Garden Cities of To-morrow by Ebenezer Howard Among the many
'utopian' proposals of the 19th century, this particular short
text stands out. Howard was a 19th century British reformer and
city planner. He was influenced by Bellamy's Looking Backwards.
He saw new, planned towns as a necessary counterbalance to the
squalid, Dickensian 19th century London. These towns would
balance urban and rural occupations, and include a whole range
of amenities which we have come to take for granted: libraries,
museums, schools, wide avenues, and a mix of commercial and
residential zones. Howard strove to keep a balance between the
community and individual needs, and to operate within the
framework of Capitalism, rather than rejecting or attempting to
replace it. This book was originally published in 1898 as To-
morrow, and reissued in 1902 as Garden Cities of To-morrow. The
first Garden City, built under the aegis of Howard, Letchworth,
was founded in 1903 (Howard was one of the first residents).
Later he founded a second Ga