Garden City Movement;

Ebenezer Howard published a book; ‘Garden Cities of Tomorrow’ in 1898. He was an academic who had travelled in Europe, and realised that the mass rural-urban migration of the time did not have to result in the urban unplanned sprawl of those cities in the UK. This book was a focal point for Liberals of the time.
He spoke of model villages which were self sufficient and supported the workers of factories. They would have relatively high quality houses, and elements of social planning; i.e. church, infirmary, school. Early form of esoteric philanthropy formed from religious ideals, stressing caring. This linked the health and happiness of workers with profits.
A group formed to support Howard, and planned their own settlement at Welwyn Garden City. It failed due to insufficient capital.
Howard introduced the concept of town planning to the UK. The first planning policy was written in 1918 concerning street lights.

Town and Country Planning Act [1946] and National Policy;
Policy aimed to improve the conditions of people’s lives. Rural planning aims to control depopulation and tourism. Planning follows social antecedents. The national policy has been through four stages of procedure;
1)    1946 - 1967; slum clearance, and rebuilding the war’s bomb damage. Done on a short budget. Poor quality. Due to industrial failings. UK outcompeted by Tiger economies, and the government was unwilling to subsidise uncompetitive industry.
2)    1967 - 1972; service or community development.
3)    1977 - 1990; Inner city renewal, and the regeneration of the economy and community. Regeneration as a social necessity and a votewinner.
4)    1990 - 2000; Public Private development partnership.

New Building Techniques;
·       Steel framed buildings. Walls are no longer load bearing, and therefore there is no need for them to be structural design features. They can be replaced by glass walls. Hope Insurance Building, Chicago, 1885, and the Empire State Building, New York, 1931.
·       Dominance of the skyscraper. Central core allows services to be pumped to higher floors. Can only be built by the development of; 
·       Otis safety elevator.
·       Revolving door, which allows an airtight seal to prevent the ‘chimney effect’ in the skyscrapers.
·       Prefabs, and pre-stressed concrete allowed rapid construction of low quality buildings.

New Towns;
The growth of cities was restricted by the green belts. Following the Garden City philosophy, new towns were designed, and 33 were built by 1974.

Phase I                        1946 - 1950     First 14 New towns, e.g. Stevenage. Strict plans, with no deviation for site.
Neighbourhood units with amenities. Very little road development.
Phase II                       1951 - 1960     Less zoning. Dispersal of amenities, and more flats and private development. 75% of homes had garages.
Phase III          1961 - 1970     Runcorn, Redditch etc. Larger, and less self sufficient. More public transport, and car usage considered.
Phase IV          1971 -              Merger of old former villages, (Ganshof, pre-urban nuclei), e.g. Dorley, Oakengates, Wellington to form Telford.
Phase IV          1971-               Milton Keynes. Incorporates private developments. Planning on a larger scale, to populations of around 250 000.