Food and the garden city: : Learning from historic experience and influencing contemporary planning practice

Abstract

The theme of food is central to Ebenezer Howard’s garden city model and today has wider resonances for sustainable placemaking in the context of the climate emergency. This exploration of food and the garden city uses morphological, historical and contemporary sources to examine the planning and urban design interplay of garden cities and food, past and present. It focuses primarily on the experience of Letchworth Garden City and Welwyn Garden City, but draws on other garden settlement examples from Europe, the Americas, and the Middle East to understand more about Howard’s original food vision and the ways that this has been variously adapted, diminished, distorted and rediscovered. Concluding with a brief review of Letchworth Garden City’s recent food practice, it is argued that Howard’s very thoroughly worked through food proposals remain fresh.