Cities of Tomorrow: An Intellectual History of Urban Planning and Design Since 1880, 4th Edition

The City in the Garden

Forget six counties overhung with smoke,

Forget the snorting steam and piston stroke,

Forget the spreading of the hideous town;

Think rather of the pack-horse on the down,

And dream of London, small and white and clean,

The clear Thames bordered by its gardens green.

William Morris, The Earthly Paradise (1868)

Let every dawn of morning be to you as the beginning of life, and every setting sun be to you as its close:– then let every one of these short lives leave its sure record of some kindly thing done for others – some goodly strength or knowledge gained for yourselves; so, from day to day, and strength to strength, you shall build up indeed, by Art, by Thought, and by Just Will, an Ecclesia of England, of which it shall not be said, “See what manner of stones are here”, but, “See what manner of men.”

John Ruskin, Lectures on Art (1870)

(found in Raymond Unwin’s favorite quotations)

4The City in the Garden: The Garden-City Solution: London, Paris, Berlin, New York, 1900–1940

It is invidious, but it needs saying: despite doughty competition, Ebenezer Howard (1850–1928) is the most important single character in this entire tale. So it is important to get him right; even though almost everyone has got him wrong. His many self-appointed critics have, at one time or another, been wrong about almost everything he stood for. They called him a “planner,” a term of derogation, whereas he earned his living as a shorthand writer. They said that he advocated ...