GARDEN CITIES, a term first used in 1869 by A. T. Stewart in connection with the development of an estate on Long Island, N.Y., are to be distinguished from "garden suburbs" which are, generally, merely suburbs with specially restrictive by-laws of an industrial city. (See TOWN AND CITY PLANNING and SOCIAL ARCHITECTURE.) The idea of a garden city, that is, a unit planned as a whole, was due to Sir Ebenezer Howard, who, in a book en titled Tomorrow (London 1898), outlined a scheme for the build ing of a new model town to be called "Garden City." The publi cation of this book led to the formation of the Garden Cities Association in 1899 and to the establishment of Letchworth, the first garden city, in 1903, and Welwyn, the second, in 192o. The main features of Howard's scheme were (I) the purchase of a large area of agricultural land within a ring fence; (2) the planning of a compact town upon it surrounded by a wide rural belt ; (3 ) the town to accommodate population and industry; (4) the town to be limited in extent and never to encroach upon the rural belt; (5) the land values arising from the population to belong to the community that created them.
Howard based his scheme upon the admitted need for a remedy for the evils of the congestion of towns and the depopulation of the countryside. He pointed out the obvious facts that towns grew because people were attracted to them, and people left the country districts because they did not like them. The country must be made attractive, he said, and that can be done by estab lishing there the magnet of town-life. A form of town which combined the undoubted social and economic advantages of towns with the undoubted benefits of the country would be superior to existing towns and would draw population to it. The new town would be limited in extent because (I) it is possible, he con sidered, to get everything that is required in a town of about 30,000, while improved means of transportation would enable those who wished to do so to travel to the big city, and because (2) the inhabitants of the rural belt should be kept in close touch with town-life and rural interests should form part of the town's economy. If such towns were scattered over the country there would, he believed, be an end to rural depopulation and the overcrowding of the great towns would cease.
The "garden city" was to be created by a private corporation which would raise money on loan, lay out the town, construct the roads, drainage, public services, etc., and let the land on revisible leases, the rents increasing with the growth of population. Howard showed that the reasonable rents that could be got would be amply sufficient to pay a return on the expenditure, leaving a considerable surplus. The rents, moreover, were to be "rate-rents," that is to say were to include such charges on prop erty as were normally required to meet the expenditure of the local authority.
Unearned Increment of the Community.—Howard con tended that his scheme was practicable for two main reasons. The first was that by purchasing land at agricultural value and then bringing a large population to it the increment in land value would be sufficient to provide a substantial economic foundation. The "unearned increment," created by increase of population in any particular place had hitherto invariably gone into private pockets ; in his scheme it would be retained for the community. That the amount of this "unearned increment" in general was great was well known. Proposals for taxation of land values were attempts to get possession of it. Howard's scheme secured it for the community as it arose. His second main reason was that there was a tendency for industry to leave the congested cities and to seek rural surroundings. Manufacturers were establishing their works on the outskirts of towns and even in country villages, because they found the costs and conditions of working in the cities too onerous. This tendency, Howard declared, should be organized. There should be a concerted movement of industry from the over-burdened cities to the new free towns, the garden cities.
Howard's proposals came at a time when there was an increas ing public interest in industrial housing. In the garden cities houses could be provided for the working classes under the best possible conditions both as to cost and surroundings, Many of those who were interested in the housing question were there fore attracted to the garden city idea. In 1898 when Howard put forward his scheme there was no public interest in England in town-planning; but the advantages of planning a town in advance of building it were appreciated and gave additional point to Howard's contentions. The housing and town-planning movements of the 2oth century thus became closely associated with the garden city movement, and the influence of that movement upon them was profound, but the specific proposals for garden cities and the general ideas on which they were based were by no means ex pressed in the housing and town-planning activities that gained momentum in the early part of the century in England and reached their height in the years immediately after the World War.
