In 1898, Sir Ebenezer Howard from the United Kingdom had a vision of building garden cities as an answer to the congested and increasingly inhabitable conditions of industrialized cities. The dream was to build garden city homes – large patches of land where residential and industrial communities were built around agriculture or urban gardens. Sir Howard believed that garden city homes and communities will have the capacity to improve the living conditions of city dwellers by bringing a touch of the country into the city. Garden cities were meant to be independent cities, where residents could go from home to work within short commute times while being surrounded by gardens as if they were in the countryside.
The garden city movement
Since the time Sir Howard introduced the concept of garden cities it has grown into a popular urban planning movement spanning a century. It’s called ‘the garden city movement’ and has influenced the design of cities and urban communities around the world. The garden city movement first coined the now popular urban planning term ‘greenbelts’ or what we now know as well-planned residential and industrial communities built around urban gardens. It is no surprise, therefore, that looking around any major city around the world today you’ll find thriving and successful garden city communities where people are able to enjoy healthy urban living.
The popularity of garden cities has proved to be a boon for the real estate market as it guarantees the availability of garden city homes for sale in every city in the world. And not surprising to know that garden city homes are some of the most popular real estate properties today.
Like any successful movement, it all started with a vision. The initial plan was to build a small garden city with a land area of 6000 acres. The design of the first garden city was initially based on concentric circles that contained combined layers of open spaces, parks, residential areas, boulevards and industrial areas that begin at a central mark and was extended and expanded outwards. The first garden city community aimed to have a perfect balance of function and livability for the 32,000 people that it aimed to accommodate.
To bring his vision to life, Howard sought the support of wealthy industrialists who had the resources to invest in his vision. With a guarantee that people, tired of the unhealthy living conditions the cities provided, will be more than willing to purchase garden city homes for sale to improve their living conditions. Howard was able to convince investors to invest in the building of the very first garden city community – Letchworth Garden City.
Howard’s dream was to allow blue collar workers to be able to reside in his first garden city since they were the ones who needed their living conditions improved the most. He was not able to make available garden city homes for sale to the less affluent blue collar workers. This was in most part due to the demands of wealthy investors to recoup their investment as soon as possible which meant increasing the price tag on the garden city homes for sale in Letchworth Garden City. He should have thought about that possibility though, given his approach in acquiring funding.
Nevertheless, despite this setback Howard was able to translate his vision into reality and in the early 1900s, the first garden city was ready for occupancy in Hertfordshire, England. Letchworth Garden City was a resounding success and it was only a matter of time before the garden city home for sale signs on Letchworth Garden City were put down and the city was fully occupied by skilled middle class workers.