This book offers a detailed record of one of the world's oldest environmental pressure groups. It raises questions about the capacity of pressure groups to influence policy; and finally it assesses the campaing as a major factor in the emergence of modern town and planning, and as a backdrop against which to examine current issues.

The New Towns Programme of 1946 to 1970 represents one of the most substantial periods of urban development in Britain. This book covers the story of how these towns came to be built, how they aged, and the challenges and opportunities they now face as they begin phases of renewal. The New Towns provide lessons for social, economic and environmental sustainability which are of great relevance for the regeneration of twentieth century urbanism and the creation of new urban developments today.

The Garden City Movement provided a radical new model for the design and layout of housing at the turn of the nineteenth century and set standards for the twentieth century which were of international significance. The vision of the movement's founder, Ebenezer Howard, drew on many strands of political and utopian thought, and initially aimed at addressing the problems of an increasingly urban and dysfunctional society along 'the peaceful path to real reform'. It took only five years, from 1898 to 1903 for the idea to take root in the open fields of North Hertfordshire, when Earl Grey proclaimed the Letchworth Garden City Estate open. Letchworth was followed by Hampstead Garden Suburb, Welwyn Garden City and numerous smaller developments, and Garden City ideas informed both inter-war housing policy and New Town planning after the Second World War. Present-day issues such as sustainable development and eco-settlements have their roots in the Garden City. Written by the leading authority in the field, this book tells the story of a major development in England's urban and planning history and provides a timely popular survey of the achievements of the Garden City Movement and the challenge of change. This will not only appeal to planners and conservation professionals, but also residents of the garden cities.

The Art of Building a Garden City is a well-researched guide to the history of the garden city movement and the delivery of a new generation of communities for the 21st Century. Bringing together key findings from the TCPA’s campaign work, and drawing on lessons from the first garden cities, the new towns programme and other large-scale developments, it identifies what steps need to be taken in order to deliver the highest standards of design and place making today.

Sir Raymond Unwin (1863-1940) was one of the best-known pioneers of town planning. Inspired by Willian Morris and Fabianism he designed new prototypes for working class housing. The design of 20th-century housing, new suburbs and new towns perhaps owes more to Unwin, and to the works in Letchworth, New Earswick and Hampstead Garden Suburb than to any other individual.

This book offers a detailed record of one of the world's oldest environmental pressure groups. It raises questions about the capacity of pressure groups to influence policy; and finally it assesses the campaing as a major factor in the emergence of modern town and planning, and as a backdrop against which to examine current issues.

From the 1940s to the 1990s From New Towns to Green Politics charts the course of successive issues and campaigns - from the reconstruction of Britain's war-torn cities, to the introduction of green belts and new towns, to regional and community planning, and so to the inner cities and most recently, green politics.

This examination of a phenomenon of 19th century planning traces the origins, implementation, international transference and adoption of the Garden City idea. It also considers its continuing relevance in the late 20th century and into the 21st century.

The key theme of the papers in this book concerns the prospects of building new urban environments and creating new societies in Europe during the interwar years. The contributions do not focus on the system of government – communist, fascist or democratic – but, rather, on what actually got built, by whom and why; and how the international communication of ideas was filtered through the prism of local concerns and culture. As such, the volume serves to tease out connections between urban form and social aspirations, and between the moral basis of social planning and how it was interpreted. Did the new towns of the interwar years actually create a planned society where visions met realities, aided by the design of new urban forms? This is one of the principal questions investigated by the contributors here in all the different political contexts of their chosen ‘new towns’.

Often misunderstood, the New Towns story is a fascinating one of anarchists, artists, visionaries, and the promise of a new beginning for millions of people. New Towns: The Rise Fall and Rebirth offers a new perspective on the New Towns Record and uses case-studies to address the myths and realities of the programme. It provides valuable lessons for the growth and renewal of the existing New Towns and post-war housing estates and town centres, including recommendations for practitioners, politicians and communities interested in the renewal of existing New Towns and the creation of new communities for the 21st century.