GREEN CITY

MOVEMENT
KARMEN KIWAN
AL4
THEORIES AND HISTORY OF
MODERN ARCHITECTURE
Content
1. History
2. Features of garden city
3. The three magnets
4. Main Components of
Garden City Concept
5. Conceptual Layout
6. Examples:
a) Letchworth city
b) Welwyn city
c) Radburn city
7. Conclusion
 History:

• The garden city movement is a method of urban planning.

• It was initiated in: 1898
• Founder: Sir Ebenezer Howard
• Location: United Kingdom.
• The garden city concept is one of the most influential urban planning
ideas of all time.
• They were intended to be planned, self-contained communities
surrounded by "greenbelts", containing proportionate areas of
residences, industry and agriculture.
• Garden city movement aimed at addressing the urban problems
plaguing the industrial city of that time.
 Features of Garden City of Howard:
 Accommodates 32,000 people
 6,000 acres (2400 ha)
 Density of 12 families per acre
 Planned on a concentrated pattern with open spaces,
public parks and six radial boulevards, 37m wide,
extending from the center.
 The garden city would be self-sufficient and when it
reached full population, another garden city would be
developed nearby.
 Howard envisaged a cluster of several garden cities as
satellites of a central city 1200 acres, 58,000 people
linked by road and rail
 He had no training in urban planning or design but
excelled in creating places.
 He called these places “magnets”, where people would
want to come to reside and work.
 Three Magnets?

 Howard pushed the idea of garden city by a

diagram “The three magnets”.
 He compared the city to a magnet, with
individuals getting attracted to it.
 The Three Magnets to address the question
‘Where will the people go?’ the choices being
1. ‘Town’,
2. ‘Country’
3. ‘Town Country’.
 Three Magnets?
Town Magnet Country Magnet
Town-Country Magnet
Advantages Disadvantages Advantages Disadvantages
1. Opportunities for 1. Distance from work 1. Natural beauty 1. Dullness 1. Beauty of nature
work
2. Social 2. Closely out of 2. Meadows, forests, 2. Lack of society 2. Social opp.
opportunities nature wood.
3. High wages 3. High rents 3. Low rents 3. Lack of 3. Fields and parks of
drainage easy-equal chances
4. Amusements 4. Dirty air. 4. Bright sunshine 4. Low wages 4. Low rents-high wages

5. well-lit streets 5. Slums 5. Abundant water 5. Lack of 5. Fresh air

amusements
6. Fresh air. 6. General decay 6. Pure water-good
drainage
7. healthfulness 7. Bright homes and
gardens- no smoke, no
slums
 Three Magnets?

• OBVIOUSLY, a Combination of town and country planning would be the best.

• Howard then, proposed a town in a country.

“GARDEN CITY”
“A garden city is a town designed for healthy living and industry; of a 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.”

o Strong community o Ordered development o Environmental quality

 Main Components of Garden City Concept:

1.Planned Dispersal
2.Limit of Town – size
3.Amenities
4.Town and Country Relationship
5.Planning Control
6.Neighborhoods
 Conceptual Layout:
1
6 Central
2
• Circular city growing in a radial manner or
pattern. park
• Divided into six equal wards, by six main 5 3
boulevards that radiated from the central
park/garden.
4
• Civic institutions (town hall, library,
hospital, theater, museum, etc…) are
placed around the central garden.
• The central park enclosed by a crystal
palace acts as an arcade for indoor shops
and winter gardens.
• The streets for houses are formed by a
series of concentrated ringed tree lined
avenues.
• Distance between each ring vary between
3-5 km.
 Conceptual Layout:

• A 420 feet wide, 3 mile long, Grand

avenue which run in the center of
concentrated rings, houses the schools
and churches and acts as a continuous
public park.
• All the industries, factories and
warehouses were placed at the peripheral
ring of the city.
• The municipal rail way 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.
 Conceptual Layout:
Central
city
Third &forth
layer: residential
areas consist of
2 1
bungalow and
654 3 First &second
layer: Green
terrace houses.
areas which has
interaction
activities
Sixth layer:
Green spaces
with agricultural Fifth layer:
and animals Industrial area
husbandry with railway as
the main
transportation
Conceptual Layout:
Conceptual Layout:
Conceptual Layout:
 Examples:
1- Letch worth city, UK

