The Peaceful Path

The title of this book is taken from Ebenezer Howard's visionary tract To-morrow: A Peaceful Path to Real Reform. Published in 1898 as a manifesto for social reform via the creation of Garden Cities, it proposed a new way of providing cheap and healthy homes, workplaces and green spaces in balance in cohesive new communities, underpinned by radical ideas about collective land ownership. While Howard's vision had international impact, in this book planning historian Stephen Ward largely honors the special place that Hertfordshire occupies on the peaceful path, beginning with the development of Letchworth and Welwyn Garden Cities.

Stephen V. Ward is Professor of Planning History at Oxford Brookes University. He is a former President of the International Planning History Society and was for several years Editor of the international academic journal, Planning Perspectives. He has produced several books on twentieth-century planning, including The Garden City: Past, Present, Future.