Bohn and Viljoen are working with the world’s first Garden City

‘Letchworth Garden City is the world’s first Garden City, created as a solution to the squalor and poverty of urban life in Britain in the late 19th Century. Based on the ideas of Ebenezer Howard as published in his book of 1898 Tomorrow: A Peaceful Path to Reform Letchworth Garden City inspired town planning across the globe.’

(from Letchworth’s website)

We are very pleased to be able to conduct design research in Letchworth since about 2016, mainly via André Viljoen’s Masters’ students’ projects and in collaboration with the Letchworth Garden Heritage Foundation and the International Garden Cities Institute.

Katrin Bohn’s work meeting earlier this month with Dr. Susan Parham, director of the International Garden Cities Institute, aimed to explore new routes of cooperation via the EU project Edible Cities Network to which both, the International Garden Cities Institute and the University of Brighton are project partners.

The International Garden Cities Institute’s academically-robust research enhances knowledge of Garden Cities and advance debate on future planned settlements and the retrofitting of existing places. Bohn and Viljoen’s design research into food-productive urban landscapes can compliment the Institute’s expertise and contribute to Letchworth’s future vision.

For further information on Letchworth see here.

For information on the International Garden Cities Institute see their own website.

Image: Aerial view of Letchworth Garten City (source: Letchworth Garden City Heritage Foundation www 2019)