RC11
GARDEN CITY V2.0 URBAN AND RURAL SYNERGIES
Is it possible to redeem the misunderstand of the Garden City, from a purely town planning model to a social and economic mechanism; creating a more egalitarian and equitable urbanism? How can co-operatives, sharing economies, self-builds and land trusts be used as a critical device to tackle today´s global housing struggles? Garden City V2.0 is looking into finding an alignment from the modest social and economic principles of Ebenezer Howard and the technological shift we are living in. In order to create a new prototype of city that
[IN]HABIT[AT]
challenges the deep-rooted sequels that post-industrial capitalism has deposited upon our cities.
Daniela Gonzalez Badillo
INDUSTRIAL SHIFT
It was the beginning of the Twentieth Century and London, the capital of one of the largest empires in history, presented an unprecedented and rapid growth. A large number of people migrated from the rural side to the industrial City in pursuit of opportunities and a better life. Manufacturing dominated the local economy and, by extension, the environment and social relations on the urban setting. As a consequence, the city presented high levels of air and water pollution. In addition, agricultural depression (worsened by free trade and increasing imports of cheap food from America and the colonies) forced people to leave the countryside. The result was as simple as creating a new alternative. A new form of living that could combine the benefits of living in the lively and exciting city with the beautiful and natural attributes that the countryside offered. In this utopian scenario, the people would be drawn to the most attractive alternative. That is how, in 1898 Ebenezer Howard wrote To-morrow: A Peaceful Path to Real Reform (better known under the title of the 1902 edition, Garden Cities of To-mo-rrow). The book was not only the consequence of the two dysfunctional poles claiming for a better way of living but also the result of Howard´s background and experiences as a social reformer and idealist.
ABSURD VISOR OF UTOPIAS
POST-INDUSTRIAL SHIFT
This scene focuses on the major urban shift, which London (alongside other global cities) suffered from post-industrially, as well as exploring the relevance of East Tilbury in relation to rapid changes and housing struggles; the tendency for London to grow Eastwards places special attention on this area in the Essex marshes, which serves the City as a means of logistics and service. In 1932, Bata-Ville was established in East Tilbury, a utopian city of the early Twentieth Century inspired by Fordist models, Garden City principles and socialist ideologies (Kolleg, 2011). Specifically, this chapter aims to understand the social and economic sequels that post-industrial capitalism has left on the two reviewed scenarios, always paralleling an urban and rural condition (Inner London and East Tilbury), in order to integrate a framework that suggests new possibilities to hypothesize hybrid conditions in the further research. In recent years many cities across Europe and America have suffered major urban shifts due to deindustrialization and industrial restructuring processes. A new era of the urban realm has been led by global economics, which in turn reaffirms the leading role of urban centres.
POST-CAPITALIST SHIFT
Now more than ever, there is a contested position that cities have to deal with. On the one hand, they represent an interface between the local and global economic flows, on the other hand, they have to face specific challenges of local sustainability and local well-being while remaining internationally competitive (Jessop, 2002, 119). Furthermore, they have to face the challenges of social exclusion and global polarization. This contested notion can be track till the very base of our capitalist system and its exponential growth with the present disproportion. The British journalist and writer Paul Mason (2015) states that today, the main contradiction in modern capitalism is between the possibility of free, abundant socially produced goods, and a system of monopolies, banks and governments struggling to maintain control of over power and information (Mason, 2015). Mason claims that “new forms of ownership, new forms of lending, new legal contracts: a whole business subculture has emerged over the past 10 years, which the media has dubbed the sharing economy�. He describes this fundamental change as an escape route that must be driven by a change in our thinking – about technology, ownership and work.
mixed-use mixed-use
spatial spatial distribution distribution
mixed-use
spatial distribution +
+
Garden City V 2.0
Garden Garden City VCity 2.0 V 2.0
+ network city
network city
network city
land ownership
green integration green integration green integration
self-built self-built self-built
hi highe highe
+ +
+ +
+
+ +
+ +
land land ownership ownership
+ 3d organization +
3d organization 3d organization
+ +
+ +
£
££ £
£
£
£ £
££ £
£
£ £ £ £ ££ £
£
£ £
£
£ £
£ £
decentralized
green buildings
decentralized decentralized
green buildings green buildings
central square central
modular prefab elements
adapa
modular prefab elements
adapa
modular prefab elements
er density er density
identity identity
self-sustainable self-sustainable
Corydon Refinery Corydon Refinery
atable and incremental growth
preservation of local elements
atable and incremental growth
preservation of local elements
micro and macroeconomies, local food and resource production micro and macroeconomies, local food and resource production
cooperative cooperative system system
Garden City V2.0 looks into finding an alignment form the modest social and economic principles of Ebenezer Howard and the technological shift we are living in. In order to create a new prototype of city that challenges our current urban model and the deep-rooted sequels that post-industrial capitalism has left on our cities. At the same time, it is trying to create a synergy between the increasingly unequal society living in urban and rural settings.