Ebenezer Howard: Inventor of the Garden City

Ebenezer Howard (1850-1928) founded the Garden City movement and was a seeker of unity and peace. Frances Knight's biography, the first since the 1980s, explores his religious views, grafting new ideas into his biblically-informed, Protestant faith. He believed he was raised to preach the gospel of the garden city and tackle the housing crisis. Howard's ideas led to the foundation of Letchworth as the world's first garden city, and the book investigates other neglected aspects of his life, including his time in America and his career as a shorthand writer.

Format: Hardback
Length: 240 pages
Publication date: 30 June 2023
Publisher: Oxford University Press

Ebenezer Howard (1850-1928) is a renowned figure globally for pioneering the Garden City movement, and his ideas continue to be widely referenced by planners and theorists. As he approached his final days, he expressed a profound desire for his prospective biographer to emphasize the spiritual dimension that had always been central to his life and work. He ardently wished for this aspect to be prominently featured in any biography. Nearly a century after his passing, Ebenezer Howard: Inventor of the Garden City emerges as the first book that fully fulfills this wish. Frances Knight has crafted a highly readable biography, the first since the 1980s, offering a contextualized analysis of Howard's religious beliefs. Born within the world of London Congregationalism, he developed a deep longing for unity and peace. He incorporated new religious ideas, particularly from spiritualism and later from Theosophy, into his biblically informed, Protestant faith. Prone to spiritual epiphanies, he believed he was called to preach the gospel of the garden city and address the housing crisis by initiating the construction of the New Jerusalem in the Hertfordshire countryside. While he may have occasionally appeared naive, Howard was astute and skilled at harmonizing diverse and sometimes conflicting ideas, fostering consensus and gaining support from individuals across different social and political spectrums. In addition to detailing the remarkable series of events that culminated in the publication of his ideas and the establishment of Letchworth as the world's first garden city just five years later, this book delves into other overlooked aspects of Howard's life, including his years in America, his career as a shorthand writer, and his relationship with his first wife, Lizzie, who herself played a significant role in the development of garden cities. Howard envisioned his garden cities as spiritual havens, where individuals could find solace, inspiration, and a deeper connection with the divine.

Weight: 362g
Dimension: 136 x 203 x 21 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9780198790815