GARDEN CITIES OF TOMORROW : The

Book
This book offered a vision of towns free of slums and enjoying
the benefits of both town (such as opportunity, amusement and
good wages) and country (such as beauty, fresh air and low
rents).
He illustrated the idea with his famous Three Magnets diagram
which addressed the question 'Where will the people go?', the
choices being 'Town', 'Country' or 'Town-Country'.
It proposed the creation of new urban towns of limited size,
planned in advance, and surrounded by a permanent belt of
agricultural land.
 In trying to understand and represent the attraction of the city
he compared each city to a magnet, with individuals
represented as needles drawn to the city.
He set about comparing the town and country magnets but
decided that neither were suitable attractors for his Perfect
vision.
Instead he believed that Human society and the beauty of
nature are meant to be enjoyed together hence giving his
solution the two magnets must be made one.
"Town and country must be united, and out of this joyous union,
will spring a new hope, a new life, a new civilization."
 THE THREE MAGNETS - The People, Where
will they go?
The Three Magnets Diagram (below) makes three points:
- Town life has good and bad characteristics
- Country life has good and bad characteristics
- Town-Country life can have all the good things about
life in towns and life in the country - without any of
the bad things.

TOWN COUNTRY
POSITIVE NEGATIVE ASPECTS POSITIVE ASPECTS NEGATIVE ASPECTS
ASPECTS
Social Closing out of Beauty of nature. Lack of society
opportunity. nature. Open Spaces. Hands out of work.
Separation of High rents & Wood, grassland, Trespassers
crowds. prices. forest. Beware.
Places of Foul air and Murky Fresh air. Low wages.
amusement. sky (Dark or Dim Low rents. Lack of drainage.
sky).
Abundance of Lack of
Chances of Slums. water. amusement.
employment.
Bright sunshine. No public spirit.
High money Costly drainage.
Need for reform.
wages.
Well-lit streets. Crowded
dwellings.
Huge Buildings. Deserted villages.
 TOWN-COUNTRY

COMBINATION OF BOTH ASPECTS

Beauty of nature- peace all-over the places.
Social opportunity- progressive growth.
Fields and parks of easy access- equal chances.
Low rents- high wages.
Low rates- plenty to do.
Low prices- no worrying.
Field for enterprise- flow of capital.
Pure air and water- good drainage.
Bright homes & gardens- no smoke, no slums.
Freedom- Co-operation.
Garden City Principle in Practice
The first Garden City evolved
out of Howards principles is
Letchworth Garden City
designed by Raymond Unwin
and Barry Parker in 1903.

The second one to evolve was

Welwyn Garden City
designed by Louis de Soissons
and Frederic Osborn in 1920.

Another example was

Radburn City designed by
Clarence Stein and Henry
Wright in 1928.
 Streets are designed
so as to give the
concept of a
Neighborhood unit.

Separation of the
pedestrian walkways
from the main roads
gives a sense of
natural beauty.

Open and green spaces are

Given on a large scale.

Personalization of Homes
in Welwyn for each
houses.
RADBURN, NEW JERSEY
Radburn was planned by architects Clarence Stein and Henry
Wright in 1928.
It is Americas first garden community, serving as a world
wide example of the well-balanced town of private space and
open area.
Radburn provided a prototype for the new towns to meet the
requirements for contemporary good living.
Radburn was designed to occupy only 149 acres of land.
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.
RADBURN CONSISTS OF-
Residential areas
149 acres of interior parks,
Walkways.
2 swimming pools,
4 tennis courts,
2 playgrounds,
Archery plaza and a school,
2 outdoor basketball courts
A community center, which houses
administrative offices, library,
gymnasium, clubroom and service and
maintenance areas.
ELEMENTS OF THE RADBURN CITY
Park as backbone of the neighborhood.
Specialized Highway system, Complete separation of vehicular
and pedestrian traffic.
The Radburn planners achieved the separation of vehicular and
pedestrian traffic through the use of the superblocks, cul-de-
sacs, and pedestrian pathways.
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 cul-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.
The 2900 residents of Radburn share 23 acres of interior parks.
Housing blocks

Parks and greenbelt

Plaza building the shoping center

CUL-DE-SAC