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 recognizable. 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.