram No.7 [illustration]. Wikimedia Commons.

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/6b/Diagram_No.7_%28Howard%2C_Ebenezer%2C_To-morrow.%29.jpg

Figure 1: Bundes Schweizer Architekten & Schweizerische Werkbund. (1928). Ebenezer Howard: Aufnahme vom Juni 1926 [photograph]. ETH Zürich. https://www.e-periodica.ch/digbib/view?pid=wbw-002:1928:15::828#241

Figure 2: Doré, G. (1872). Over London by Rail [illustration]. Wikimedia Commons. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Dore_London.jpg

Figure 3: Howard, E. (1898). Diagram No. 1 [illustration]. Wikimedia Commons. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Garden_Cities_of_Tomorrow,_No._1.png

Figure 4: State Library Victoria. (n.d.). Workmen's cottages, Gix Road, Letchworth, England [Photograph, free use]. Look and Learn. https://www.lookandlearn.com/history-images/YLV1019043/Workmens-cottages-Gix-Road-Letchworth-England?t=1&q=letchworth&n=3

Figure 5: Perry, C. (1929). Figure 1 - A Neighbourhood Plan [illustration]. Wikimedia Commons. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Clarence_Perry%27s_Neighborhood_Unit,_1928.jpg