The strange and wonderful 19th century utopian suburbs

[@Thaddeus2007]

Thank God people like you are actually talking about this. I live in the Suburbs of Lansing and it's ludicrously large compared to the city proper. You know what was on the outskirts of Lansing before Suburbs? Forests, farmland and parks. It's almost disgusting when I see 300k suburban houses sell in the middle of the what used to be countryside.

[@francoluissotomayor5521]

Puerto Rico

[@GingerKing243]

We can thank our good old Michigan housing development/real estate friend and philanthropist Bill Pulte! I remember working for Amazon out in Wixom during Covid and literally watched forests get plowed for new housing developments by The Pulte Company and Michigan Homes (and even for a bigger parking lot at the Amazon warehouse! Joni Mitchells would not approve 🙃)

[@svenceelen8197]

Maybe the most important video I have seen in a year. Incredible job, explaining such an amazing topic that was so important and was somehow lost to modern times. Reminds me of the new 15 min city movement.

[@vliangoomen6075]

I got this recommended by Yt. The algorithm is on your side on this one :) greetings from the Netherlands

[@blini224]

🙏 algorithm

[@medhavishah9711]

Great information with a clear narrative. Thanks very much for this.

[@duckpotat9818]

Sad you didn't talk about the world's largest 'garden city' - Chandigarh, India with 2 million inhabitants if you include satelite towns who themselves are a copy of Chandigarh. It's a planned city, one of the largest in the world, built on garden city and Brutalist principles. It was Le Corbusier's magnum opus and remains India's one of most beloved and best cities to live in. I lived there for 19 years before moving away for college, fee free to ask me about it.

[@MidNight-o1z]

what was it like? Was it walkable? How were the roads? Can you describe the community? Are you now living there? Why or Why not?

[@duckpotat9818]

@@MidNight-o1z it’s beautiful. Very well organised and green. It is walkable if you’re going somewhere within your sector (800m*1200m super blocks). All sectors have basic shops and amenities. The transit is also pretty good by Indian standards so I’d say it’s more walkable than all big Indian The roads are wide and very well maintained, surrounded by trees, footpaths and bike lanes on either side. There is a better sense of community than other big Indian cities. The crime is lower and there are a lot of parks and plazas for public gatherings. Often in the morning you’ll find people doing group yoga, dancing or exercising in parks. In the evening you can find teens skateboarding in the sector 17 parking lot (it’s more of a plaza, the parking is underground). There is an amphitheatre where you’ll find people doing karaoke or standup. The city seems far less religious than most of India but in turn there are a lot of group events. Annual cycling day, marathon day, Rose festival (look it up it’s beautiful) and other such events. Oh and the parks. Every neighbourhood has one and every 1 in 4 sectors has a really large park (0.5 sq km) I’m not living there anymore. My college is in Pune hence I had to move out but I look forward to moving back if I get a suitable job.

[@magicknight13]

@@duckpotat9818that sounds so amazing, thank you so much for sharing your experience and knowledge! I hope you get to move back after college :)

[@Stroopwaffe1]

I grew up in the 2nd Garden City. 1st from 1976 to 1990 in Pangshanger to the east, a sub district of wgc and then in the oldest part of the town on the west side near Stanbrough Lakes my Grandfather and Grandmother moved out of Stepney Green in the Eastern of London. She was a Bona fide "Cockney" as she was born in earshot of Bow Belles, the Church along Stepney Green High Steet. Just in time as my Father was born on the 6thof September 1939, he live on rations till 1957.

[@newsxn]

I’ve lived in WGC my whole life. I wish ebenezer got a chance to do more. Great video.

[@alextaylor9746]

Welwyn garden city, didn't realize it had an interesting history.

[@ajgrant9975]

Incredible video

[@coolbutters]

Great video, suburban sprawl has been becoming a large problem in most industrial countries and I think that if governments would somehow revive the garden city idea it would fix a lot of problems with modern life.

[@anime_adct]

great work

[@lemapp]

During WWI, the US Federal Government built their first housing projects. One in particular was Hiddenwood in Warwick County, VA. It was built to house workers for the nearby Newport News Shipbuilding. Along the main highway was shopping and a theatre. The housing became less dense the further from the main road with the largest houses along the river. The facades were chosen to match a rural English village. The ideas discussed here are visible in the community's design.

[@danielkimravenson1169]

well done

[@bakerc98]

Great video, keep it up!

[@kefirmroku4494]

Hello from Nowa Huta, the Polish Soviet garden city!

[@kefirmroku4494]

There are several videos on it, for example: - Zielona Nowa Huta / Green Nowa Huta - our dream of a sustainable city - Nowa Huta - Socialist Realism: The Communist Utopia in Poland

[@kefirmroku4494]

@@blini224 It is even more interesting if you know history (im ethnologist), there are three lesser known (semi-mythical) facts about the city: (1) Nowa Huta was built around the grave mound of Queen Wanda (1200BC), from whom all the Vendi, Veneti, Venetians, Wendisch and Vandals have their name (2) due to Polish legends (Twardowski Legend) next to this mound there was "gate to hell", and word "huta" means in Turkic and Arabic languages both "hell" and "steel mill", thus the city name - the New Still Mill / Nowa Huta. (3) it was "the perfect communist city without a church", which was a place of a battle for cross in 1960 (Wiki PL: Wypadki nowohuckie 1960 - use translator), and thanks to his involvement in this Karol Wojtyłła became pope John Paul II.

[@flaviusstilicho1239]

Fun fact: in Germany 2 years prior to Ebenezer Howard, the radical antisemite Theodor Fritsch first proposed a garden city which was basically the same as Howards conception. He became extremely mad when Howards garden city became more popular also in Germany than his concept.

[@matthiuskoenig3378]

I have lived in a gated community in South Africa similar to the car friendly garden city, well a suburb with elements similar to it. Lots of inter-connected parks connected by foot paths, including a walkable distance community centre and school access able 100% through these foot paths. So I think the concept of combining that with a garden city concept is definately feasible and should be tried again. It just needs rail, so that cars are only an option rather than the only way in like the idea tested in 1929.

[@NoirMorter]

He's correct. There is an observed issue in many countries where cities are highly populated to the point of congestion. Country side villages are aging and dying out as all the wealth trickles into fewer and fewer hands. By wealth I'm referring to buying power. Many people in the US can afford to buy a house in rural Wyoming, but who wants to? How would you make a living? Our world is set up in a weird way that is not easy to fix.

[@derekread9648]

You describe how Ebenezer Howard’s ideas were developed in the USA and unfortunately led to car-dependent suburban sprawl. But in the UK Howard’s principles were given practical expression in the new towns programme, which remained much closer to his ideals. Many new towns were built from the late 1940s until the early 1980s, when the neo-liberal Thatcher government halted their construction for political reasons. But the Labour Party have promised to re-start the construction of new towns if they return to government in 2024. For a recent highly successful urban extension built on updated garden city (new urbanist) principles, see King Charles’s Poundbury development in Dorset.

[@urbanistgod]

The Constitution of Great Urbanism For detached housing along with individualized transport grant absolute freedom and independence to the people, all residential areas shall be low-density.

[@nishiljaiswal2216]

No

[@liliadesouza3597]

hi, welwyn is pronounced like well-in, no W sound, just so you know

[@blini224]

good to know, thank you!

[@scottfree6479]

I’d rather civilization burn than live in a city. Too crowded. Way too crowded.

[@nishiljaiswal2216]

What is crowded and uncrowded?