Transcript GARDEN CITIES - Gil Lopez, Associate ASLA

GARDEN CITIES
GARDEN CITIES
“Garden cities allowed a genuine celebration
and renewal of nature, even within an essentially
urban industrial economy.”
Garden cities have been the richest source of
planning over the last century. Within the
principles of garden cities many key principles of
planning practice in the 20th century can be found.
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Land use segregation
Master planning
Residential site planning
Neighborhood units
Road hierarchies
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Shopping malls
Industrial parks
Regional planning
Planned decentralization
Greenbelts
Sir Ebenezer Howard
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Sir Ebenezer Howard was the
founder of garden cities.
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“His garden city embodies all
the ideas championed by the
current generation. It
combines work and residence,
provides housing for a wide
range of incomes, and includes
a town center with a welldefined civic space, all at a
walking scale with easy access
to parkland.” Bob Fisher APA
panel
Garden Cities
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There are three garden cities designs that have
influenced other cities.
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Letchworth, UK
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Greenbelt, MD
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Radburn, NJ
Letchworth, UK
B. Parker and R. Unwin,
the Architects of
Letchworth, disliked the
original geometric
symmetry of Howard’s
design and applied their
own “organic unity” to the
design. The industrial
sector was not as Howard
proposed and was
separated by a park from
the community. Although
Letchworth was not the
ideal garden city as
Howard had imagined, it
did demonstrate most of
the ideals and principles of
a garden city.
Greenbelt, MD
Greenbelt, MD (cont.)
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The city of Greenbelt was the first community in the
U.S. built as a federal venture for housing. It was
designed as a complete city, with businesses, schools,
roads, and facilities for recreation and town
government.
Greenbelt was a planned community, noted for its
interior walkways, underpasses, inner courtyards, and
Art Deco Architecture.
Greenbelt is the only of the three garden cities to
flourish only because of the demonstration of the
citizens residing in the community.
Radburn
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As a result of the Great Depression, Radburn
became influenced by the post World War II suburban
development. Only a portion of the development was
completed because the developer went bankrupt
during the Great Depression. Radburn was designed to
occupy one square mile of land and house some
25,000 residents. However, the Great Depression
limited the development to only 149 acres. Radburn
created a unique alternative to the conventional
suburban development through the use of cul-de-sacs,
interior parklands, and cluster housing. Although
Radburn is smaller than planned, it still plays a very
important role in the history of urban planning.
The Regional Planning Association of America (RPAA)
used Radburn as a garden city experiment. Members
of the RPAA were often referred to as the ‘think tank.’
Radburn
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The main design intent for Radburn was to separate
vehicular and pedestrian traffic.
The Radburn planners achieved this seperation
through the use of the superblocks, cul-de-sacs, and
pedestrian-only pathways.
Radburn
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Through the use of the superblock, houses in Radburn
were uniquely designed to have two fronts. The ‘back
side’ of the house, what we would normally consider
the front side, faced the culs-de-sac and parking. The
kitchen was normally placed in the back to provide
visitors a place to enter the house. The ‘front side’ of
the house faced towards the green spaces or parks
encouraging pedestrian traffic. Since automobiles were
given limited access to the ‘backs’ of the houses, the
‘fronts’ of the house were relatively quiet, therefore,
the bedrooms were always placed on this side of the
house.
Radburn
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Construction of interior parks were heavily dependant
on the development of Radburn’s road infrastructure .
In a typical city plan, roads occupy about 35% of the
total land area, however, in Radburn they occupy
about 21% of the land area. These parks played a
large role as a spatial component by tying together
structures and circulation.
Radburn
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Radburn contains a very noticeable landmark that is
constantly used as a form of reference and identity.
The Plaza Building is Radburn’s only neighborhood
shopping center, and its tall clock tower has been a
neighborhood landmark since 1927.
Radburn
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The 2900 residents of Radburn share 23 acres of
interior parks, which yield 345 square feet / person.
These parks provide small districts for the city.
Radburn
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Radburn has very distinct edges. Bordered by a river
to the south and east and a traditional gridiron system
to the north-east which indirectly affected the later
developments of Radburn.
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Radburn works as a garden
city and a wonderful example
of a well designed
community because every
piece is integrated perfectly
into one body.
Conclusion
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Through the use of design ideas like the superblock,
cul-de-sacs, and pedestrian pathways, Radburn was
described by Thomas Adam as an “ideally planned
place to live.”(Schaffer 4) The emphasis of the design
was placed on the neighborhood unit. The design
promoted open green spaces by reducing privately
owned spaces, thus increasing the amount of public
spaces. The design of Radburn attracted predominately
middle and upper class individuals, but individuals with
lower incomes also shared the same spaces. Lewis
Mumford commented that the design “was the most
forward step in town planning since Venice.”(Schaffer
4).