Book dossier

From garden cities to new towns

by Dennis Hardy

This is the story of an environmental campaign - starting in the closing years of the Victorian era and ending admist the hopes and euphoria of Britain after the Second World War. It was in 1898 that a London clerk, Ebenezer Howard, published a small book to promote an idea that he thought could change the whole society; the idea was that of the garden city. In the following year the Garden City Association was formed to mount a campagin. It was only with the passing of the New Towns Act in 1946 that this phase - from garden cities to new town - was finally over.This book offers a detailed record of one of the world's oldest environmental pressure groups. It raises questions about the capacity of pressure groups to influence policy; and finally it assesses the campaign as a major factor in the emergence of modern town and planning, and as a backdrop against which to examine current issues. As the focus of the attention turns once again to new settlements, this book will be an essential source for students, practitioners and academics in the fields of planning and related disciplines - from architecture and urban design to geography and social history.