Town Planning " To-morrow" "garden cities of To-morrow"
The idea behind the term “garden city” comes from the author's background in British India. Garden cities in Britain evolved from garden suburb developments in the early part of the 20th century. In British India, especially in the early part of the 20th century, town planning was developed and adopted as the leading policy in most of the colonies. In England, garden cities are the ideal to be pursued for the ordinary citizen. This includes homeowners and working people, where the increasing population is placed. This project was started by the British to counter the looming problems of slums and congested urban areas. The pioneer in this movement was Edwin Lutyens, an architect, town planner and noted sculptor. Edwin Lutyens had the greatest influence in the development of the garden city movement in the early 20th century.
As the post-war boom was starting in the UK, land values rose faster than anyone could have imagined. Investors were quick to cash in on this boom by building houses and businesses on the newly created brownfield areas. In the early 1950s, a survey was conducted to ascertain the number of existing brownfields in England. The results showed that there were 4,000,000 acres of uncultivated land. Further, a study conducted in London estimated that the population would grow by around 75,000 in every year. It was predicted that there would be a surge in land values leading to the creation of slums. In the past, both the private and public sector worked towards the development of brownfields areas and the creation of ideal town planning models. The 1970s witnessed a movement to develop garden cities and garden suburbs. The purpose of the garden city was to provide better public amenities and private homes for working class citizens. To achieve this objective, there was a greater emphasis on providing recreational and educational facilities. One of the notable features of garden city towns was that they did not have shopping centres. In particular, in Richmond-upon-Thames, the park and country houses were used for recreational purposes.
The idea of town planning for the ordinary citizen was extended to meet the growing demand of the post-war times. The use of the term 'garden city' was modified to include the concept of comprehensive town planning. Town planning was embraced as a practical means of redeveloping inner city areas of London. Many schemes of this nature were adopted for the redevelopment of inner city areas of Liverpool and Manchester. ac619d1d87
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