Garden City

Movement
Letchworth Garden City
 What is a
Garden City?
Garden city, the ideal of a planned
residential community, as devised by the
English town planner Ebenezer Howard
and promoted by him in Tomorrow: A
Peaceful Path to Social Reform (1898).
Howard’s plan for garden cities was a
response to the need for improvement in
the quality of urban life, which had
become marred by overcrowding and
congestion due to uncontrolled growth
since the Industrial Revolution.
He disliked the way modern cities were
being developed and thought people
should live in places that should combine
the best aspects of both cities and the
countryside
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Ebenezer Howard's
Three Magnets
The book ‘Garden cities of to-morrow’ by Howard 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'.
The diagram summaries the political, economic, and social
context underlying Howard’s utopian vision for settlements
via three illustrated magnets.
One magnet lists the advantages and disadvantages of town
life and another is accompanied by the positives and
negatives of country life. The third magnet communicates
Howard’s proposal of a Town-Country.
In the center are the People who, having previously been
stuck with a difficult choice between town and country
lifestyle,
He set about comparing the ‘town and country magnets’ but decided that
neither were suitable attractors for his utopian vision.
The Three Magnets Instead he believed that “Human society and the beauty of nature are
(Ebenezer Howard, To-morrow: A Peaceful Path to Real Reform.)
BEST meant FOR
You to be enjoyed together” – hence giving his solution “the two 3
O R G A N magnets
I C S C O M P A must
N Y be made one.”
2ND PRINCIPLE

Garden City, which is to be built near the centre of

the 6,000 acres, covers an area of 1,000 acres, or a
sixth part of the 6,000 acres, and might be of circular
form
Six magnificent boulevards—each 120 feet wide—
traverse the city from center to circumference,
dividing it into six equal parts or wards. In the center
is a circular space containing about five and a half
acres, laid out as a beautiful and well-watered
garden; and, surrounding this garden, each standing
in its own ample grounds, are the larger public
buildings—town hall, principal concert and lecture
hall, theatre, library, museum, picture-gallery, and
hospital.
Running all round the Central Park (except where it is
intersected by the boulevards) is a wide glass arcade
called the "Crystal Palace," opening on to the park.

The rest of the large space encircled by the "Crystal

BEST Palace" FOR is a public park, containing 145 acres, which
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O R G A N I C S Cincludes
O M PA N Y ample recreation grounds within very easy
 good drainage.
Bright homes &
gardens- no smoke,
Main no slums.
Freedom- Co-
Elements operation.
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
BEST
crystal palaceFOR
acts
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as an arcade for
O R G A N I C S C O M PA N Y
MAIN PLANNING
PRINCIPLES

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Letchworth
ENGLAND, UNITED
KINGDOM
Britain’s first planned “garden city,” much copied
elsewhere, it was founded in 1903 by Sir Ebenezer
Howard.
It has an area of 5000 acres with 3000 acres of green
belt.
It showed Howard’s general principles. It was a town of
homes and gardens with ample open spaces and a
spirited community life.
A great attention was paid to landscaping and planting.
Its plan was based on population of 30000 with living
area of 1250 acres and 2500 acres of rural green belt.
Communities ranged from 12000 – 18000 people, small
enough which required no vehicular transportation.
Industries were connected to central city by rapid
transportation. BEST FOR
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O R G A N I C S C O M PA N Y
 Letchworth
Location
Britain’s first planned “garden city,” much copied
elsewhere, it was founded in 1903 by Sir Ebenezer
Howard.
It has an area of 5000 acres with 3000 acres of
green belt.
It showed Howard’s general principles. It was a
town of homes and gardens with ample open
spaces and a spirited community life.
A great attention was paid to landscaping and
planting.
Its plan was based on population of 30000 with
living area of 1250 acres and 2500 acres of rural
green belt.
Communities ranged from 12000 – 18000 people,
small enough which required no vehicular
transportation.
Industries were connected to central city by rapid
transportation. BEST FOR
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O R G A N I C S C O M PA N Y
 Letchworth
Location

• Fields and parks of easy access- equal

chances. Low rents- high wages. Low rates-
plenty to do.
• Pure air and water- good drainage.
• Bright homes & gardens- no smoke, no
slums. Freedom- Co-operation.
• 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.

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Notable features of Letchworth
» Tree-lined streets, each with a different
variety of tree
» Zoning of different types of building -
industrial, commercial, middle-class and
worker’s housing.
» Planned green spaces throughout
» Surrounded by a rural belt
» Well connected and biodiversity rich public
parks, and a mix of public and private
networks of well managed, high-quality
gardens, tree-lined streets and open spaces.
» Distinct separation of the residential,
industrial and civic areas and in the use of
parks to screen residential neighborhoods
from roads and other undesirable things.
» Strong local cultural, recreational and
shopping facilities in walkable neighborhoods.
» Beautifully and imaginatively designed homes
with gardens, combining the very best of
town and country living to create healthy
homes in vibrant communities
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 Notable features of Letchworth
» The towns would be largely independent, managed by the citizens who had an economic interest in them.
» The land on which they were to be built was to be owned by a group of trustees and leased to the citizens.
» The dwellings for all classes of people should be distributed about a large central court in which public
buildings would be located.
» The Shopping Centre to be located on the edge of the town.
» The employment facilities for all the people to be provided by starting a variety of industries.
» The industries to be located on the outskirts of the town
» The city should have max. population of 30 to 35 thousand people in an are of 1000 acres.
» The city should have the advantage of both rural life such as fresh air, gardens, playfields, cottages etc. and
amenities of urban life such as schools, theaters, hospitals, recreational centers etc. Garden City principles
» To eliminate the private ownership, whole of the land is to brought under co-operative basis or held in trust
for the community in order to have the control on finance and the profit gained thereby be utilized for
uplifting the community.
» The city should be surrounded by a permanent belt of agricultural land of 3 to 5 thousand acres.

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 Notable features of Letchworth
» The central park enclosed by a crystal palace acts as an arcade for indoor
shops and winter gardens.
» 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.
» The streets for houses are formed by a series of concentric ringed tree
lined avenues.
» All the industries, factories and warehouses were placed at the peripheral
ring of the city.
» 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.

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Canberra The Garden City

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Canberra The Garden City

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Canberra The Garden City

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Conclusion

The idea of garden city, which has economic and social advantages that urban
aggregation had destroyed, was seen in the first two garden cities . It was seen
as the “marriage of town and country, in an increasingly coherent urban and
regional pattern”.
These new towns offer a pleasing environment than crowded and squalid
quarters in old cities. The movement succeeded in emphasizing the need for
urban planning policies .

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