Greenbelts

Historical Formation of Greenbelts

In 1829, an etching by the artist George Cruik-shank showed London literally “going out of town,” with development spewing onto the countryside and threatening the tranquility of pastoral England. Britain's Industrial Revolution had prompted unprecedented urban growth, triggering two areas of critical concern for future generations of planners: (1) the well-being of urban centers and (2) the relationship between these centers and their rural hinterlands. In the preindustrial era, many significant settlements had been contained by fortification. Across Europe and Asia, towns and cities were frequently enveloped by man-made or natural barriers—walls, the sea, rivers, or mountains—by anything, in fact, that afforded some protection from the incursion of rival powers. The nearby countryside provided sustenance for the urban population, such as it was, in a largely agrarian world dominated by an urban nobility and populated by a rural peasantry.

But industrialization and the subsequent urbanization changed the world forever. Britain—the first industrial nation—was also one of the first to take note of the environmental and aesthetic consequences of this change. Cruikshank's imagery was one of a number of comments—artistic, poetic, and political—to gradually raise the profile of this issue in the public mind. Threats to the countryside in 19th-century Britain were taken seriously. Conditions in the major urban centers were often so dire, so unsanitary, that adjacent rural areas were justifiably concerned about urbanization, though they were powerless to prevent it.

By the end of the 19th century, a few visionaries—Ebenezer Howard being the most notable—had become convinced of the need to reconnect urban populations to the fresh air and other health benefits of the open, green countryside. For Howard, this could be achieved through the creation of Garden Cities: planned centers covering areas of 1,000 acres and with populations of no more than 32,000 situated within at least 5,000 acres of agricultural land that would be protected from further encroachment. In the absence of fortification, cities still needed to be contained—fortified against their own expansion rather than the actions of foreign armies.

At various points throughout the 20th century, different countries reached this same conclusion. But because of its 19th-century experiences, and the lobbying of a number of key individuals (Howard being an early trailblazer), Britain led the way in the development of urban containment tools as part of a broader rural development intolerance, aiming to protect the interests of farming and what became regarded as the rural idyll. Two prominent figures in the evolution of British town planning—Patrick Abercrombie and Raymond Unwin—played crucial roles in promoting the idea of statutory greenbelts. In 1926, Abercrombie highlighted the danger posed by urban decentralization, arguing for a concerted effort to preserve rural England. His writing inspired the creation of the Council for the Preservation of Rural England (CPRE), which campaigned for stricter rural development controls. Planning legislation in the 1930s took up this theme, introducing new restrictions on “ribbon” development (residential development along roads and railway lines extending from urban centers). But it was Unwin who, in 1933, proposed the creation of a “green girdle” around London primarily for recreational purposes. Two years later, the municipal authorities were supporting Unwin's idea of a “London Greenbelt“; but it was not until 1938 that Parliament legislated for its creation. This prewar greenbelt could only be realized through the purchasing of privately owned open spaces on the edge of the city. Only through a nationalization of development rights—still 9 yrs. (years) away—would it be possible for planning authorities to draw lines on maps and tell landowners and prospective developers that further land use change would be effectively prohibited.

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