The Garden City and the American Dream

Abstract

Howard’s Garden city tradition is central in American urban planning and it has had great influence, also in its interpretations that were most distant from the original utopian model, on the ways in which the American city has grown. The approach defined by Howard rejected the English industrial city of the 19th century and proposed a model based on the values of local communities. The American translation of this approach has had great success and has brought after the second world war to the creation of suburbia, i.e. to a gradual process of suburbanization of the nation. This article sets out to investigate the evolution of the application of Howard’s model, the ways in which this model has had an impact on the growth of the American city and the reasons that have determined its success among planners, architects and other decision-makers throughout the 20th century.