Letchworth was established in 1903 as the first garden city on Sir Ebenezer Howard's plan. An area of 3,822 acres (after wards increased to 4,552 acres) was purchased 35 miles from London and within 22 miles of the old market town of Hitchin, in Hertfordshire. A joint stock company, called First Garden City Ltd. was formed to carry out the enterprise, with an authorized capital of £300,000, the dividend on which was limited to 5% per annum. A plan was prepared for a town of about 32,000 inhabitants, with distinct areas for houses, shops and factories and a surrounding rural belt. Development was started in 1904. The company constructed the roads, drainage system, water, gas and electricity supplies. In 1928 the town had a population of about 14,000 with 8o industries, principally engineering works, but including corset-making, printing, book-binding, etc.
On the formation of the scheme the First Garden City, Ltd., made a public issue of share capital but only a small part was taken up and the undertaking was mainly financed by mortgages, loans and debentures. Interest has been paid on the bulk of the capital since the start ; in 1913 a small dividend was paid on the share capital; in 1928 a start was made to pay off the accumulated arrears of dividend on the shares.
Howard's scheme of revisible rents and rate-rents was found impracticable at Letchworth, the land being let on ordinary build ing leases for 99 years. Rates are levied by the local authority as in other towns. The growth of the town has been slow, less than half the ultimate population having been reached after 25 years.
The second garden city was started after the war in 1920, when Welwyn Garden City was formed. This second scheme was initiated by a joint stock company with an authorised share capital of £250,000 entitled to a dividend not exceeding 7% per annum.
Welwyn, 20 miles from London, is a few miles north of Hatfield on the London and North Eastern Railway main line. The estate consists of 2,383 acres, on which a town of 40,00o has been planned with a small rural belt. When purchased the estate was completely rural and the company has constructed the roads, drainage, water, electricity and other supplies. In 1928 the town had a population of 7,000 with a number of industries, including engineering, breakfast foods, cinema studios, printing, etc.
The promoters of the scheme have had to contend with the difficulties of the post war period, and development has been slower than was anticipated. The public issue of shares in 1920 was not successful and the scheme has been financed by deben tures and loans. The company was granted loans from the Pub lic Works Loan Board for approved capital expenditure under the provisions of the Housing Act 1921. This has brought the scheme to some extent under the supervision of the Ministry of Health. Interest on borrowed money has been paid from the start, but no dividend has yet been declared on the share capital.
The features of Welwyn are its consistent architectural develop ment, site planning, public gardens, and absence of small shops. Being near to London a large proportion of the population is en gaged in business there ; but the site is well adapted for indus trial purposes and industrial development is likely to be accel erated. As at Letchworth land is let on building lease (but for 999 years) and rates are levied as in other towns. The company however undertakes certain public services (e.g. sewage disposal) at its own expense, and provides funds for education, sport, etc.
13IBLIOGRAPIHY.-Ebenezer Howard, Garden Cities of Tomorrow (1903) ; C. B. Purdom, The Garden City (1913) ; Town Theory and Practice (ed. by C. B. Purdom, 1923) ; C. B. Purdom, The Building of Satellite Towns (1925). (C. B. P.) The United States has no "garden city" like Letchworth or Welwyn, England, and no development of the "garden village" as complete and significant as Port Sunlight or Bourneville, but it has had many "industrial housing schemes" carried out during the period of the garden city movement in England and some suburban developments that resemble the "garden city." These develop ments are of great variety in origin, and extent and merit. Most of the industrial developments had some sort of general plan or layout. In some it was the typical American gridiron, and in many other cases it did not show great skill or merit. In only a few, even of the best, was there more than a street scheme. The average of these developments in the United States would show below 12 houses to the gross acre—probably not more than six—with lots averaging at least 5o ft. in width by more than 1 oo ft. in depth. It is somewhat doubtful if an examination of the American schemes would disclose any element of co-operative or public own ership which is English in character rather than American, and yet in many industrial villages the land has been sold at a low price and without speculative profit. While there was no legal or definite limit to the return from the invested capital, many of the indus trial enterprises were conducted often at a financial return lower than that recognized as a reasonable rate. The higher class sub urban developments accept no such limitation. See SOCIAL