Ebenezer Howard

Information about Ebenezer Howard

Ebenezer Howard
Ebenezer Howard (29 January 1850 [1]–May 1 1928[2]) was a prominent British urban planner.

Early life

Howard travelled to America from England at the age of 21, moved to Nebraska, and soon discovered that he was not meant to be a farmer. He moved to Chicago and worked as a reporter for the courts and newspapers. In the U.S. he became acquainted with, and admired, poets Walt Whitman and Ralph Waldo Emerson. Howard began to think about ways to improve the quality of life.

By 1876 he was back in England, where he found a job with Hansard, which produces the official verbatim record of Parliament, and he spent the rest of his life in this occupation. Direct descendants of Ebenezer Howard include his grandson Geoffrey Howard (cricket player and administrator), cricket manager as well as his great great grandson, the pedagogue George Colin Howard and his daughter Leah Elisabeth Howard.

Influences and ideas

Enlarge picture
Howard's 'three magnets' diagram
Howard read widely, including Edward Bellamy's 1888 utopian novel Looking Backward and thought deeply about social issues.

One result was his book (1898) titled To-Morrow: A Peaceful Path to Real Reform, which was reprinted in 1902 as Garden Cities of To-Morrow. This book offered a vision of towns free of slums and enjoying the benefits of both town (such as opportunity, amusement and high wages) and country (such as beauty, fresh air and low rents). He illustrated the idea with his famous Three Magnets diagram (pictured), which addressed the question 'Where will the people go?', the choices being 'Town', 'Country' or 'Town-Country' - the Three Magnets.

It called for the creation of new suburban towns of limited size, planned in advance, and surrounded by a permanent belt of agricultural land. These Garden cities were used as a role model for many suburbs. Howard believed that such Garden Cities were the perfect blend of city and nature. The towns would be largely independent, and managed and financed by the citizens who had an economic interest in them.

Action

In 1899 he founded the Garden Cities Association, now known as the Town and Country Planning Association and the oldest environmental charity in England.

His ideas attracted enough attention and financial backing to begin Letchworth Garden City, a suburban garden city north of London. A second garden city, Welwyn Garden City, was started after World War I. His contacts with German architects Hermann Muthesius and Bruno Taut resulted in the application of humane design principles in many large housing projects built in the Weimar years. Hermann Muthesius also played an important role in the creation of Germany's first garden city of Hellerau in 1909, the only German garden city where Howard's ideas were thoroughly adopted.

The creation of Letchworth Garden City and Welwyn Garden City were influential in the development of "New Towns" after World War II by the British government. This movement produced more than 30 communities, the first being Stevenage, Hertfordshire and the last (and largest) being Milton Keynes, Buckinghamshire. Howard's ideas also inspired other planners such as Frederick Law Olmsted II and Clarence Perry. Walt Disney used elements of Howards's concepts in his original design for EPCOT (Experimental Prototype Community of Tomorrow).

Howard was an enthusiastic speaker of Esperanto, often using the language to give speeches.[3]

References

1. ^ (2006) Penguin Pocket On This Day. Penguin Reference Library. ISBN 0-141-02715-0. 
2. ^ (1933) Enciklopedio de Esperanto
3. ^ "The creation of Esperanto Association of Britain"

See also

External links

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Hansard is the traditional name for the printed transcripts of parliamentary debates in the Westminster system of government. In addition to the Parliament of the United Kingdom and the UK's devolved institutions, a Hansard is maintained for the Parliament of Canada and the
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As a linguistic term, "verbatim" means an exact reproduction of a sentence, phrase, quote or other sequence of text from one source into another. The same words appear in exactly the same order, with no paraphrasing, substitution, or abbreviation of any kind, not even any trivial
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Cecil Geoffrey Howard (14 February 1909 - 8 November 2002) was an English cricketer and cricket administrator.

Geoffrey Howard was born in Hampstead Garden Suburb, a grandson of Sir Ebenezer Howard, a founder of the Garden City Movement who taught him a respect for people
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Edward Bellamy (March 26 1850 – May 22 1898) was an American author and socialist, most famous for his utopian novel, Looking Backward, set in the year 2000.

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Edward Bellamy was born in Chicopee Falls, Massachusetts.
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Language English
Genre(s) Utopian novel
Publisher William Ticknor
Publication date 1888
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Suburbs are commonly defined as residential areas on the outskirts of a city or large town.[1] Most modern suburbs are commuter towns with many single-family homes.
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garden city movement is an approach to urban planning that was founded in 1898 by Ebenezer Howard in England. Garden cities were to be planned, self-contained communities surrounded by greenbelts, and containing carefully balanced areas of residences, industry, and agriculture.
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The Town and Country Planning Association is England's oldest environmental charity. It was founded as the Garden Cities Association in 1899 by Ebenezer Howard, initially to promote the development of Garden Cities. Howard's successor as chairman was Sir Frederic Osborn.
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Dieu et mon droit   (French)
"God and my right"
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No official anthem specific to England — the anthem of the United Kingdom is "God Save the Queen".
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Letchworth Garden City

Letchworth (United Kingdom)

Letchworth Garden City shown within the United Kingdom
Population 33,600
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garden city movement is an approach to urban planning that was founded in 1898 by Ebenezer Howard in England. Garden cities were to be planned, self-contained communities surrounded by greenbelts, and containing carefully balanced areas of residences, industry, and agriculture.
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London
Canary Wharf is the centre of London's modern office towers
London shown within England
Coordinates:
Sovereign state United Kingdom
Constituent country England
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Welwyn Garden City

Welwyn Garden City (United Kingdom)

Welwyn Garden City shown within the United Kingdom
Population 43,252[1]
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Adam Gottlieb Hermann Muthesius (April 20, 1861 - October 29, 1927), known as Hermann Muthesius, was a German architect, author and diplomat, perhaps best known for promoting many of the ideas of the English Arts and Crafts movement within Germany and for his subsequent
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Bruno Julius Florian Taut (May 4, 1880, Königsberg, Germany - December 24, 1938, Istanbul), was a prolific German architect, urban planner and author active in the Weimar period.
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