2- Welwyn City, UK 3- Radburn city, new jersey

 Letch worth City:

• It’s the first Garden City evolved out of

howard’s principles.
• Architects: Raymond Unwin and Barry
Parker.
• Year: 1903
• Location: Hertfordshire, England.
• Population: 33,600 (maximum of 35000)
• Its 35 miles away from London
• Area: 3822 acres
• Reserved green belt: 1300 acres
• In 30 years – developed with 15000
population & 150 shops, industries.
• It influenced Welwyn City, which used a
similar approach and inspired many
other projects around the world.
 Why Letch worth City?

• London (and other cities) in 19th century

were in the throws of industrialization,
and the cities were exerting massive
forces on labor markets of the time.
• Massive immigration from the country
side to the cities was taking place in
London.
 Results:

Letchworth city

Meant for all

Independent Cheap life
Industrial city classes of
city requirements
people

Complete
Self contained power, fuel and The workers and
municipal life of
community water the owners
its own
Letch worth City:

• Green belt refers to any area of undeveloped

nature that has been set aside near urban or
developed land to provide open space, offer light
recreational opportunities or contain
development.
• The green belt is important to the ecological health
of any region.
• Green belts acts as a buffer zone and within the city
too between the residential and the industrial zone.
Letch worth City:
Broad way garden:
Letch worth City:
Residential & commercial area:
Letch worth City:
Green Belt Area:
Letch worth City:
Architectural Style/qualities:
‘Letch worth Look’ housing inspired by Arts & Crafts
movement, consisting of:
1. Roughcast render cladding over bricks
2. Red roof tiles
3. Green drainpipes, water butts, doors, etc
4. Gables and dormer windows
5. Street layout is in an axial layout with roads radiating out from a
central square, based on Sir Christopher Wren’s (never-built) plan
for London, following the Great Fire of 1666.
6. Tree-lined streets, each with a different variety of tree
7. Zoning of different types of building - industrial, commercial,
middle-class and worker’s housing.
8. Planned green spaces throughout
9. Surrounded by a rural belt
Letch worth City:
Architectural Style/qualities:
 2- Welwyn City, UK

• It’s the second Garden City evolved out

of howard’s principles.
• Architects: Luis de Soissons and Frederic
Osborn
• Year: 1920
• Location: Hertfordshire, England.
• Population: maximum of 40,000
• Its 24 miles away from London
• Area: 2378 acres
• In 15 years – developed with 10000
population & 50 shops, industries.
2- Welwyn City, UK

• Streets are designed so as to give the

concept of a neighborhood unit.

• Separation of the pedestrian walkaways

from the main roads gives a sense of
natural beauty.

• Open green spaces are given on a alarge

scale.
2- Welwyn City, UK
 3- Radburn, New Jersey

• It’s the firstGarden City evolved out of

howard’s principles, in America.
• Architects: Clarence Stein and Henry
Wright.
• Year: 1928
• Location: Philadelphia, America.
• Population: maximum of 25,000
• Area: 149 acres
• Radburn created a unique alternative
through the use of cul-de-sacs, interior
parklands, and cluster housing.
3- Radburn, New Jersey

