Question 19

At the turn of the 20th century, the rapid industrialization of British cities generated environments characterized by overcrowding, pollution, and squalor. In response to these dire urban conditions, urban planner Ebenezer Howard proposed a radical new vision: the Garden City. Howard's concept was detailed in his 1898 publication, later retitled *Garden Cities of To-morrow*, where he argued for the creation of planned, self-contained communities surrounded by "greenbelts" of agricultural land. Unlike the sprawling, unplanned suburbs that merely extended a city's reach, Garden Cities were designed to combine the economic opportunities of the urban center with the health benefits and open spaces of the countryside. This hybrid model aimed to reduce the population pressure on major metropolises while providing a higher quality of life for the working class. Although only a few true Garden Cities, such as Letchworth and Welwyn, were constructed during his lifetime, Howard's principles profoundly influenced the post-war New Towns movement and continue to shape modern sustainable urban planning discussions regarding density and green space integration. According to the passage, how did the Garden City concept differ from the unplanned suburban expansion of the era?