A lesson from the 1940s on housing, planning and public health
No-one teaches you anything about local government at school. This is ironic as the whole school infrastructure has its roots in our noble institution. As I got older I started to learn about some key people who left their mark on local government: Edwin Chadwick, Toulmin Smith, Joseph Chamberlain and Ebeneezer Howard. There is a fantastic book by Tristram Hunt “Building Jerusalem” which slots them all into perspective. Ebenezeer Howard was particularly important to our planners. He invented the garden city – based (for those who like cowboy films) on his experience of living as an unhappy emigrant on the American praries.
I was listenting to a brilliant presentation on social investment (if you want to know more let me know and I can send you something) by Niamh Goggins of “Small Change” great name! She was explaining how pre-war counties had their own local lending boards. It led me to reflect that in these grim economic times we are rediscovering many pre “modern state” more local forms of association as a means of tackling our most immediate experience of austerity. I think the re-invention of garden cities fits into that category
It is important to realise that old tricks need a new spin. So whilst I applaud much of the thrust of the following article, I remain a little concerned that in seeking to turn brownfield sites more green we could be missing some of the point. There is still much green space which could be developed in rural England to help create local jobs and lower cost housing, both of which are desperately needed. What will garden cities do in this regard? Sorry for such a long introduction – but I find this stuff really interesting!! And I havent really opened up a discussion about the second strand in this article the links between living environment and health! Anyway onto the article
The garden city principles, which can be applied to development projects of different scales, hold the key to creating healthy and vibrant places for people to live and work. To share this message the TCPA has republished Norman Macfayden’s 1940 seminal pamphlet, Health and garden cities.
Although it is more than 70 years since the paper was originally published, it could have been written today as the government embarks on reform of public health and talks of a new generation of garden cities and suburbs.
Garden city planning has made a significant contribution to improving the quality of life of ordinary people, providing an unparalleled improvement on what had come before. The early pioneers understood that planning was not just focused on bricks and mortar; it was also about creating the conditions for people to live differently, addressing social isolation and founded on a co-operative ethos.
As exemplified in garden cities such as Letchworth and Welwyn the planning system has its roots in the public health movement, but over recent decades the two disciplines have drifted apart. Now that government has placed councils back at the centre of the public health agenda, planning must shoulder its burden of responsibility.
The decisions we make about the built environment cannot be easily undone. In an era of budget cuts it is more important than ever that we reconnect public health with planning. We need to see better co-operation between planners and public health staff, identifying local health needs and finding ways to meet them.