The Radical and Socialist Tradition in British Planning : From Puritan Colonies to Garden Cities

Focusing on the key period between the late 18th century and 1914, this book provides the first comprehensive narrative account of radical and socialist texts and organised movements for reform to land planning and housing policies in Britain. Beginning with the early colonial settlements in the puritan and enlightenment eras, it also covers Benthamite utilitarian planning, Owenite and utopian communitarianism, the Chartists, late Chartists and the First International, Christian socialists and positivists, working class and radical land reform campaigns in the late 19th century, Garden City pioneers and the institutionalisation of the planning profession. The book, in effect, presents a prehistory of land, planning and housing reform in the UK in contrast with most historiography which focuses on the immediate pre-World War I period. Providing an analysis of different intellectual traditions and contrasting middle class-led reform initiatives with those based on working class organisations, the book seeks to relate historical debates to contemporary themes, including utopianism and pragmatism, the role of the state, the balance between local initiatives and centrally driven reforms and the interdependence of land, housing and planning. Cover Half Title Title Page Copyright Page Table of Contents Acknowledgements 1 Introduction 2 Radicals and planning in Britain and the colonies From the Puritans to the Restoration The egalitarian objectives of the early colonisers British Puritans and colonial settlement: John Winthrop and the ‘city on a hill’ Theocratic planning: New Haven The Restoration establishment: the re-planning of London and the Shaftesburymodel for the planning of colonial settlements William Penn, Thomas Holme and the planning of Philadelphia Sources 3 Enlightenment planning James Oglethorpe and Savannah The debate over London’s growth Planning and anti-slavery: Granville Sharp and colonial planning Sources 4 The Benthamites and utilitarian planning The influence of Jeremy Bentham John Arthur Roebuck – amenity and planning Thomas Maslen The utilitarians and the South Australian experiment John Silk Buckingham and ‘Victoria’ Sources 5 Owenite co-operation and plans for new communities 18th century Utopian experiments Robert Owen’s New View of Society William Thompson John Thimbleby John Minter Morgan Robert Pemberton’s Happy Colony The contribution of Owenite communitarianism Sources 6 The influence of the French utopian socialists in England The Saint-Simonian missions to England Etienne Cabet and the Icarians The Fourierists The influence of the French utopians Sources 7 Working class radicals and the land The historiography and the radical heritage Chartists and the land The discovery of the housing problem The O’Brienites, the First International and land reform The development of a distinctive working class agenda Sources 8 Social reform and social science Intellectuals and the labour movement Utilitarianism and sanitarianism The Christian socialist intervention Positivism and social reform The Social Science Association The Industrial Remuneration Conference Radical and socialist intellectuals and the built environment Sources 9 The socialist revival, land and housing reform The revival of land reform agitation The rediscovery of the East End Socialists, Fabians, the radical clubs and land nationalisation The London progressives and the London County Council Socialists and home colonisation Fred Knee, Robert Williams and the Workman’s National Housing Council Fabian tracts and the Independent Labour Party The Lib–Lab MPs The continuity of the radical tradition Sources 10 Visions and politics of the garden city pioneers Ideology and context Radical and socialist influences on Ebenezer Howard The Fabian Response to Tomorrow Patrick Geddes and positivism The ethical socialism of Raymond Unwin Ruskin, Morris and the Arts and Crafts Movement The environmentalism of Alfred Russell Wallace Other proponents of garden cities: A R Sennett and Budget Meakin The New Liberals and the Heart of Empire debate The politics of the garden city pioneers Sources 11 The institutionalisation of planning and housing From theory to practice Labour and housing reform The genesis of the 1909 Housing and Town Planning Bill The Land Nationalisation Society and the English Land Restoration League in the early 1900s The Workman’s National Housing Council and the Housing and Town Planning Bill The Labour Party, betterment and land nationalisation The Labour Party, land tax and the budget crisis of 1909–10 The Liberal Land Enquiry reports and the Labour response The professionalisation of housing and planning Sources 12 Radical and socialist influences on land, planning and housing reform The contrast between philanthropic reformers, working class radicals and socialists Utopianism and pragmatism The role of the state Local initiatives and centrally driven reforms The interdependence of land, housing and planning reform movements The lessons of history Index