Residential 149 acres of

4 tennis courts
areas interior parks

2 swimming Archery plaza

2 playgrounds
pools and a school

2 outdoor
A community
basketball
center
courts
3- Radburn, New Jersey
Elements of the Radburn city:
• Park as a backbone of the neighborhood.
• Specialized highway system, complete
separation of vehicular and pedestrian traffic
with 21% of road areas.
• The Radburn planners achieved the
separation of vehicular and pedestrian traffic
through the use of the superblocks, cul-de-
sacs, and pedestrian-only pathways.
• Through the use of the superblock, houses in
Radburn were uniquely designed to have 2
fronts.
• The “back side’ of the house, what we would
normally consider the front side, faced the
cubs-de-sac and parking.
3- Radburn, New Jersey
Elements of the Radburn city:
• The ‘front side’ of the house faced towards
the green spaces or parks encouraging
pedestrian traffic.
• The kitchen was normally placed in the back
of the back to provide visitors a place to enter
the house.
• Since automobiles were given limited access
to the ‘backs’ of the houses, the ‘ fronts’ of
the house were relatively quiet, therefore,
the bedrooms were always placed on the side
of the house.
• The 2900 residents of Radburn share 23 acres
of interior parks, which yield 345 square feet/
person.
3- Radburn, New Jersey
 Garden City VS. Satellite Towns:
Feature Garden City Satellite Towns
Dependence Self sufficient and self Dependent on parent city.
contained unit
Gardens Around all houses and Not compulsory
factories
Green belt Surrounded by green belt Situated outside green belt
of the parent city
Industries Permitted Not permitted
Rapid transit arrangement Not necessary Necessary in form of local
trains and buses
Roads and Some roads are arterial Only one arterial road to
communications and others are parent city
communication street
Zoning Essential May or may not
 Conclusion:
• Ebenzer Howars’s Garden City concept shows up a
place where genuine urban activities are carried at
human scale.
• The garden city introduced the use of greenbelts
that have served many uses including the
preservation of agricultural and rural life, nature
and heritage conversation, recreation, pollution
minimization, and growth management.
• Garden city tradition endowed urban planning with
a social community dimensions.
• The garden city idea however, showed how both
industrial estates and collective retailing spaces
could be used within a comprehensive planning
approach to serve public purposes.
Developments influenced by the
garden city movement:
• Glenrothes, United Kingdom
• Bedford Park, London, United Kingdom
• Covaresa, Valladolid, Spain
• Den-enchofu, Ota, Tokyo, Japan
• Hellerau, Dresden, Germany
• Kowloon Tong, Kowloon< Hong kong
• Marino, Dublin, Ireland
• Milton Kenyes, England, United Kingdom
• Pinelands, cape Town, South Africa
• Village Homes, Davis, California, United States
• St Helier, London, United Kingdom
• Tapiola, Finland
• Telford, United Kingdom
• The Garden Village, Kingston upon Hull
THANK YOU!
 References:

• https://fr.slideshare.net/NayanaD123/garden-city-movement
• https://planningtank.com/planning-theory/garden-city-movement
• https://www.geni.com/projects/The-Garden-City-Movement/15255
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8SrG2iRsudM
• https://www.ukessays.com/essays/architecture/the-garden-city-movement.php
• https://www.slideshare.net/archybhatt/garden-city-70473092
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oiqaI0kXCxU
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GEE-3L6kPXg
• https://www.smartcitiesdive.com/ex/sustainablecitiescollective/are-garden-cities-
sustainable/1214902/
• https://journals.openedition.org/cve/3605
• https://www.slideshare.net/PlanningTheory/garden-city-27280375?next_slideshow=1
• https://www.gardencitiesinstitute.com/resources/garden-cities/letchworth-garden-city
 Main Components of Garden City Concept:
1.Planned Dispersal: The organized outward migration of industries and people to
towns of sufficient size to provide the services, variety of occupations, and level of
culture needed by a balanced cross – section of modern society.
2.Limit of Town – size: The growth of towns to be limited, in order that their inhabitants
may live near work, shops, social centers, and each other and also near open country.
3.Amenities: The internal texture of towns to be open enough to permit houses with
private gardens, adequate space for schools and other functional purposes, and
pleasant parks and parkways.
4.Town and Country Relationship: The town area to be defined and a large area around
it reserved permanently for agriculture; thus enabling the farm people to be assured of
a nearby market and cultural center, and the town people to have the benefit of a
country situation.
5.Planning Control: Pre – planning of the whole town framework, including the road –
scheme, and functional zoning; the fixing of maximum densities; the control of building
as to quality and design, but allowing for individual variety; skillful planting and
landscape garden design.
6.Neighbourhoods: The town to be divided into wards, each to some extent a
developmental and social entity.