Эбенизер Говард және қалалық бағдарламалар қозғалысы

English writer and founder of the garden city movement

Sir Ebenezer Howard (29 January 1850 – 1 May 1928) was an English urban planner and founder of the garden city movement, known for his publication To Morrow: A Peaceful Path to Real Reform (1898), the description of a utopian city in which people live harmoniously together with nature. The publication resulted in the founding of the garden city movement, and the building of the first garden city, Letchworth Garden City, commenced in 1903. The second true Garden City was Welwyn Garden City (1920) and the movement influenced the development of several model suburbs in other countries, such as Forest Hills Gardens designed by F. L. Olmsted Jr. in 1909, Radburn, New Jersey (1923), Pinelands, Cape Town, and the four Suburban Resettlement Program towns of the 1930s, Greenbelt, Maryland, Greenhills, Ohio, Greenbrook, New Jersey, and Greendale, Wisconsin. Howard aimed to reduce the alienation of humans and society from nature, and hence advocated garden cities and Georgism. Howard is believed by many to be one of the great guides to the town planning movement, with many of his garden city principles being used in modern town planning.

Howard was born in Fore Street, City of London, the son of Ebenezer Howard (18171900), a baker, and Ann (née Tow, 18161900). He was sent to schools in Suffolk and Hertfordshire. Howard left school at 15 and began working as a stenographer in London. In the US he became acquainted with, and admired, poets Walt Whitman and Ralph Waldo Emerson. Howard began to ponder ways to improve the quality of life.

By 1876, he was back in England, where he found a job with Hansard company, which produces the official verbatim record of Parliament, and he spent the rest of his life in this occupation. Howard's time in parliament exposed him to ideas about social reform, and helped inspire his ideas for the Garden City. 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 (pictured), which addressed the question 'Where will the people go? ', the choices being 'Town', 'Country' or 'Town Country'. Garden Cities of Tomorrow proposed that society be reorganised with networks of garden cities that would break the strong hold of capitalism and lead to cooperative socialism. It proposed 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 the model for many suburbs. Howard believed that such Garden Cities were the perfect blend of city and nature. Howard believed that a new civilisation could be found by marrying the town and the country.

Howard died on 1 May 1928 (aged 78) and is buried in a modest grave in Letchworth Cemetery with his second wife, Edith Annie, Lady Howard.

Letchworth was developed and owned by a company called First Garden City, Ltd. which was formed in 1903, based on the ideas of Howard. After Howard's book was published he worked to gain financial support to bring his ideas into reality, Howard ran lectures on Garden Cities and began the Garden City Association. Welwyn Garden City was Howard's second Garden City after Letchworth. Howard purchased the land with £5000 borrowed from friends. and a Knight Bachelor in 1927.

The Howard medal was introduced after Howard’s death, and takes the form of a Bronze medal with the motif of an ideal city. The medal remains one of the most prestigious awards in the sector. In almost 90 years, the medal has been awarded 11 times and the names are a stellar cast of Garden City giants beginning with Raymond Unwin in 1938 and ending with Colin Ward and Sir Peter Hall in 1999. It includes Barry Parker, Lewis Mumford, Clarence Stein, Richard Reiss, Patrick Abercrombie and Frederic Osborn but only one woman, Elizabeth Buchanan Mitchell in 1955.

Actress, dancer and TV personality Una Stubbs was Howard's great granddaughter. Other direct descendants include his cricket manager grandson Geoffrey Howard, great granddaughter poet and publisher Joy Bernadine Howard, and his great great grandson (Una Stubbs's son), television and film score composer Christian Henson.