Garden Cities: the phrase is redolent of Arts and Crafts values and nineteenth-century utopianism. But despite being the culmination of a range of influential movements, and having global influence themselves, in fact there were only ever two true, self-contained Garden Cities in England - far more numerous were Garden Suburbs and Villages.
Crystallised in England by planning visionary Ebenezer Howard and executed largely by Barry Parker and Raymond Unwin, the movement arose from nineteenth-century settlements like Port Sunlight (and, earlier, Saltaire and Akroyden), and also from the City Beautiful movement in the US; the settlements were designed to promote healthy individual and community life, as well as commerce and industry, and were - and are - instantly recognisable.
This book is a beautifully illustrated guide to the movement as a whole, from its earliest influences through practical difficulties in implementation to the continuing vitality of the conurbations which are its legacy.
