Garden Cities have nothing to do with Gardens

Ebenizer Howard came up with the concept of the "Garden City of Tomorrow." The purpose behind it was to remake the city in order to contain it. Cities generally were notorious for their rapid urbanization with no end in sight and neverending sprawl. Originally there were only two "magnets" (various areas to live that usually attracted people to them) the town and the country. In otherwords, these were the only two options: the city which had the drawbacks of being uncomfortable, expensive, and brutal, while at the same time provided drainage, employment and amusement, or the country with it's clean air and water.

Ebenizer thought it would be efficient if the two were blended together in order to provide the best of both "magnets." The idea of this so called garden city would allow everybody to own a building collectively rather than individually. In other words the entire community would be owned by everyone thus eliminating private speculation. Prices would be moderate, stabilized, and consistent. The population size would be limited: garden cities would be capable of holding a maximum of 30,000 people. To add an aspect of the country, tree would be required in order to surround the city with a park-a greenbelt of sorts. The park would provide access to nature and would keep the city nice. This part would not be permited to be developed.

Here is a link to an article on the Garden City Movement.http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Garden_city_movement