Introduction
Garden cities, as the name suggest, are planned cities of people living together as a community, with equal places covered by public residences, agricultural lands and parks, and industries. Scholars have termed garden cities as sustainable cities. The garden cities are usually surrounded by green belts, which provide health to the city (Howard, & Osborn, 2005). Garden cities were first adopted in the Great Britain when philosophers tried to find a way to decongest the city.It was due to the overcrowding and congestion in city traffic that forced the development of garden cities.in this perspective, garden cities were designed to contain a large number of residents, without causing harm to their well-being. The garden cities thus incorporate parks, wetlands, artificial lakes, among other ecologically friendly adaptations. Wetlands, for instance, detoxify the cities soils and drain away toxins harmful to the environment. The urban areas in the 20th century did not favor the detoxification of the environment, but rather posed health hazards to the city dwellers (Howard, &Osborn, 2005).
Scholars have found out that living closer together results in more opportunities for social interaction (Cavin, 2003). People who live in urban areas collectively also have greater chances of mobilizing their resources for personal development. Communal living like in garden cities also provides easier access to essential services and even benefit economically. The garden cities also provide a basis for technological change. Ebenezer Howard had the idea of developing a city which would act as a single economic unit. Garden cities are thus deemed as the future of tomorrow’s urban planning.
At their inception, the garden cities did not receive a warm welcome, as critics undermined their potential. For instance, economists predicted a recession in the economy, if the garden city policies were adopted. Other philosophers also formulated the garden suburbs to derail the efforts of integrating garden cities. Garden suburbs contained opposite motives from the garden cities. They developed suburb villages in the periphery of cities, and then provided a convenient means of transport. The garden suburbs aimed at showing that decongestion was better than collective living. The adaptability of garden cities to private development was not reputable, as the city aimed at achieving a collective mode of living. Several other factors hindered the incentive to private development. For instance, the initial garden cities had a central park, at a strategic position, probably at the center. The park was then ringed by a shopping arcade, followed by schools and public residences and then a ring of factories and industries.
Moreover, each ring was separated by a green belt, probably for environmental purification. The accord, people, saw the garden cities as an opportunity for industrial development. Garden cities had the advantage of model industrial villages. The aim of creating garden cities was not only to provide a green way of living but also to make sure that the dwellers of the city are economically independent. Moreover, the cities considered the availability of affordable public housing. However, during the inception of the garden city project, people were not ready to shift into a life of collective living. Collective living and ownership were keys to the plan of garden cities (Nettlefold, Brunner & Dunwoody, 2004). If the land on which the garden city stood would be owned by the community Retained in this way, every citizen was a shareholder, with the benefit of subsidized public rent. The garden cities provided a healthy and a sustainable way of living, compared to the previous urban plans. Garden cities hence provided the modern urban planners with an incentive to plan for more sustainable ways of life in the urban areas.
Ebenezer Howard’s Garden City at Letchworth and Henrietta Barnes’ city at Hampstead provided a basis for the modern sustainable urban development (Hall, 2008). The ideology to develop garden cities and urban suburbs in the twentieth century pioneered the change towards sustainable development. For instance, the integration of natural climates or greenbelts into the urban setting does not only supply the city with nourishment, but also with exquisite beauty. Modern city planners have borrowed many ideas from the first garden cities, to curb the persistent environmental degradation. Modern urban areas mushroom with industries which cause photographic smog over the city skylines. Due to the pollution, the integration of greenbelts greatly counters industrial emissions, making city life sustainable. The integration of green lands and urban spacing is the major driver for modern cities, which is a critical adaptation of the garden city principles.
Many developed countries have adopted the concepts and principles of garden cities for urban housing. Although the initial cost of setting up urban housing is a challenge, modern urban planners did not give up the ideology of building many residential units on a limited piece of land (Schaffer, 2002). Moreover, the long-term benefits of garden cities surpass their initial costs. For example, garden cities enjoy the achievement of economies of scale in production. The economies of scale are achieved as the cost of moving assets from one point of the city to another is greatly cut. Cost utilization is thus achieved due to the developed network of transport and communication.
The first garden cities and suburbs in England, built in the early 20th century, were built with a vision of achieving both beauty and sustainable living (Miller, 2010). However, the cities did have a rough start, with most dwellers being the affluent. The garden cities hence faced criticisms of promoting inequality in the society. The modern cities that have adopted the garden city strategies were also faced with various challenges. For instance, emerging industrial technologies are harmful even for the best planned urban systems (Cavin, 2003). Since the garden cities integrate vegetation into their planning, pollution, and acid rain threatens the existence of the established greenbelts. Greenbelts form the essence of the city, and their destruction makes the garden cities to collapse. The only remedy to the pollution of garden cities is to adopt the garden suburbs plan, whose aim is to counter the development of garden cities and collective living.
Importance of Urban Planning
Urban planning, like other types of planning, is essential for sustainability. Urban planning makes sure that pollution and environmental degradation is kept in check (Catanese, & Snyder, 2008). Planning also caters for the prevention of health hazards in urban areas. However, these are not the key importance of planning. Planning plays critical roles in ensuring the continuity of urban livelihoods. For instance, planning is important for city planners to anticipate change. Ways of living shift with a change in housing techniques. In this accord, proper planning hampers the element of surprise. The allocation of housing spaces and pathways requires a careful anticipation of future growth, and planning is important in allocating contingencies. Due to the increased level of rural-urban migration, the anticipation of change is important. It is estimated that half of the world’s population live in urban areas, especially cities.
Secondly, planning is important in the utilization of natural resources like land and water. Urban areas have a chronic shortage of land resources (Rutherford, 2014). The resources have to be allocated in the best way, such that land is not wasted. Improper planning of land resources in urban areas can result in conflicts and the development of undesirable building structures. The proper utilization of resources leads to economic development. The utilization of resources for economic development occurs through the following ways. For example, the collective living in garden cities provides industries with ready labor and other forms of human resources. Proper planning also caters the utilization of productive land, and thus economic development is achieved.in collective living and ownership, plans that use the concepts of garden cities provide a platform to create awareness about environmental conservation (Chapin, 2005).
In addition to achieving economic development, planning provides a framework for growth (Walker, 2011). Plans entail a feasibility report, which is used to project future growth and the threshold of sustainability. The carrying out of feasibility analysis projects the amount of resources needed to achieve sustainable living in urban areas. The tool is also useful for mitigating overcrowding, and combating health hazards which may hinder the city.
Conclusion
In conclusion, planning is important to achieve economies of scale. Most people in the urban regions are out to search for revenue. Proper planning with good attributes of resource allocation is responsible for economies of scale. Urban settings which are not planned either lead to overutilization or underutilization of resources. In summary, planning is important for countering uncertainties (Simonds, 2004).
References
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